Natalie Heaman

The Art Garden 🌱

  • Lae’zel

    Another digital colouring study + armour study, this time of Lae’zel. I have so many screenshots of BG3 with dramatic lighting saved, so I’m putting them to use!

    I’ve been pushing my digital drawing style and trying to find a go-to way of colouring digitally that I like the result of. I’ve drawn digitally for years but not with much stylistic consistency. Two things I tried that felt good about this one:

    • Keeping the original sketch lines. They are faint, but there, adding some roughness. I don’t like when my drawings feel too polished and “perfect” – a reason I tend to like traditional mediums more.
    • Creating a layer of base colours, where I aimed to build the values and an underpainting of sorts, which I then blended using the smudge tool. Then on top of that I used a watercolour brush in flat layers – the watercolour brush has some translucency so the underpainting comes through, and adds texture.

    On this I painted the linework too, mixed feelings on that.

    A digital drawing of Lae’zel, a character from the video game Baldur’s Gate 3. She is a Githyanki – a humanoid woman with green-yellow skin, a small upturned nose, long pointed ears, and speckles on her face, mostly around her eyes. She is wearing armour. A speech bubble coming from her mouth says “Chk. You believe you can survive without me?”

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  • Colouring in Procreate Experiments: Jellybean

    More colouring experiments! Featuring Jellybean the betta.

    After my prior gradient map experiments with Shadowheart, where I had one gradient map applied to the whole drawing then did further rendering on top, I wanted to try something different.

    The first picture is the greyscale drawing. The second is with gradient maps applied and minimal rendering on top. This time I separated elements of the grayscale image so each were on separate layers based on the colour group – for example, the fish on a different layer from the plants. Then I applied a gradient map to each individual layer, which lead to a wider range of colours.

    I liked how this turned out, but I wanted to try it again with harder lines, leading to the second one. I often like the look of masking (or alpha locking, in Procreate) the linework then colouring it, but sometimes it can feel a bit tedious.

    Anyways, more recording of the process. The digital art journey continues!

    A digital drawing of a betta fish in an aquarium, with plants and a small decoration log around it. The fish has long flowing fins. This drawings is entirely in greyscale.
    The same digital drawing again, but now with colour applied. The overall appearance is soft and mostly dark.
    Another take on the same drawing of the fish in an aquarium, but recoloured again. In this version there is clear linework, and it’s overall lighter.

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  • Colouring in Procreate Experiments: Shadowheart

    Enjoy this series of drawings showcasing my battle with colouring in Procreate using gradient maps. First pic is the greyscale drawing, then my first, second, and third attempt colouring it.

    I struggled to find the balance between spending time rendering the greyscale base, vs fiddling with the gradient map to have the range of colours I wanted, vs the time spent rendering on top of the gradient map. None of these 100% got where I wanted imo but I like documenting the journey!

    One of my key gradient map learnings from this? Make sure your greyscale layer is fully opaque. For a long time I couldn’t figure out why the gradient map colours weren’t applying everywhere, and it was because in the first greyscale drawing I used the eraser tool at varying opacities, and the whites were coming from a separate layer below. Combining these fixed it. Seems pretty basic but I didn’t realize 😅

    A digital drawing of the character Shadowheart from the video game Baldur’s Gate 3. She looks pensively to the side and is wearing armour with many decorative elements. This drawing is entirely in greyscale.
    This image is the same drawing of Shadowheart, but with colour applied, but quite roughly.
    This image is the same drawing of Shadowheart, but with colour applied. On this one the colours are very soft and hazy, as if blurred.
    This image is the same drawing of Shadowheart, but with colour applied. This one is more carefully rendered than the others, and overall feels more finished.

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  • Spring ’24 Film

    Camera: Canon A-1 / Film: Fuji Superia 200

    A multiple exposure film photo. It shows a black and brown dog with pointy ears sits on the grass, and overlaid on top of both are images of pink and orange flowers.
    A film photo looking directly up at the sky, A big white fluffy cloud takes up most of the photo, and the small silhouette of a bald eagle can be seen against it.
    This multiple exposure photo shows the black and brown dog with pointy ears sitting and looking directly at the camera. As a semi-transparent layer on top of the whole image is a blue sky with clouds.
    A multiple exposure film photo. It shows the silhouette of a dog standing in the distance on a beach. The second photo, layered on-top, is of blue sky and clouds.
    A film photo looking directly up at the sky, A big white fluffy cloud takes up most of the photo, and the small silhouette of a bald eagle can be seen against it.
    This multiple exposure photo shows the black and brown dog with pointy ears sitting and looking directly at the camera. Overlaid on her face are a lush, pink roses.

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  • October 2024 Hobonichi

    Another month has passed! Hard to believe we are in the last two months of 2024. October felt pretty uninspired for daily drawings, but now as I compile this I’ve surprised myself by how many pages I actually like.

    A watercolour painting of a cartoonish golden ghost on a dark background. Above it says "oooooo!"
    Watercolour raindrops fill that page. Some were painting before the previous layer dried, so the colours bleed together. Above it, writing says "rain rain rain rain". It has been a rainy October!
    This sketchbook page shows a rough, impressionistic oil pastel drawing. There is a grey background, and green, orange, and green markings, suggesting leaves changing colour. Writing below the drawing says: "impression of vines on my grandparents garage"
    This page has a rubbing of a dried maple leaf. The veins of the leaf are clear; it was done in oil pastel, and the background in watercolour.
    This page has another leaf rubbing, but this time two ginko leaves. The rubbing is done with yellow pencil crayon, and the background is teal acrylic marker.
    A drawing of an eye takes up most of this page. In the pupil of the eye a hand reaches up, as it's surrounded by flame. Writing around the eye says: "Another day of seeing horrors…and hearing our government justify them." This is a reference to the murder of 19 year-old Shaban Al-Dalo on October 14 – he was recovering in a medical tent which was bombed, and burned alive.
    A felt pen drawing of many birds sitting on a telephone wire. Behind them are dramatic clouds in many colours.
    An acrylic paint pen drawing: a stylized pink skull on a bright blue background.
    This page has a drawing of fireworks, done in gel pen on an ink background. Written above it is "Halloween and Diwali, October 13, 2024"

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Blog Index

PROJECTS / SERIES
Gouache Creatures Series, 2019
Somerset Series, 2021
Thrift Store Catch & Release
Beautiful Day Records

SHARED SUBJECTS
Dungeons & Dragons
Figure / Life Drawing
Pet Portraits
Character Art

OTHER
Daily Challenges
Bookbinding
Writing
Photography

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