Seasonal holidays and events seem to inspire me to draw jiu-jitsu related artwork and Christmas especially so. Here I've drawn two elves who ought to be helping Santa but are playing jiu jitsu instead. The technique the top elf is using is known as the Gift Wrap.
Here's how I put it together...
 |
| 1. A reference photo of my and my training partner who is doing the 'gift wrap' |
 |
| 2. Trace rough shapes as a layer over the photo |
 |
| 3. Play around with background and layout of text |
 |
| 4. Affinity Designer is a vector program that is new to me so I started drawing vector shapes. |
 |
| 5. I gave up on Affinity and used Manga Studio watercolour brushes instead. I also used a touch of colouring pencil tool to add highlights and shadow. Finally I added a textured overlay to simulate watercolour paper. |
As a side note, it is interesting that depictions of Christmas elves as Santa's helpers all seem universally dressed in green with pointed hats, long noses, pointed ears and usually red and white banded stockings. I wonder how this particular appearance first came about and why it persisted so long? If you Google elves in general, then you get a lot more variety in appearances.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment