Sasha-Sk

The rendering process

coloring + rendering

Changes

Sam noticed the changes in Jay more than anyone else

The rendering process

Jay and Sam

Jay had a crazy glow up

morning routine

outfits

Shopping

Just some random sketches with cute interactions

pt.2

Just some random sketches, related to the previous post
English is still Adil's enemy
+ a little spoiler

At the store

Adil honestly has no idea that he’s attractive

Spoilers

Also I’m working on some things right now

brush settings

My brush settings!!
I might’ve posted this before, but not on Patreon
I draw everything with this one brush, but I change its opacity a lot while I work.

Sky

Adil’s habit of finding similarities in everything around him sometimes leads him into a dead end
+an extra sketch that didn’t work for me composition-wise, but I only realized it after I finished it haha

some silly sketches

Sam was traumatized

Adil's mom and Jay's dad

Sam

Jay HATES going anywhere with Sam

Speedpaint pt. 1

Red flag

I think the biggest red flag Jay ignored was that Chris tried to take over his mom’s authority—by letting Jay do things she didn’t allow, just to win his trust
Chris helped Jay get his first piercing (even though his mom was against it)
He let him drink, smoke—stuff his mom didn’t approve of
All of that made Jay think Chris was the “cool adult,” when in reality, Chris was just trying to become the only adult Jay looked up to and fully trusted

jealous or envious

But Valery was wrong, Gleb wasn’t ready to lose his future and the chance to have a family for Valery. Valery was maybe just a fling for him. Gleb felt confused, but he knew for sure that he valued his girlfriend and wanted to keep her at any cost

Gleb’s girlfriend

Gleb started spending all his free time, until late at night, at work with Valery. He began staying late, growing distant from his girlfriend, and she started noticing that something was wrong

While Valery’s life was improving thanks to Gleb, Gleb’s life was falling apart because Valery was here again, right next to him

It seemed like Gleb needed nothing more than Valery, Valery was certain of that.

Everyday life

To have more influence over Gleb, Valery tried to arrange things so they could spend more time together.

Every prisoner in the prison has a job - some work in the kitchen, some do cleaning, others work in sewing workshops or repair shops, nobody ever sits idle.

Taking advantage of Gleb’s connections in the prison, Valery asked him to set things up so he could assist with his work (Gleb only got his job there because the prison warden is literally his girlfriend’s father, other...

An opportunity

At first, Valery was terribly scared of meeting Gleb because Gleb knew everything about him. Everything that connected them in the juvenile colony, everything about Valery being a snitch, how low his status was, and what he had to do to survive there.

Gleb could be the end of Valery’s comfortable life because if anyone else found out this information, there was a chance the Academik would stop protecting him, stop favoring him, and stop working with him. Surviving in prison alone agai...

composition

By the way, I thought it would be good to share a small composition hack that I literally use all the time

It's guiding lines

Whenever I need to create a composition and draw the viewer's attention to a specific focal point, I use subtle lines that direct that attention like arrows, integrating them into the background, character bodies, and so on

If the scene, emotion, etc., needs to be more dynamic and slightly unsettling, I make these lines act like arro...

Meeting Lev

Zoya was supposed to leave on the same day David arrived. She managed to introduce David to Ulyana, show him the apartment where he would be staying, and then had to leave him because she was in a rush to catch her train.
Zoya promised David that very soon Lev, her older son, would return from training and tell David more details about everything. Lev knew more than Zoya since he had been taking care of Ulyana all this time, so it made more sense to ask him.
Waiting in the apartment unt...

Meeting Ulyana

Usually, when a wealthy family called David to help with their "sick" child, the child just turned out to be spoiled and disobedient. David always carried candies with him, which he gave out as pills, and they would always calm the children down like a placebo effect. In reality, he had never dealt with an actual problem and expected something similar with Ulyana.
But that wasn't the case. Ulyana was truly sick. David didn't know how to act, but he decided that maybe he could figure out wh...

Autumn, 1940

The story begins with a psychotherapist named David traveling to Kyiv at the invitation of his childhood friend, Zoya.

Zoya is a wealthy woman, and her husband is part of the political elite. She has two adopted children, Lev and Ulyana. Lev is 21 years old, and Ulyana is 16. Ulyana has mental health issues—she is unwell, not fully herself, and slightly developmentally delayed, so she requires constant supervision like a young child. Zoya and her husband are both very busy people.

The past is here

But the past caught up with Valery.
While Valery was building his life in prison, Gleb Chernov was building his life on the outside.
He got an education, found a girlfriend, and finally, despite his criminal record, thanks to his girlfriend, he managed to find a job. He became a psychologist at a prison. The same prison where Valery was.
Gleb didn’t know about this. On top of that, he was constantly haunted by nightmares about Valery, about how Gleb hadn’t kept his promise and es...

Valery’s fear

Valery earned a lot of trust from the prison staff, the guards, and other workers, but the inmates didn’t trust him at all. He was too different. This didn’t bother Akademik, but Valery didn’t know where the line was, so he was afraid to reveal his past to Akademik. The moments when someone recognized Valery were always resolved in unclear ways, so Valery essentially lived in fear that sooner or later Akademik would find out more about him.

Or maybe he already knew and didn’t ca...

Akademik

At first, Valery's relationship with Akademik was quite complicated because Valery struggled to adapt to Akademik's explosive personality and unpredictability. But later, they managed to find common ground. Valery learned a lot from Akademik, including life philosophy.

Valery admired him as a strong leader and a person who managed to dominate the entire prison without relying on significant physical strength or youth
Akademik was truly feared and respected in prison. He managed to s...