Digital Atom Learns to Draw (~Mostly Wings 'n Things~)

[AtomBombBaby]

~the saga of a twenty-six-year-old who hasn't picked up a pencil since the fourth grade teaching herself how to use a digital art tablet~​

Hello all! Welcome to my thread My name is Atom. I'm desperately trying to fill my time while on the job hunt trying to squeeze in time to draw now that I'm employed again ( ) and have commandeered my twin sister's digital art tablet. Been wanting to try it out for years, ever since I was writing cringey RP content as a teenager, but I never thought I'd be able to figure out the intricacies of character design and anatomy and light sources. But I've finally jumped off the deep end--with a heavy use of references, of course!--and wanted to showcase my journey into digital art! Here, you'll find an array of drawings of my favorite OCs, because frankly, I've been obsessing over my newest RP and have fallen full-tilt into a manic drawing upswing. Alas, I'm broke, so can't afford commissions--I'll just have to (try my best!) to draw my characters myself! Enjoy~

PSA: I will be constantly editing everything I draw and re-uploading even the most minor adjustments

 

[AtomBombBaby]

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How it started versus how it's going:
Foray into Paint Tool SAI Friday --> Four hours straight sketching and coloring piece #6 today (don't ask about numbers 2 through 5, they're not worthy to post here )​

Spoiler: References <3

Spoiler: More References <3

 

[ElizaVioly]

Hello Atom! You definitely have an artist’s eye. I love your drawings!
Keep going!

 

[AtomBombBaby]

Hello Atom! You definitely have an artist’s eye. I love your drawings!
Keep going!

Aw, thank you so much, it means a lot!

 

[AtomBombBaby]

Fell out of the air and you broke your wings
Like you're doing every other time
Made a new pair
Out of broken things to give it all another try
And you climb right up to the highest peaks
And reach out to the edge of the world you seek
Afraid of heights so you don't believe
You could ever be good enough
-"Icarus," Starset

First full-body reference sheet. Will hopefully add more elements in the future

Spoiler: Many References :)

Hair, face, wing, body, all credit to my references scrounged off Pinterest

 

[ElizaVioly]

Aw, thank you so much, it means a lot!

You’re welcome! Digital art seems so difficult to me, it’s impressive.

 

[AtomBombBaby]

You’re welcome! Digital art seems so difficult to me, it’s impressive.

That's totally what I thought too, but it's a lot easier than pencil and paper imo! It's a lot of fun to figure out all the (millions) of features and functions, and once you sort of know where everything is, it's a breeze! I highly recommend it ^-^

 

[ElizaVioly]

Aw I see! Will have to try it then sometime. I only do it the old fashion way. Paper and pen, then watercolor. But, doesn’t one need a good pencil tool? I mean for tablet, or is it easier with computer? Sorry, ambushing you with questions! ^^’

 

[AtomBombBaby]

Aw I see! Will have to try it then sometime. I only do it the old fashion way. Paper and pen, then watercolor. But, doesn’t one need a good pencil tool? I mean for tablet, or is it easier with computer? Sorry, ambushing you with questions! ^^’

That's really admirable, and watercolor is so beautiful, it takes real talent ^-^ And you're fine! The kind I use is the tablet without the screen; it just looks like a thin black square of plastic pretty much. You hook it up to your computer via USB port, and draw on it with the little stylus pen while looking at the computer screen. At first I was like, how am I going to be able to draw on this thing while looking at a computer screen, not knowing where my hand is going? But it's actually easier than you think!

 

[ElizaVioly]

Thank you, that’s kind of you to say! I haven’t done it for a long while (the watercolor) but I just try and practice each time. It is tricky though! Lol.
Aha, I see… I’ve heard about those! It sounds so very difficult! I take your word for it though. Will have to try sometime! ^^ Must be wonderful to be able to create your own characters, through digital painting?

 

[AtomBombBaby]

Thank you, that’s kind of you to say! I haven’t done it for a long while (the watercolor) but I just try and practice each time. It is tricky though! Lol.
Aha, I see… I’ve heard about those! It sounds so very difficult! I take your word for it though. Will have to try sometime! ^^ Must be wonderful to be able to create your own characters, through digital painting?

Like I said, it's easier than I expected. I used to watch my sister draw years ago and it was like magic watching her work It's so awesome to be able to draw my OCs! Er, OC singular lol, I really only have one active at the moment, so as you can see I'm mostly figuring out how to draw him in particular. Just trying myriad styles and figuring out what I like the best. Sort of just scrapping stuff together for the time being until I can make my own stuff, so as you can see, I use a ton of references

 

[ElizaVioly]

It turns out great! That seems like an excellent way to improve for sure, using references. I tend to watch a lot of tutorials on Pinterest, which has helped me a lot.

 

[AtomBombBaby]

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Spoiler: References <3

 

[AtomBombBaby]

WIP

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Spoiler: References <3

 

[AtomBombBaby]

He can't reach me now. Though my body is here, the one that was so vigorous and active in the hour before, my mind is elsewhere entirely; my warm, chemical-induced sea swells, pulling me away on currents of torpid bliss. But the lightness and buoyancy will turn to heaviness, sinking, drowning.... You should have kicked me out. You've invited a ghost into your home, into your bed, and it's going to haunt you until the day one of us is dead.​

---

The reference for beautiful, amazingly-textured wings is by
rubyfeather.deviantart.com

Spoiler: References

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[AtomBombBaby]

Darker color palette, minor adjustments. Will hopefully draw something new soon.


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[AtomBombBaby]

something new

Spoiler: References

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[AtomBombBaby]

Finally figured out both outline and transparent background ​

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[AtomBombBaby]

 

[AtomBombBaby]

WIP

Spoiler: References :)

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[AtomBombBaby]

Edit: Color
Trying to make him look as unhealthy as possible. Not convinced I'm totally finished yet, but I can't look at it anymore, at least for a little while
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[AtomBombBaby]

Accidentally merged most of my layers on the original It's my favorite that I've drawn so far, so I'm taking the time to redo and clean up the linework. Gonna recolor as well.​

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[AtomBombBaby]

 

[AtomBombBaby]

New character design for Fen (he has long hair now, full stop) and his current paramour Just sketching -- I actually hate coloring






"i AcTuAlLy HaTe CoLoRiNg" -me less than twenty-four hours ago

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[AtomBombBaby]

Finally got around to editing Fen's character sheet to match his new face-claim ^-^ And a draft of Dawn-Brooding's line art, my Norse-inspired druid.

Spoiler: Reference :)

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