Okay so yesterday I finally tackled that fantasy art tutorial I've had saved forever. Woke up determined to actually do the practice, not just read it. Grabbed my tablet first thing, coffee steaming beside me.
The Ugly Start
Fired up the program, opened a blank canvas. Stared at it for like five minutes feeling kinda dumb. Where to even start? Decided to just scribble an elf dude, like I usually do. Ended up super stiff. His pose screamed 'mannequin', proportions all wonky. Background? Nah, just blurry trees. Felt blah. Exactly why I needed this.
Digging Into The Steps
Scrolled back to the tutorial notes I printed out. First point hit me: push the weird. My doodles were safe, boring human with pointy ears. The tutorial yelled about exaggerated limbs, creatures that look like they live somewhere wild. Took a deep breath, erased my lame elf. Started fresh.
- Sketched a thumb-warrior. Tiny body, massive fists, standing on rocky cliffs.
- Made a tree lady. Rooty feet sinking into moss, branches twisted like crazy for arms.
- Tried wild perspective. Like looking down on a dragon curled on a tiny floating island. Messy as heck, but more interesting.
Color Chaos & Light Fix
Here's where things usually go muddy. My colors? Bland green, brown, grey. Tutorial screamed about magical glows, unexpected colors in shadows. Seriously, said to try purple in deep shadows on gold scales. Felt weird, but I slapped some purple under a dragon sketch. Whoa. Suddenly looked way richer, less flat. Played with putting soft pink light hitting the tree lady from above. Took ages to blend right, kept looking cheesy. But finally hit a point where it looked like magic hour.
Texture Tussle
My textures used to be lazy. Brushed metal effect? Just grey scribbles. Tutorial emphasized layering grime, scratches, heat marks. For the Thumb-Warrior's hammer:
- Started with basic grey metal
- Splattered a darker grey for dents
- Scratched bright white tiny lines on edges
- Smudged brown near the handle for rusty stains
Felt tedious, but zooming out? Suddenly the hammer looked like it had smashed rocks and trolls.
Wrapping Up & The Messy Truth
Honestly, spent like four hours just messing with these three concepts. Saved progress shots. Comparing the first stiff elf to the last dragon sketch? Night and day. Less stiff, more life, better mood. Was it perfect? Nope! Dragon's wings still look a bit awkward. My laptop got so hot trying to render all those layers it almost flew away like the dragon. Had to cool it down with a frozen dinner pack under the stand. Worth it though. Biggest takeaway? Leaning into the weird stuff and pushing lights/shadows outside my 'safe' zone makes things pop way more. Need way more practice on textures. Gonna try a gnome city next time, see if I can make moss actually look mossy.
