2 M

Hit two million pageviews on deviantART yesterday, and thus wanted to draw something to celebrate :D But happy-themed drawings didn't really work, just killed motivation, so I just began doodling whatever came to mind.
Hence this thing XD
Realised in hindsight that it is probably subconsciously inspired by various recent events, which may sound dark given the vibe of the drawing, but they have been heckin' amazing events :D
Without elaborating/rambling too much, one of the aforementioned subconscious sources of inspiration may have been from having seen the band A Perfect Circle live in Oslo Spectrum, which was ... oh my god, they were incredible. Heck, even the warm up band (which were pretty gosh darn badass; The Black Peaks) took their time to tell the crowd that "oh my god, you're in for such a treat, you have no idea..!" and boy were they right. A Perfect Circle's concert was not just a concert, it was an experience, and it was.. oh my god. The were sublime.. <3
I went there with a good friend of mine and two of his family members - really cool people, all of them, and being even bigger fans of APC and Maynard's project than I am  they just made the whole concert experience, pre and post as well, amplified in the best sort of way.
A drummer, a singer, a mathematician and then me, all of us music enthusiasts and Maynard fans, add a good dose of humor and being "high" on sheer euphoria from the concert (and a touch of alcohol *cough*) we had such a blast. I joined them to a pub after the concert called Rock In, where they played songs from the concert as well as songs from Tool. So naturally we sang along to every tune XD Complete with playing invisible instruments and all XD Goddamn I love passionate nerds lol... <3
Me and the mathematician went full nerd though when Tool's "Lateralus" came on, discussing (more like praising) the mathematical genius of how that song is constructed. Not only is it a bad ass song to listen to but it is a scientific wonder as well. Not to mention all the symbolism <3 I'm a sucker for symbolism.... OuO

But yeah, so, anyways (lol so much for trying not to rant), it was an amazing evening, night and so forth. Made a playlist of the songs I remembered from the concert and I've been playing it on repeat as good as every day since XD

So I suppose the subconscious parallels in this drawing to the concert and said band were more or less inevitable.
Even the color palette, even though to be honest it was more a response to a chat I had with a guy from a party I went to this weekend with some other passionate nerd friends of mine ;)
The majority of them are artists, or gamers, or both, or creative souls or just generally passionate and inspiring people.
One of them started discussing color theory with me, and on the topic of various forms and use of contrasts in art we went full nerd mode XD
But one thing I didn't know was something called "Teal and Orange". I mean, I know about the whole warm-cold and quantity-contrast thingy etc, but apparently "Teal and Orange" is a broad term for how using warm or yellow/orangy hues in contrast to cold blue/greenish colors is used so frequently it has become a cliché.
I had no idea colors could be cliché XD
He Googled the Battlefield game covers as an example, and pretty much all other games and how most of them fit the Teal-and-Orange category.
And heck, just look at my Christmas comic of Spike and Sam from last year and you'll see the whole "teal and orange" bit in action (although I used blue and not teal, but it's the same concept either way).
I was both fascinated and gutted that it was a cliché lol, mostly because it is sort of hard to avoid using warm-cold contrasts in art because of how efficient it is.
We talked a lot about color theory though, both of us learning new things from each other :) I introduced him to the concept of using the whole cold-warm effect without using typical cold or warm colors. Like how silver and blue can actually be used to show warmth despite being typically cold colors. And it was with our chat in mind that I wanted to achieve the "teal and orange" / cold-warm contrast effect in this drawing, but without using any actual warm-cold color contrasts. If my theory is right, or if I executed it correctly, then obviously the red and orange hues will seem warm, but due to usage of something called "simultaneous contrast" Spike's body might seem "cold" or somewhat leaning towards the blue side of the color wheel.
When really the only colors I used in this drawing were the red-orange types or colors. Everything else is grey. Zero saturation. Just grey.

So I tried to achieve somewhat similar effects to cold-warm contrast, complimentary contrasts and to some degree contrast of extension, but with limiting myself to only use light-dark contrast and the simultaneous contrast.
...and saturation contrast too, come to think of it... maybe?
*shrug*

Hopefully it worked.

Originally all the warm colors were just yellow, making the gray seem more teal by comparison, but it altered the overall feel of the drawing, the atmosphere you know? So I went for approach instead. Still though, using only one side of the color wheel ;)

The last more or less subconscious inspiration for this drawing is reliving moments shared with someone else from that same party. But I won't elaborate on that :p

This was a fun drawing to work on though.
Was also nice to achieve the result I wanted without having to put much effort in it XD ffs I swear I am such a lazy artist nowadays... I really can't be bothered to put much effort into anything I make. And it's not just nowadays, come to think of it, I rarely ever truly finish any of my drawings. I am too impatient, and also I hate going back on drawings; I'd rather finish them in one sitting, but when that would require more hours than my restless self can be bothered to sit still for then I end up just rushing it or leaving it as it is, which usually makes them look sloppy and not at all as good as I'd wanted to make them.
I know that when I put proper effort into something I can actually make pretty good stuff (that is the least self-deprecating thing I have said in a while lol XD wow, that felt uncomfortable..), problem is that as much as I love coloring, I honestly can't stand coloring my art XD it is always my least favorite part of drawing something simply because of the time and effort and sheer focus required.
My favorite part is sketching and line work. But lately I can't even be bothered to do that XD
I spent more time reading and learning about drawing than actually practicing it XD

Motivation and energy's just lacking I guess :p I've been so focused this year on trying to grow and evolve as a person that art has been, well, greatly neglected.
I'm still doodling a lot though :p I'm just not putting much effort into any of my artworks anymore. Like, even less than what is my "default setting" so to speak XD

omg I talk too much XD


..I miss teaching though.
I'm still contemplating doing livestream art tutorials. Interactive ones and such. Like, live art classes through livestreams where I draw and explain shit :p
If I decide to do those I'll start off making it Patreons only at first, not to exclude people really but more to help myself get used to the exposure XD Cause I want to make it a free for all thing eventually.

ok no I'll stop rambling now XD

Thanks for your love and support, both here on Patreon and over at deviantART ^____^ <3 It means the world to me :)