lynstrommr on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/lynstrommr/art/2016-651353803lynstrommr

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2016

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It's been a long year but it also feels so short?! This time last year I was in Japan studying for finals.. hm

It's kinda weird to look at these though because some of them feel SO old now, like I absolutely thought Jan+April were from last year?! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, I feel like I've learned a lot this year and refined some stuff so looking back on them like 'damn that was pretty recent' is a really weird feeling! On the plus side some of them (March!!) I look at and I still really really like them, and overall I feel pretty decent about this year. I decided to crop these to show my favorite parts of certain images for each month, which is why some are like *one ear* *a foot* whatever

I don't think I improved in general that much, but I did start to make a really serious effort to start doing backgrounds more this year so I think most of my improvement shows there, which makes sense because I was basically starting at level 0 so I improved pretty fast! I've started trying to capture a mood or feeling in scenes rather than just showing something happening and I feel like I've gotten better with that, but none of it is anywhere near where I want it to be yet haha. One of the things I'm actually really pleased with this year is that I've started to get the chance to show off my own aesthetic more? A lot of what really resonates with me the most requires an actual scene or setting to depict so I think I've started to make some good progress on that one. I'm all about open skies and massive clouds and huge fields of grass and wildflowers and mountains and snow!! Tundra and adventure!!! I want to get better at backgrounds and slowly figure out how to depict scenes that really evoke that feeling of wanderlust and give you the impression that there's more going on behind the scenes so I hope I'll get to really work on that in 2017, it's something I've always wanted to do and I'm really excited about it!! It's kinda what all the practice over the last 25 years has been leading up to.. I really want to depict the stuff that I find really comforting and see if I can make others understand that same comfort, especially since a lot of what I find the most inspiring and comfortable is kinda harsh compared to a lot of other's?! It's very interesting to me

I also started doing big sketch pages this year and I've had a blast doing them and I'm so grateful to my commissioners for giving me the chance to really unwind with your characters and explore them, it's given me some really fun chances to play with poses and designs and not worry too much about a finished image. I think I actually improved with character interaction through those, weirdly enough?! and recently I've been experimenting with including the background in the sketchpages more and that's something I'm excited to explore some more!!

Style/content-wise I really experimented with lighting and shading and stuff this year, I'm not sure if it really shows noticeably or not though! I started doing super thin sketchy lineart because I wanted to put an emphasis on the coloring, I wanted the lighting and color choices etc to bring out the form rather than depending on lineart so much... I feel like I learned a lot that way but I'm thinking I want to go back to slightly cleaner lineart sometime soonish and finally figure out how to hit that happy medium where there's lots of form but the lineart isn't necessarily what draws the eye! I also spent a lot of time doing more complex/realistic anatomy, I think I was feeling weak in that area this year/struggling to show form effectively so I wanna make the effort to try and stylize things more! That's actually pretty hard for me to do, I'm not super used to thinking in terms of shapes and exaggerating stuff but it's a look I absolutely adore and want to incorporate more so those are kinda my goals for next year!! I made good progress this year, I feel like I tend to alternate between a year of learning new techniques and building up my skills and then a year of relaxing and just playing around and finding what I actually like and indulging, and then I get bored or start to feel weak again and go back to learning, etc. I think this was a learning year so I'm hoping next year I'll take it easy and find my footing and just play around and have fun with what I learned this year!

Now!! for 2017!!! continue doing the monthly collections, I feel like I really benefited from those in some ways and they're just a fun way to share the stuff I've been doing that I normally would never post. I'm really hoping this year I can stop doing commissions on here for the most part and focus on a) Patreon!! and b) my own.. development I guess, as an artist? I really wanna get back into doing more studies but I also REALLY wanna do more scenes, I'm hoping that I'll feel pretty comfortable with them in general by this time next year. In part because I really love background stuff but also because my ultimate goal for 2017 is to finally get to show off my #aesthetic, I wanna share the stuff that motivates and inspires me and I'm excited to do that!! Especially because I've been using friends' groups for that kinda thing for the most part, I want to keep joining groups and really be active in the communities and use them as a vehicle of sorts for finding my footing with my own style and whatnot. I'm starting novella group super soon and that'll be a chance to explore that more, but also knowing me I'll ignore my own stuff in favor of playing with friends LMAO

Also Dec will be posted soon B) I had it done weeks ago lol I'm excited

previous years!!
2014 by YuriStorm  2015 by YuriStorm
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© 2016 - 2024 lynstrommr
Comments8
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catlinq's avatar
your art is just so gorgeous!
your compositions are beautiful