HAND DRAWN AVATARS: @JACOBTOTHE
I drew this actually in December of 2024, but right after I uploaded the images and saved the draft, I went away to see family for the holidays and subsequently forgot to re-order the images and write it up...so this one kinda feels like old news to me, even though it's technically still fresh material.
I haven't been doing as much artwork lately, just kinda been caught up in all the other things...but going through these images and putting this together has reignited some excitement - plus I got a big ol' box of alcohol markers in December, and still haven't even used a single one!
As I have come to love doing, I blew up the original image and added a grid.
I then created the equivalent grid on my paper and put down that sweet red border...that's a nice touch, @jacobtothe!
With the border in place, I began sketching in the linework. I made a big mistake on this one, the same mistake I made on @melinda010100's...I assumed it to be simple at first, underestimating the complex geometry and the critical nature of getting the arcs and angles right. But don't worry, I erased things and redid them until they were pretty decent.
Once the linework was penciled in, I outlined using my sweet sweet Temu pen.
For the remaining coloration, I opted to use the only thing I had at the time that can produce those stark tones - the Sharpie oil paint pens. These do a really nice job of creating brilliant colors, but as we saw with my attempted remake of @jmis101's avatar, they can't cover up bad work. I'm still anxious to redo that one, but hope to first build my skills so the next one will come out a little lot better.
Next I committed a typical Albus Lucimus faux pas of signing the work before completing it. Doesn't technically hurt the work, but I generally think of that as being bad form...even though I do it all the time 🤣
Here is one of my signature "cool angle" shots of the nearly finished composition.
...and here it is head-on.
Next, I colored in the final fill, and took another round of angled and straight out shots, strictly for entertainment purposes only.
This time, I erased the grids and used digital editing to correct the white balance to get as close as I could to the true colors as seen on paper IRL.
...and finally, I did the iconic side-by-side shot. I don't have too many color variations in Sharpie paint markers, so I was honestly impressed with how closely I was able to color match...due to no skill of my own, I assure you!
...and that, as they say, is that! Another one for the books!
—AZL HAND DRAWN AVATARS—
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