Quick digital paintings inspired by Howl’s Moving Castle

I’m still planning to make time for day 2 of 14 days of observational drawings in pencil…buuut I felt the inspiration to make some digital paintings, late last night and today. ^_^ Ricky and I saw Howl’s Moving Castle in theaters last night as part of Studio Ghibli Fest 2024, and when we got home, I painted a quick shooting star study based on the scene where Howl catches Calcifer.

Just a simple study for fun, something low stress and easy to paint before getting ready for bed. Then this morning I thought I’d either draw Calcifer or at least some fire studies. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I jumped in – no warm up, no reference. Then I looked at a Pexels reference (this one), but I still wasn’t warmed up and it has very tight lines. I also worked way too zoomed in.

After work, I doodled the border along the bottom, and I really like how it turned out! I used a line art brush for the light yellow, then filled in the orange on a new layer behind the lines. I intended to refine the whole thing with an eraser, but I stopped half way from the left. I’m glad I did, as the looser lines on the right side are prettier to me. I have a tendency to overwork stuff until it feels very flat and agitated.

Finally on the right, I warmed up first (with lots of ellipse drawings on a different Procreate file), found a new reference photo (this one), and took a multiple layer approach, kind of similar to the way I painted the bottom border design. Taking the short amount of time to warm up and think a little about the drawing is so important, clearly.

So, yay, not random patterns, an actual study of something. Even if it is still just practice, and not a portfolio piece or anything. I’m glad I figured out a way to squeeze in Procreate painting into my schedule.

Now to go…*deep sigh* sand the drywall joints on the ceiling of my living room, for the final spot of drywall finishing. That is a project that never ends, for various mishaps and scheduling conflicts and blargh. And after sanding: Proko day 2 of 14, maaaybe?

‘Til next time