Behind The Scenes: Ursula the Digital Artist (Patreon)

There is a lot of buzz around NFT art (blockchain validated unique digital artworks) lately and I generally like to ride these popular themes, but in my own way. So I went a few years into the future and imagined, how this kind of art could be presented face to face and handed over as a physical puck containing a blockchain wallet.

I imagined it being able to show a holographic projection of the signed artwork so the image kind of jumped in my head really quick. But there were lot of things I needed to answer first.

Who is this character? What does she look like? How should the final render feel in terms of color and background setup?

Visit the full Pinboard here

I've raided the Pinterest and came upon some really interesting shots. Obviously I went for cartoon character search and looked at all the female characters, that could match my idea. I really liked the one with the shaved haircut, it reminded me of cyberpunk a little bit and that was kind of the zone I was aiming for. 

When you find some concept you really like, I recommend to search more and include shots, that might not really fit the criteria, but maybe have a little detail that you like. This way, you can combine and make your work more unique.

Oh my, character sketch time! Always daunting, but always a really nice learning experience. I've included two sketches here. On the first one, I was trying to get the body proportions and pose and it probably took half of my eraser :D But in the end, I liked the overall look and moved forward with stylization.

You can see how I included multiple motives from the reference board. I went for that shaved hair cut and included the big rounded glasses from another one. Really liked the touch and a bit of sophistication it created. 

I made the presented artwork really simple and geometrical so it doesn't draw too much attention from the character herself and finished up with really abstract geometrical background. In the end I felt there was something missing due to very simple clothes and no accessories, so I've included tablet in hand. 

You can watch the time lapse process on YouTube
 

So that's it for the latest illustration and I hope it will help you with your own work.

See you in the next one! :)