Happy Little Clouds- Exploring Interests

Hi guys! The following is my art process for the cloud paintings, but I also want to motivate artists still learning to follow their interests <3

The initial cloud painting was a sudden moment of inspiration. A lot of my paintings start with colors and then I explore various ideas while drawing. You may notice a tree in the first process gif, because I still hadn't decided to actually draw a cloud. I got the waterfall idea from my previous (Spiral Fountai](https://peakd.com/hive-156509/@kristyglas/the-spiral-fountain-art-process) painting. Recently I've started planning some paintings ahead of drawing too, it's fun to experiment.

The cover image was the first painting of this series, I liked it so much I decided to make a set of them, trying to make each one different in some way and unique.

The following links contain higher resolution of the artworks, some extra story, poems and details about the art process ^_^

https://makersplace.com/kristyglas/a-happy-little-cloud-1-of-3-32614/

I took a vacation last week so now I have some catching up to do with projects. For now I'll do 1 detailed post per week and 1 Pixelart contest post ^_^

It's certainly tempting sometimes to follow art trends and to draw what is currently popular. However, it's important to consider whether you really like the idea or want you to be associated with it. If you suddenly get popular drawing that you may get stuck with it for a long time unless you have the strong will to reject money and follow your true interests. Next thing to consider is, what you draw, you'll get better at it, so every painting is a practice for your next one.

It's ok to follow trends when they suit you, it can be really fun and you get to interact with other artists.

Personally I love drawing cute, creepy or serious paintings, different themes like fantasy or cyberpunk and even characters lately. I used to avoid painting characters because I found it too difficult to get proportions right. However the more I paint them, I feel that the better I get and it's fun. Once I feel comfortable painting women in different poses, I'll try painting more men as well. I take it a step at a time and add one challenge per painting.

For the clouds the challenge for the clouds was variation and animation. I used color variety, different number of clouds and water variety. Meaning first painting is a puddle, 2nd lake, 3rd flowing waterfall and the Rainbow one is a combination.

https://makersplace.com/kristyglas/midnight-rain-1-of-3-32613/

The blue painting is my personal favorite, because of the background stars and the overall calming ambience.

The color and brightness contrast was really tricky on this one, but worth it in the end. I use a black layer set to color layer adjustment to check the overall values. If a black and white version of the painting is easy to recognize then I consider it well done.

I was a little worried that drawing overly cute art may make me seem immature. However, I've received incredible support and now I feel much more comfortable showing all of my art. What really matters is passion, being genuine and constantly improving. Not every artwork has to be a masterpiece, but adding one unique element each time, make you and your art more memorable.

https://makersplace.com/kristyglas/a-happy-cloud-waterfall-1-of-3-32612/

The goal of this series is to be uplifting and calming. Everything has been moving so fast with internet and NFT-s and I feel behind on news constantly. Looking at this art makes me forget about all of my worries and too many to do lists. Water symbolises life, regeneration and purification- a fresh start.

https://makersplace.com/kristyglas/rainbow-rain-1-of-1-32611/

I only used 2 different brushes to paint, a textured one and a sharp brush for details. I use strong colors to create a composition, at this stage I might scrap an artwork if I don't feel inspired. The next steps with details and and animation take most of the time, so letting go of a sketch early on actually saves me a lot of time in the long run.

Above is one of the scrapped pieces, I keep everything in case it may come in handy in the future.

If you don't know what you really want to draw, I recommend trying out speedpaints, sketches with a set time limit like 30min-1h. Do at least 15, various themes and ideas. They don't need to look good, it's for yourself. However, aftear doing several, you may notice which drawings felt more fun and which were stressful. Start exploring the fun ones, as you get more exeperienced, you'll be able to draw complex art including what you found stressful before. I found that overwhelming myself with too diffict projects could lead to art blocks, so use your strengths to your advantage and then keep improving.

Personally I like constantly switching between serious complex art and fun simple ones. That way I feel acomplished without forgetting to have fun. You may find that you want to draw only characters or environments. In the end it's all up to you, but what is important in the end is to explore various ways in which you can make a living off of your art if that's your goal. There are constantly new opportunities arising so you should do researching including checking out Non Fungible Tokens. However,that's probably a full post on it's own for another time ;)

Dragon head winners: @klye, @andielor @cetb2008 @johndix @jesymarcano92

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions <3

Thank you for checking out my post! ^_^