Art Summary 2019

Let's finish this year with two artwork charts: the Top Nine algorithm application for Instagram and the Art Summary from deviantART. The first depends only on your likes and for the second I get to choose only one favourite post for each month.


TOP NINE

Here are my top 9 posts for this year according to your likes on my Instagram account throughout the year! I waited this whole month to get the latest count, because three weeks ago I converted my IG account to a business account and decided to try out the promotion feature, which drastically changed the number of likes.

Before the promotion my posts didn't get that much attention. The first one on this list had 55 likes and the least one 42 and that was approximately the range of likes I got used to. But what really worried me was the fact that at the end of the year it became obvious the number of followers wouldn't reach my next milestone, 400 (it kind of stuck at 393 or so). But experimenting with promotion skyrocketed one of my illustrations to the magical number of more than 400 likes, and although it didn't affect the number of the followers, it changed the whole dynamic of my account. Before that it wouldn't have reached the best nine (it had 36 or so likes) and now it's on the first place. So I tried to do so with another of my favourite posts, but I broadened the audience (which wasn't limited only to my country like the first time) and shortened the time of promotion. It also got about 400 likes and it's now on the second place. You can see the number of likes in the top left corner of each image - the first two, which were promoted, have 425 and 398 likes, whereas the third one (without promotion) has only 55 etc.

On one hand, I'm excited my promoted posts reached so many new people, but on the other, the plan wasn't quite working, because they liked just these two images, but didn't seem interested in following me further. I reached my milestone - had even 403 followers, which meant that only 47 out of 800 people decided to visit my profile and only 10 decided my profile was worth following. Interestingly enough, I didn't get any comments at all (!?) and it seems like the number of followers is going down again (at the moment it's precisely 400). I got my first 100 followers some time in 2017 and it took me almost a year to get to 200. I reached 300 followers in November 2018, and now, finally, a year later, 400 (and probably only because I paid for that promotion).

I got my first 100 followers some time in 2017 and it took me almost a year to get to 200. I reached 300 followers in November 2018, and now, finally, a year later, 400 (and probably only because I paid for that promotion). I know the biggest problems of my account are different techniques and styles I use, different themes and irregularity in posting, so I get it why I can't reach more followers. All I know at the moment is that when I draw something I really like and find worthy seeing, I'll probably use that promotion feature again, maybe it'll change something in 2020.


2019 ART SUMMARY

This has been my favourite art review template for years, because I get to fill it in according to my own preferences (one for each month)! The author of this specific layout is AsterianMonarch from deviantART.

I know that sometimes it's difficult to choose just one drawing for the whole month, especially if you draw a lot. Although I can't say I was very productive, I'm happy to say that I drew more than last year, which means I fulfilled my last year's wish to some extent. There was only one month when I didn't draw any digital drawing (May), so I chose my DIY projects, but I'm happy that digital art is still the biggest category in my gallery. There were 37 digital drawings, 18 comic strips, 6 DIY projects and 3 watercolour pencil drawings.

For 2020 I hope I'll continue mainly with my digital art, but I also hope there will be time for my other techniques and projects. Thanks everyone for your support and I wish you a happy new year! 😊

Sketchtember 2018

Sketchtember is a monthly drawing challenge in which artist create traditional or digital sketches during the month of September. As usual, you are free to draw whatever you like, but there are also various lists of prompts for each day. I'm not sure when it started and so far it doesn't seem organized like Inktober. I came across it by accident, when the month had already begun, so I wasn't sure if I'm ready for the challenge. I know that the main rule of of these challenges is to draw one drawing a day, but in this case I decided to spice it up (similar like my role model @drawwithjazza did with Inktober 2016) and draw only six drawings combining five prompts for each drawing, using the prompt list made by @sloworbitdraws.

Actually, I've been planning this variation of the original challenge for Inktober and this challenge came a little bit unexpected, so I guess it'll be some kind of an exercise. I also prepared short comments for each illustration, so I hope it'll turn out interesting. So, let's start!

Days 1-5: HORN, SCROLL, BOW, CAULDRON and BOOK

Everybody thought Rhinonda was a witch,

but all she ever wanted was find a recipe

for the perfect vegetable stew.

Days 6-10: SHIELD, HARP, STAFF, CROWN and KEY

"A harpist, a harpist! My kingdom for a harpist!",

cried King Toadore III in despair.

Days 11-15: ROPE, MIRROR, LUTE, MUG and PIPE

When the basement flooded,

Ratford didn't have much time to save all his possessions.

And that would be all, folks! Unfortunately, I didn't have time to finish the challenge, but I hope you liked and enjoyed the idea.

Until next post,

Grdi.

Cloak & Dagger

My drawing of Marvel's Cloak & Dagger, the main characters from the '80s comic book of the same name, whose new version was released this month, along with a new Marvel TV show. For this drawing I chose the newest comic version of Tyrone (Cloak) and Tandy (Dagger) and I used ink and alcohol-based markers for the first time (and no, they're not Copic markers, I bought some cheaper knock-off brand Huhuhero). Of course it's not as clean as a digital illustration, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

I didn't follow usual YouTube tutorials about alcohol-based markers. I combined different techniques I've learned about inking and finished the drawing with just a touch of Fauxcopic markers, mostly the grey tones. So, it's not a typical alcohol-based drawing, but I believe it's a good start. 

Vulture (Spider-Man: Homecoming)

Vulture is not a very famous Marvel's villain, but maybe that's the reason why he was ideal for Spiderman's first film in the MCU. I liked his design very much (combining the Chitauri and Ultron technology, much different than his original version), but I decided to draw him in a simplified way, in the chibi version and using only black markers.

Dok i dalje pripremam već spomenuti digitalni crtež inspiriran ljetom i Pokemonima, objavljujem neke manje projekte kako biste znali da sam živ i divili se mojim ostalim talentima. Najlakše mi je nacrtati nešto rukom, pojednostavljeno, koristeći crne markere, pa je tako i ovaj put pred vama moja chibi verzija Marvelovog zlikovca Vulture, koji se pojavljuje u novom filmu o Spider-Manu. Jako mi se sviđa novi dizajn, inspiriran Chitauri i Ultron tehnologijom iz prošlih filmova o Avengerima.

O samoj tehnici ne moram previše pisati, proces je vrlo jednostavan i vidite ga na slici dolje. Jedino na što moram paziti je kako povezujem linije, jer dijelove moram ispuniti crnom bojom, pa prazni, bijeli dijelovi moraju djelovati kao granica. Ponekad i pogriješim, ali zato treba oprezno planirati koji dio će biti obojen, a koji ne.

Kod ovakvih crteža volim što ne moram obazirati pažnju na detalje, što je inače moja "boljka" - često želim pojednostaviti svoje crteže, a onda završim dodavajući nepotrebne detalje koji se ni ne vide kad se slika gleda u cjelini. Osim što mi to oduzme više vremena od planiranog, pomalo me obeshrabri kad poželim početi s novim digitalnim crtežima.

Zasad uživajte u ovoj tehnici i vidimo se uskoro s idućim projektom!