shade in the shade 🏝 (art by me; nintenDann)
Hi all, this is an artwork for u/Elite_Shade of their character, Shade, the maine coon cat! Being a full artistic freedom comm, they wanted to see my interpretation of Shade, which I’m always grateful for when folks grant me that. It’s been a while since I’ve done these write-ups, so please excuse the roughness and enjoy! (/≧▽≦)/
From my first impressions of Shade, I interpreted them as someone super cool and fresh, from the sleek black jacket, which I interpreted as having the same aura as a turtleneck sweater, to the sick shades Shade wears. I was also a huge fan of the colors Shade has, utilizing appealing grays and white together and blending them well onto a sona! Most of the references provided also had lots of airplane motifs, which fit the aviator glasses Shade has.
This was a super cool character with clear connections to airplane motifs. I asked myself, “Do I double down on how cool they are, or do I add a cute, lil twist?” While sketching, I came up with two ideas, one as a POV-shot more akin to my previous drawings, where the character/sona interacts with the viewer through gesture and dialogue. In this context, Shade is offering an ice cream cone with airplane motifs in the ice cream. The other is a cooler pose with Shade looking down towards the camera, holding his glasses up as a plane flies by. “So smug, so cool.” This would have a lot more emphasis on the background. Ultimately, Shade decided to go with the latter, which I gladly accepted!
Following up on the sketch, I took reference photos of myself in a chair, holding my glasses in one hand, but I was not sure what to do with the other. I needed something *cool.* My little nephew suggested I hold a book in one hand, handed me a copy of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Coincidentally, when I asked Shade what Book they wanted for their sona to hold, it was also Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (maybe I oughta give compensation to my nephew for his idea 😂).
For this piece’s composition, I really wanted to emphasize the foreground, middle ground, and background. I hope the elements, like the leaves in the front, convey a sense of depth. I think, next time, I will play around with the colors a bit more to emphasize the artwork’s depth through contrast! Definitely let me know what you think, though!
Here’s a link to my page on BlueSky, featuring this artwork:
https://bsky.app/profile/nintendann.bsky.social/post/3mma7wyhclc2n
If you like the look of my art, please feel free to look through my other artworks! I do not have slots for artistic freedom comms open just yet, but if you are interested, I will be announcing a few slots opening on my Bluesky. However, right now, I am offering a surreal, goofy chicken combo YCH. So if you are interested, please check my BlueSky and Carrd!
Thanks so much for reading! See you on the flip side!