Dove's Journal #1 - Hello there (Patreon)

We were talking and thought it’d be fun to share some journal entries here on Patreon from time to time—more personal, more casual. Since it was my idea, I’m the guinea pig for this little experiment!

I’m DoveWithShortz, but just call me Dove. I’m AfterDark’s artist and a Graphic Designer from Brazil who recently took the leap into illustration part-time! I still consider myself an amateur—there’s so much I want to learn about drawing, composition, and all that fun stuff. But hey, you’ve got to start somewhere, right? I’ve been drawing my whole life, but never really had the time to study proper techniques, so most of what I know comes from winging it. Need a wet effect? Time to dive into Pinterest, sift through half-baked YouTube tutorials, and just... see what happens! Hahahaha.

I’m really happy with our first release, and now that we’re closing in on our first major update, I can actually see my progress—which is super exciting! I feel like I’m getting better at keeping the character models consistent and more confident in playing around with different expressions and angles. But my biggest enemies as an artist? Hands. No—backgrounds. No, actually, both.

Backgrounds are tricky because simpler ones don’t quite mesh with my shading style, and my grasp of environmental coloring is, uh... let’s call it a work in progress. At the same time, I feel like my style demands more detailed backgrounds—but pulling that off? That’s a whole different battle. Still, I’m not giving up! This scene is my next challenge—wish me luck.