Aftyn/Tera
This one bears some explanation. I joined an online art challenge called Kimodameshi 2025, or Kimo7 for short. Every day for the month of March, I have to draw and post art of people. It can be figures, gestures, portraits, or anatomy studies. The challenge is to keep at it every single day or I will fail.
There are optional “side quests” to help focus your efforts. The first is to draw or paint one of the contest’s mascot characters: identical twins who agree on the goal — make great art — but not the best route to get there. The initial designs are by Devoidd on Instagram. I chose to focus on Tera, the nerdier twin, who wears headphones, a sweater, a hoodie under a big, puffy jacket, and has a stylus sticking out the back of her head.
I tried out a couple new things with this painting. First is imagining it as a cosplay with my muse, Aftyn Rose. I can picture her getting excited about the contest and doing a twin ear licking cosplay video while the two gently bicker over art advice. I took an unrelated photo of Aftyn and imagined how she would look dressed as Tera. I’ve had a number of such thoughts in the past, but this is the first I’ve brought into existence. I doubt it will be the last.
My second experiment is to paint in watercolor. Close readers may remember my frustration with that medium in the past, but that was with Procreate. Artstudio Pro’s model simulates the flow of watercolor brushes in a much more satisfying way. Now I am able to experience the strangeness that is watercolor.
For instance, it is so messy, I wanted to keep the under-drawing active to give the thing shape. Typically, that will be a light ink drawing, and if I wanted to spend more time on this, I’d probably do a lighter version of the heavy pencil sketch you see here. You also hear talk of how hard it is to manage values in watercolor, where what winds up on canvas is so different from the color you picked. I understand it, but so far I’ve been happy with the accidents I’m hitting.
I’ve said many times about how I fight to let go of my perfectionist instinct, blending away brush strokes or despairing about getting values “right”. With watercolor, you can’t have perfection — it’s just not an option. Once I made peace with that, it was easier to look at what’s on canvas as its own thing. Does this shadow need to be a little deeper? A little warmer? Let’s mix in a little more color.
This painting is in no way perfect, but I enjoy looking at it and had fun making it. I am happy with this crazy thing, and look forward to more crazy things in the future.
Medium: Digital
App: Artstudio Pro
Tools: Ink, watercolor