miku ideas
Photo studies by Colin Geller
Figurin’ Out How to Draw Houses (2025)
in 2026 DO NOT ask yourself whether your art is GOOD
instead ask:
- is it SINCERE
- was it CATHARTIC
- was it FUN TO MAKE
- is it MADE BY ME
and don't forget to stay silly
Some warm ups. Did a quick movies/TV show composition studies. Decided to use a brush with zero pressure sensitivity, to practice bold and decisive lines.
Is today just another day for you except that all the stores are closed? Do you celebrate something other than Christmas, consider Christmas to happen on a day that isn't 25 December, are you just not one for holidays in general? If the answer to any of those questions for you is "yes", you're invited to today's art event.
While it's still 25 December 2025, I'm accepting art requests from everyone who isn't celebrating Christmas, so you'll have something nice that isn't the holiday which other people keep going on and on about.
- To make a request, reblog this post and put, in the body of the post, what you want me to draw.
- Only one request at a time; once your request has been drawn, if this event is still ongoing, you may make another request if you wish.
- I'd prefer to not draw fanart, because I get caught up in trying to make everything accurate, no matter how much people say "you don't have to worry about accuracy".
- This isn't limited to "drawing your cat, from photo reference, as a wizard or a dragon", but I am good at that.
- No guarantees as to how much time or effort I'll put into each picture, but it will be more than stick figures (unless "drawing it as stick figures" would be really funny).
“ok lets do warm up sketch”
“oh..”
Scott Prior (American, b. 1949)
Valley in Winter, 2014
Oil on linen
i'd like to add that the shadow color isnt necessarily dictated entirely by the primary light source, but the bounce light! so for the example of a sunny environment, the reason the shadows are blue are because of the light from the blue sky reflects across the environment; but, if the character were to be under tree cover, the bounce light would be coming from the leaves and thus the shadow would look greener.
Yee yee!!! You got it right on the nose!
Bounce light is something I didn't cover but I adore it!
Gotta work on my bounce light 💪
My good friends this is called using a
(image via )
James Gurney is an absolute master and gives really good clarity on colour techniques. Yes, it is traditional paint focused, but the principles are the same. Yes it is informed by the environmental colour but as a painting technique it is achieved this way!
I would also suggest that in digital processing, rather than apply a regular colour layer at a mid opacity, try out the different types of layers, Eg. Screen or Multiply. This can give you at least a starting point to help direct your colour palette.
Layer Blend Modes are so so so important to working in digital art. There's a ton of math that goes into figuring out how the layers should blend together, which is why some of the modes you can pick are literally called Multiply, Add, Divide, and Difference (that's subtraction). The graphics software takes the color values of your base and blend layers and runs a calculation to get your resulting layer appearance. The ones that don't have specifically mathematical sounding names are still doing calculations, but they're more complicated (think linear Algebra and higher). Some of them, like dodge and burn, are named for actual photo editing techniques.
While it's not super important to know about the mathematical side of blend modes, I think it's worth knowing at least enough about how each of the categories of blend modes works and why they do what they do; if for no other reason than having a starting point when you start experimenting with them in your work.
An overview of the basic blend modes and how they work from Genevieve's Design Studio: Accessible with minimal color knowledge; practical and illustration focused. https://youtu.be/kMc87hQrJd0?si=TWCB365pKSfWS8p0. (16 minutes) This creator also has a ton of free resources you can download, including a Blend Modes cheatsheet, but fair warning: you have to create an account to get them!
Want to learn even more about the math-y stuff? It has great film visuals! A video from FilmmakerIQ: You need some basic knowledge of RGB color models, understanding of values/luma, and at least a tenuous understanding of Algebraic formulas. (26 minutes) https://youtu.be/F7_kaTP7_W4?si=x0urqXZ8f51nQVKl