



Whoof, here it is at long last. After over a month of work (nearly two), a failed attempt in 2017, and having planned it since 2016, Yira with Socks 4 is finally here. And yes, the 2 Fast 2 Furious-esque title was indeed the first thing I thought of before even considering a drawing that would fit it.





So, the idea with this was first and foremost to draw my favourite dragon being cute, as always. But when I came up with the idea of her listening to music and being surrounded by cassettes, I started imagining her being lost in bliss as she was listening to the sweet tunes. I wanted to convey a somewhat dreamlike quality to her environment, as if it were melting away as she became totally immersed in the music. So, I did this by having the vague suggestion of a bed rather than a truly concrete object, and by having it fade away at the edges. I also used some filters to add a little dreaminess to the colours - there's a definite pink, blue and yellow theme here - and by intensifying it at the edges. There's also a layer in between Yira herself and the things around her, again serving the idea that the world, as far as she's concerned, no longer exists... and doesn't need to. So basically, everything has a nice pastel pink on it. The "socks" (in quotes because two of them are actually arm warmers) were all going to be blue at first, but that would be a little boring, and I wanted to have some pink in there to add some contrasting colour since Yira herself is mostly blue or blue-ish.





So, yeah, there's a lot more going on in this picture than usual. But not just on the boring arty talk side, also on the physically-what's-going-on-in-the-picture side. So, the first speedpaint I did was for Stripes:



That one took about 8.5 hours to complete (1.5 for the sketch, 2.5 for the lineart, and 4.5 for the colouring). But this, which had the entirety of its subject in frame and not just the top half, and had several props and something resembling an actual background to boot, took 12. Yes, twelve hours (2 for the sketch, a bit over 3 for the lineart, and nearly 7 for the colouring). I know some artists can take much longer, but that's usually for drawings that are much more complex. And in fact, I don't know if I've ever spent quite so much time on a single drawing.





*wistful sigh* Sp why did it take so long? Well, mostly motivation. I could have scraped through at the end of last month if I'd really pulled my socks up, but I knew it would be fine if I relaxed for a bit - and that the end result would be better off as a result. This one was also very difficult to draw. Yira herself was fine, nice familiar territory for the most part, except for the extra detail I put into the wings. The cassettes were annoying to draw, especially as I decided to be good and not cheat by duplicating them all - I only copied one of them a couple of times, and all the others are unique! The shading also took a loooong time to get right... but I am quite happy with the end result. Maybe the colours could be brightened a bit more, but I didn't want to make them TOO bright. And maybe her face isn't quite right. But I do like the overall effect, and... she's still perfect in my eyes.*wistful sigh*





Maybe. But instead, it can serve as my 500 watcher celebration, since the two milestones coincided quite closely. But I didn't want to alienate viewers on other sites by emphasising it TOO much, so it's just written on one of the tapes. It's funny how close my upload count and watcher count have been. (By the way, thanks for that, guys! Love you all! <3) And I had to record this one (especially since it's been a while since I did a speedpaint), so I did what I did for Stripes and got some cheesy, generic, royalty-free electro music to go with it. (Link is up above, in case you missed it.) You know, the sort of thing I'd never ever listen to myself. But what I was listening to while drawing this was not at all suited to a speedpaint, heheh. For the most part, I listened to some of General Mumble's back catalogue. He's probably best known for his pony stuff, but he's done well for himself with non-pony stuff too. These three albums stand out: And yeah, this was originally going to be my 500th deviation, but it ended up being my 512th due to an explosion in activity. I did expect to start wanting to draw more stuff once college and Don't Break the Chain were over, but it took a little while to settle in and blossom into a fountain of inspiration. I think that's a bit of a mixed metaphor, but you know what I mean.But instead, it can serve as my 500 watcher celebration, since the two milestones coincided quite closely. But I didn't want to alienate viewers on other sites by emphasising it TOO much, so it's just written on one of the tapes. It's funny how close my upload count and watcher count have been. (By the way, thanks for that, guys! Love you all! <3) And I had to record this one (especially since it's been a while since I did a speedpaint), so I did what I did for Stripes and got some cheesy, generic, royalty-free electro music to go with it. (Link is up above, in case you missed it.) You know, the sort of thing I'd never ever listen to myself. But what I was listening to while drawing this was not at all suited to a speedpaint, heheh. For the most part, I listened to some of General Mumble's back catalogue. He's probably best known for his pony stuff, but he's done well for himself with non-pony stuff too. These three albums stand out:

(Note: he uses several different names for different musical styles.) Just give them a glance and you'll see why they're totally unsuitable, lol. There's also Just give them a glance and you'll see why they're totally unsuitable, lol. There's also one song in particular which is a single , which has been my JAM over the past couple of weeks.





Anyway, yes, this description is super long now. I'll see y'all around.





Sketch (with some extra doodles of Yira and the boy):





More Yira:

(Man, all those pictures are quite old actually.)

