Spotlight 2026 Week 1 ○ Days 01 - 07 ○ Feb 1st - Feb 7th
Hi all! Congrats on 1 week down, 14(.29) to go!
Spotlight is posted weekly and highlights one piece of art from each artist who posted that week.
On Gaia here, the spotlight archive will eventually be added to the front page of this thread. If you have any issues or questions, please don't hesitate to message me (sdrawkcab).
OOOooooo emotion_jawdrop thank you so much emotion_hug This is so cute! I love it heart I had a lovely quiet day!
Y'welcome! I saw what you wrote in the post to Quad. That sounded like a really nice day indeed! Especially the food. XD I'm gonna have to get some Indian food soon now
And the ranger is so cool! The helmet is such a great idea! XD Thanks for picking it. I also have been meaning to comment... I really like all the art you've been posting. Especially the mirror.. the foil is such a fun idea!
(Sorry for pinging twice. I’ve edited the post because I forgot that I need to switch to my phone for a working image link)
It's so sweet and cute heart Aw, thanks!
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2026 4:28 pm
Gokuschichi4848
Should I upload new versions when I resurrect my scanner? I'm not sure if it's compatible with my tablet or my laptop. Might just go to the library to scan it instead.
It's up to you! I wish you luck with your scanner. I gave up on mine yeeeeaaars ago. It never picked up the same vibrancy of colored pencils that you see in person. Of course, that was years ago. I'd hope that scanners have improved since. XD
I think some of the other traditional artists know the good tricks for taking pics of art with phones. ...something about getting it at the right time of day to get it in daylight...
Day # 8 Theme: Spirit Challenge Time spent: 2 hours 40 minutes 55.076 seconds
Comments: I really like how this one turned out!! I chose Wrayth's mineral ^^
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Hi Wrayth!! I really liked your mineral from yesterday, so I turned it into a character! ^^
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2026 8:07 pm
Gokuschichi4848
Should I upload new versions when I resurrect my scanner? I'm not sure if it's compatible with my tablet or my laptop. Might just go to the library to scan it instead.
Like Cabbie said, it's up to you ^^
I don't use a scanner for my works. I have either 1) really good lighting near my drawing space and/or 2) I take a picture during the day time. Of course if you draw late, the second one is not really possible sweatdrop
I do edit my trad photos in a program called darktable but it's quite complicated. It's the closest thing to Adobe Lightroom though!
So I would say take a picture under or near some really good lights. You can even make your own light box just for photographing works if you wish. Then do some slight editing afterwards. For me, I always have to bump up the saturation just a bit and sometimes remove blue light if there's a screen nearby. Just keep playing with it until you're happy with how it looks ^^
[Day #: 8 Theme: Portrait Study from Photo Reverence Time Spent: ÷/- 2hrs so far
Comments: This is my uncle's beloved 13 year old dog,Bisco. He is my uncle's best friend. It's still a wip,but I'm not confident about adding the fur detail. I don't want to lose my lineart,but the ink might bleedthrough like it did on some of the pages before. Maybe if I invert the colors I won't have to do it. Any advice is welcome.I just want to do him justice.
Awesome job so far! For ink bleed, are you setting a scrap piece of paper under that one? Do you have a thin sheet of scrap cardboard?
I'm not sure what you mean by inverting the colors. What would be your plan if you did that?
(It's been a while.. but I used to do pet portraits with colored pencils. Not professionally.) For advice, this is probably obvious... but I'd make sure to build your dark colors slowly. Take your time. Work in layers. I'd start with a very light fill for the light areas so you don't accidentally color in those spots. It's much easier to go darker, but hard to erase/cover and go lighter. Once you have the lighter spots filled in, I'd go in with a light-handed layer of your dark color. Then continue to build the dark areas... Really, it would be best if you had access to colored pencils that are varying values from white, through gray, to black. You'd be able to place down the exact shades you see in the photo. ... And just as you did with the line art... color in the direction of the fur you see. Do short strokes that match the hair size and direction. You can let the darkest areas meld together into shadow. Don't worry about showing fur strokes in those areas since we can't see the fur there anyway I do vote for keeping your line art. It definitely works in your drawing here. But generally... it's not always a bad thing if you lose some of your line work in the darker shadows. For example, especially on black-furred animals, you can't always see their features distinctly. That fur all just blends into a mass. Think black cat voids. XD; It adds to the realism if you don't draw exact outlines of features that you wouldn't technically see in person or in photo. In this case, it's neat how Bisco's fur is catching a lot of light so you do see a lot of his features
Another thing to consider is... the type/brand of colored pencils matters. The colored pencil pet portraits you see are usually done with artist-level colored pencils. As much as I love crayola, they're just.. not right for this stuff. The artist colored pencils just have richer pigment and layer better to look more solid. So, depending on what colored pencils you're using... It's not you; you're not doing it wrong, it really is the pencils. I'll leave this to you to google search which brand of colored pencils you'd like to use. There are a lot of them. I always liked Prismacolor. But my bias comes from an old art teacher. I like that they're widely available. I got a starter pack and then I used to buy individual colors that I needed depending on the pet fur. (I'd go into Michael's all the time, watching their deals on pencils xD ) Not saying you need to run out and buy new pencils for this. I think it's just good to know. It's just like how there are student-grade watercolors and artist-grade watercolors... same thing exists in colored pencils
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2026 11:05 pm
I was thinking about inverting the lineart,so I could take the easy way on this one and Bisco would be black instead of white,lol. sweatdrop However Ibis had other plans and the whole thing when completely white! I'm definitely using spare paper under the pages. I'm thinking I'll work on the shading and finer details when I hopefully * crosses fingers* get tracing paper. Then I can keep my lineart and add details without worrying about it. I do have some new graphite pencils in gradual soft to hard,but I'm kind nervous about using them,since they're currently untested. I'm also not sure how to go from pencils to color without the original pencil lines messing up the color overlay.
I was thinking about inverting the lineart,so I could take the easy way on this one and Bisco would be black instead of white,lol. sweatdrop However Ibis had other plans and the whole thing when completely white! I'm definitely using spare paper under the pages. I'm thinking I'll work on the shading and finer details when I hopefully * crosses fingers* get tracing paper. Then I can keep my lineart and add details without worrying about it. I do have some new graphite pencils in gradual soft to hard,but I'm kind nervous about using them,since they're currently untested. I'm also not sure how to go from pencils to color without the original pencil lines messing up the color overlay.
Ohhh gotcha. That'd be cool if you could get the inversion to work on Ibis Annddd you brought up a good point! I totally forgot about how regular pencil remains so shiny compared to colored pencils I think, whatever you do, it's always good to test things first on the side. Like, get a different piece of the same paper you'll use for the finished art and make pen marks and pencil and see how they interact. I used to make swatches and practice patches of the animal fur first before drawing on the official piece. Helped me pick out the right colors and try to get the fur texture. It's definitely terrifying to make those first marks on the main art piece x --x
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 1:10 pm
WraythRose Darkthorn
Quadropopilous
WraythRose Darkthorn
Tomorrow is my birthday so hopefully I'll remember to draw something during the dinner food coma!
Going to a delicious Indian restaurant this year 😋
Happy Belated!! How was your birthday?
I love indian food so bad. I'm allergic to peppers though and it really screws me but it's so worth it hahah. What kind of dishes did you get? I think I could live on just naan and chutneys alone lol
Peppers like paprika peppers or pepper like salt & pepper? Yeah there were paprika peppers in my curry (that and onions are like the default veg in stirfries and curries here!)
I got chicken tikka pakoda (soft & delicious - a fried chicken in gram batter) and chicken Kadai which was decently spicy (enough for me!), and delicious too, had the leftover veg & sauce at home next day with different meat! I'm trying to try different curries every time instead of my default fave XD
Ehh I'm in my 30s, i slept in a little, finished my book, it was pouring rain & my original plan was to go browsing shops in town and visit the library, so we (mum & i) ran a few errands in the afternoon instead and hung out in the library until dinner. Then facemasks & pampering before bed! 3nodding nice restful birthday
Peppers as in paprika peppers! Sucks it's any pepper! Even sweet/mild peppers. :gu_dumb: Some weird allergy that comes and goes in severity. Sometimes I can eat stuff and just get mild gastritis. Other times it's like oh god my mouth is swelling and all the skin has peeled off it's touched like I've received a chemical burn hahah. Never know what'll be!
Yeah in my 30s too and I just want to go out to eat somewhere nice for my birthday :gu_DD: and sleep in!
Day # 009 Theme: Ferrer's Emerald Time spent: 1 hour
Comments: I did so much measuring & redoing to get the lines & angles so exact then coloured in & didn't try to keep it all straight emotion_facepalmsweatdrop new acrylic markers are juicy though!
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 1:57 pm
Quadropopilous
WraythRose Darkthorn
Quadropopilous
WraythRose Darkthorn
Tomorrow is my birthday so hopefully I'll remember to draw something during the dinner food coma!
Going to a delicious Indian restaurant this year 😋
Happy Belated!! How was your birthday?
I love indian food so bad. I'm allergic to peppers though and it really screws me but it's so worth it hahah. What kind of dishes did you get? I think I could live on just naan and chutneys alone lol
Peppers like paprika peppers or pepper like salt & pepper? Yeah there were paprika peppers in my curry (that and onions are like the default veg in stirfries and curries here!)
I got chicken tikka pakoda (soft & delicious - a fried chicken in gram batter) and chicken Kadai which was decently spicy (enough for me!), and delicious too, had the leftover veg & sauce at home next day with different meat! I'm trying to try different curries every time instead of my default fave XD
Ehh I'm in my 30s, i slept in a little, finished my book, it was pouring rain & my original plan was to go browsing shops in town and visit the library, so we (mum & i) ran a few errands in the afternoon instead and hung out in the library until dinner. Then facemasks & pampering before bed! 3nodding nice restful birthday
Peppers as in paprika peppers! Sucks it's any pepper! Even sweet/mild peppers. :gu_dumb: Some weird allergy that comes and goes in severity. Sometimes I can eat stuff and just get mild gastritis. Other times it's like oh god my mouth is swelling and all the skin has peeled off it's touched like I've received a chemical burn hahah. Never know what'll be!
Yeah in my 30s too and I just want to go out to eat somewhere nice for my birthday :gu_DD: and sleep in!
I'm glad you had a good day's rest and good food!
Oh wow terrible & terrifying allergy!! O_O
cheers! yeah. then next few days i helped dig holes rolleyesrofl (we got trees from the local council & are putting them in a flowerbed opposite our house. so far 2 are planted out of 5!
