So. Social media. It's pretty messed up, right? Big issues there, for sure.
But you know what? There are some bright spots out there. In the last month or so, getting in touch with new people on Twitch, Twitter and Instagram has been more rewarding than I would have expected, based on what I know (and how old I am).
Recently, on my favorite of the socials- Instagram- I saw a post from an artist whose feed I've followed closely for a few years now, hydrosevenfour. I think I picked up on the feed originally because skulls- but also because the overall style was so unique yet so similar to my own. This post was basically "hey check out this rad skull- and go ahead and fill in the blank":
So I did.
First, I started with an outline to match Hydro's work, then I did a skull sketch, then I traced my sketch to do a full detail sketch.
I also did some roughs when the post first went out about a week ago, just after I got to the vacation spot I went to to see my fam in Pensacola, after GuardianCon. Those are not as great, but the idea was sparked then.
The main thrust of what I did was to add a ton of noise and layering and match up my sketch with Hydro's vector illustration.
Because of the (sort of) similarity in our work, I was able to mirror the symbol placement and vibe of the look, while integrating in a novel way by creating some overlap and noise into the original layer.
This was super fun to do, not least of all because it was such an honor to chat with Hydro during the process and hear back such nice things. The work on the various feeds (fonts, archive and random feeds) that pours out from this creative mind is one of the ones that keeps me going.
Big up and thanks for the opportunity to mess around in such a beautiful space with such a talented artist, Hydro!!!