They say the learning curve goes like this: an ascent to the Peak of Stupidity, a descent into the Valley of Despair, and then a climb up the Slope of Enlightenment to the Plateau of Stability. But to me, it feels more like a rollercoaster — and I’m riding straight into that valley on a sled, with the wind in my face.

I spent the whole week drawing. And I say “spent” as in wasted, because I’m not happy with the results. The original plan was to spend two months on character drawing, then take stock and switch to practicing landscapes and locations.

The problem is, I went further than I’d planned. Initially, I had modest hopes of being able to draw simple black-and-white sketches — and I hit that mark three weeks ago. Here are a couple of examples:

Art of one of the planned story’s characters, Vespeta, made with a modern manga style in mind

Also Vespeta, same style, but I tried to show an expressive emotion

And honestly, it’s pretty good — I like the style, the emotion, and overall it’s way above what I expected starting out. Sure, it’s rough and uneven, but that’s just a matter of practice. However…

Style-wise — in terms of vibe, emotion, atmosphere, whatever you want to call it — it’s not what I want to see in the Taliskarn setting books. First of all, I want color. Second, I want something more dusty, more like travel journal notes from the 18th–19th century, like those old 80s fantasy illustrations… It’s tricky.

I tried to steer closer to the “target” style and it felt like something started to click. I made a test piece of Vespeta in a more dynamic pose, this time in the new rendering approach:

Vespeta again, this time in Prymarate armor and wielding a Brunar khopesh. Don’t ask where she left the regulation gloves — I have no idea.

Same thing, but in color

Again — looks like progress. This is already a league above what I’d initially hoped for — though the face render has obvious issues (and some smaller ones too) — but… It feels too glossy, somehow. Okay, I gave it one more go in the same direction and started on a Bryleahn girl:

Ismeria, main character of the first part of the planned story

Same Ismeria, in color

Not it. I’m maybe 80% happy with the linework — no more — and the color rendering’s a mess. And I wouldn’t say it’s bad, per se — for my current level and experience, a lot of the mistakes are forgivable and will smooth out with time — but still, it’s not right.

The real problem isn’t that I can’t draw something — it’s that I don’t know what exactly I need to draw or how. I’m stuck. And the more I think about it, the worse it gets.

In the end, I said screw it, set everything aside, and switched to landscapes. At least here I got a win — Coppergrass Plains turned out exactly how I wanted:

Coppergrass Plains

The thing is, I’m not really sure how I did it — and I’m not confident I could do it again. Whatever. Either way, a whole week on art is too much. I’m putting all of this aside for now by sheer force of will and getting back to the main work: this week, I’ll be focusing on Bryleah.

P.S. Also need to hook up a proper gallery for the site, but that’ll come later.