Ask the Artist: badbastion
Hello, badbastion here! I'm excited to say that oxoniensis has invited me to do the Ask the Artist panel this month; it's a pleasure, and I'm very flattered to be among so many artists I look up to :)
I must warn you that about 90% of what I draw is NSFW (haha, I think that's kind of what people know me for.) There is a PG-13 image under the cut, but I'll be using thumbnails or links to the NSFW material, so you should be safe opening this post.
Alsooo, I tend to ramble.
Artistic background:
I took a few years of Art in high school, a Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain class and an Intro to Watercolors class in college. After that, I didn't draw for several years, until I found fandom (anime) and digital art 7 years ago. I began by line-arting on paper, scanning, and dropping color in. My first fanarts were terrible, haha. I started getting better, and I got my Wacom Intuous3 6x8 tablet as a gift, and starting drawing more and more, figuring out the ins and outs of digital illustrating. Over the past few years I've been trying to get away from the anime style (while still drawing characters from manga/anime)...
this horrible ~deandesu~ was drawn on a dare, haha
...and to use more interesting perspectives and light sources. I'm still searching for my "own style." So I guess you could say I'm half-trained and half-self-taught?
Eventually, I had an art block lasting six months or so, got into Supernatural, and found that I could draw again. Sweet relief! And I'm so glad the SPN fandom is so friendly and welcoming, because I have put out so many pictures since then, and it feels gooood.
Tools:
My work surface.
I still use the same Wacom Intuous3 6x8 tablet I got 7 years ago. That thing is my baby. My program of choice is Paint Tool Sai, which is just really fun to use (and really cheap comparatively, if you're looking for a graphics program.) I do occasionally draw rough sketches on paper and scan them in with my old-ass scanner, and I've never felt comfortable with using anything other than printer paper on a clipboard and a retractable pencil. If it works, it works, yeah? I've done this less and less though, as I've gotten used to doing the rough sketches in Sai.
Also headphones! I live in an apartment with thin walls and must have music. I also have an array of cute and interesting things on shelves above to encourage me.
Technique: What technique?
No really, I have a few basic ways of manipulating art programs, but I know almost nothing about composition, color theory, use of negative space, or anything technical. Other than when I'm trying really hard, I basically have an id-driven-technique, with a side of lazy-artist-roughness. Not that that's necessarily bad (I hope!) I draw what I need to draw, and what feels right.
What it boils down to is, best case scenario: I open up Sai, start sketching and keep going uninterrupted until I have a finished picture. I rarely look at references unless I must, I rarely try too hard on backgrounds, and I fix things along the way when I notice them. (With this approach I sometimes leave whole limbs out, haha. But when I draw in Livestream, there are one or two people who are vigilant for me about the missing limbs <3)
The most important thing to me about a picture has nothing to do with how "good" it is; it matters more to me that it tells a story, that it conveys an emotion, that it makes the observer think about what happened right before or right after. Even the porn. Maybe especially the porn.
*I'm not trying to be disingenuous about using references. I used to use pose, body, face, lighting references all the time, so I've learned *some* things about how the human body and face works and moves, and what it looks like from a few different angles, enough that that knowledge gets me by with the way I work. I'm also constantly paying attention to things in rl or on tv: the way an arm moves, the angle at which light hits a cheek, the way a tired man looks sitting, the way jeans crease at the knee, etc. And I probably use face refs for SPN characters about a third of the time, or until I get a good handle on how to draw them. Impala always gets referenced.
How-to!
I've had people on tumblr and in livestreams ask me how I do things in Sai, so I've made this hopefully-not-confusing "how I do it" tutorial, which you can view on tumblr. (And I'd be happy to answer questions about it here.)
I've also drawn a PG-13 piece especially for this post :) I've recorded it and sped it up, so here's an eight-minute speed-through of a four-hour illustration. (Sorry the quality's not great; I'm still working on figuring that out.)
Here's the finished piece:
Lately I've been doing too much of the profile-view, light from somewhere vaguely off-screen thing, but one of my favorite things is to play with perspective and light sources. Here are some of my favorites of those (All Sam/Dean, thumbnailed because graphic NSFW like whoa):
Music: I actually cannot write about art without writing about music. There are many pictures that have come about because of one line in a song, there are some that I've listened to the same song or album on repeat all the way through, and for the rest of it, I don't think I could even draw without something playing. My favorite/most-art-braining artists are currently Murder by Death, Elbow, Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, and Arcade Fire + any versions of "My Body is a Cage." But I collect fanmixes from everywhere, it matters not the fandom, so my playlists are full of stuff I don't recognize too, lol.
Livestreaming: Not exactly a tool, but one of my favorite atmospheres to draw in. If you're not familiar with the format, in a Livestream session people drop in to chat and watch while the host draws. It's a great source for instant feedback and fresh eyes to catch my mistakes, and there are times that the energy in the chat builds in such a way that it seems to channel through me into the drawing (and often channels through other people into fic, which is awesome.). We talk about art and the show and all kinds of things (though sometimes we devolve into silliness.) The chat is usually very laid-back and friendly, and it's not actually necessary for you to talk, if you don't want to. If you're interested in dropping in some time, there's more information here.
I want to keep rambling, but I also want to give you guys chances to ask questions before I spill all my secrets, lol. I'll end by saying that I LOVE horror, and this is my favorite horror pic that I've done so far:
Any questions? Comments? Lay 'em on me!
I must warn you that about 90% of what I draw is NSFW (haha, I think that's kind of what people know me for.) There is a PG-13 image under the cut, but I'll be using thumbnails or links to the NSFW material, so you should be safe opening this post.
Alsooo, I tend to ramble.
Artistic background:
I took a few years of Art in high school, a Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain class and an Intro to Watercolors class in college. After that, I didn't draw for several years, until I found fandom (anime) and digital art 7 years ago. I began by line-arting on paper, scanning, and dropping color in. My first fanarts were terrible, haha. I started getting better, and I got my Wacom Intuous3 6x8 tablet as a gift, and starting drawing more and more, figuring out the ins and outs of digital illustrating. Over the past few years I've been trying to get away from the anime style (while still drawing characters from manga/anime)...
this horrible ~deandesu~ was drawn on a dare, haha
...and to use more interesting perspectives and light sources. I'm still searching for my "own style." So I guess you could say I'm half-trained and half-self-taught?
Eventually, I had an art block lasting six months or so, got into Supernatural, and found that I could draw again. Sweet relief! And I'm so glad the SPN fandom is so friendly and welcoming, because I have put out so many pictures since then, and it feels gooood.
Tools:
My work surface.
I still use the same Wacom Intuous3 6x8 tablet I got 7 years ago. That thing is my baby. My program of choice is Paint Tool Sai, which is just really fun to use (and really cheap comparatively, if you're looking for a graphics program.) I do occasionally draw rough sketches on paper and scan them in with my old-ass scanner, and I've never felt comfortable with using anything other than printer paper on a clipboard and a retractable pencil. If it works, it works, yeah? I've done this less and less though, as I've gotten used to doing the rough sketches in Sai.
Also headphones! I live in an apartment with thin walls and must have music. I also have an array of cute and interesting things on shelves above to encourage me.
Technique: What technique?
No really, I have a few basic ways of manipulating art programs, but I know almost nothing about composition, color theory, use of negative space, or anything technical. Other than when I'm trying really hard, I basically have an id-driven-technique, with a side of lazy-artist-roughness. Not that that's necessarily bad (I hope!) I draw what I need to draw, and what feels right.
What it boils down to is, best case scenario: I open up Sai, start sketching and keep going uninterrupted until I have a finished picture. I rarely look at references unless I must, I rarely try too hard on backgrounds, and I fix things along the way when I notice them. (With this approach I sometimes leave whole limbs out, haha. But when I draw in Livestream, there are one or two people who are vigilant for me about the missing limbs <3)
The most important thing to me about a picture has nothing to do with how "good" it is; it matters more to me that it tells a story, that it conveys an emotion, that it makes the observer think about what happened right before or right after. Even the porn. Maybe especially the porn.
*I'm not trying to be disingenuous about using references. I used to use pose, body, face, lighting references all the time, so I've learned *some* things about how the human body and face works and moves, and what it looks like from a few different angles, enough that that knowledge gets me by with the way I work. I'm also constantly paying attention to things in rl or on tv: the way an arm moves, the angle at which light hits a cheek, the way a tired man looks sitting, the way jeans crease at the knee, etc. And I probably use face refs for SPN characters about a third of the time, or until I get a good handle on how to draw them. Impala always gets referenced.
How-to!
I've had people on tumblr and in livestreams ask me how I do things in Sai, so I've made this hopefully-not-confusing "how I do it" tutorial, which you can view on tumblr. (And I'd be happy to answer questions about it here.)
I've also drawn a PG-13 piece especially for this post :) I've recorded it and sped it up, so here's an eight-minute speed-through of a four-hour illustration. (Sorry the quality's not great; I'm still working on figuring that out.)
Click to viewHere's the finished piece:
Lately I've been doing too much of the profile-view, light from somewhere vaguely off-screen thing, but one of my favorite things is to play with perspective and light sources. Here are some of my favorites of those (All Sam/Dean, thumbnailed because graphic NSFW like whoa):
Music: I actually cannot write about art without writing about music. There are many pictures that have come about because of one line in a song, there are some that I've listened to the same song or album on repeat all the way through, and for the rest of it, I don't think I could even draw without something playing. My favorite/most-art-braining artists are currently Murder by Death, Elbow, Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, and Arcade Fire + any versions of "My Body is a Cage." But I collect fanmixes from everywhere, it matters not the fandom, so my playlists are full of stuff I don't recognize too, lol.
Livestreaming: Not exactly a tool, but one of my favorite atmospheres to draw in. If you're not familiar with the format, in a Livestream session people drop in to chat and watch while the host draws. It's a great source for instant feedback and fresh eyes to catch my mistakes, and there are times that the energy in the chat builds in such a way that it seems to channel through me into the drawing (and often channels through other people into fic, which is awesome.). We talk about art and the show and all kinds of things (though sometimes we devolve into silliness.) The chat is usually very laid-back and friendly, and it's not actually necessary for you to talk, if you don't want to. If you're interested in dropping in some time, there's more information here.
I want to keep rambling, but I also want to give you guys chances to ask questions before I spill all my secrets, lol. I'll end by saying that I LOVE horror, and this is my favorite horror pic that I've done so far:
Any questions? Comments? Lay 'em on me!