A few months ago, we experienced the summer heat so I came up with the idea to draw something refreshing. I was thinking of drawing an ice cream because it's something refreshing and attractive at the same time. This artwork is one of the drawings I made for the Spice NFT project I am working for.
SKETCH
While I was conceptualizing this drawing, I'm thinking of a tricolored ice cream to make it more colorful and attractive. I made it huge to emphasize its attractiveness. I came up with the idea to make the subject cute to match the ice cream so I made a chibi drawing. This is inspired from Japanese anime. Chibi means kid or baby face. I made something like this for a change since I often draw adults.
LINEART
For the lineart, I only used black on the subject. For the ice cream, I used colors that are close to its base colors. I chose the tongue out gesture for this chibi guy to make him look cute and to give the impression that the ice cream is appetizing.
BASE COLORS
Since I am thinking of a tricolored ice cream, I want a combination of bright colors that look attractive for a dessert but not a girly one since the subject is a boy. I came up with the shades of yellow and orange. I imagine a combination of vanilla and citrus flavors. Cream for vanilla, yellow for lemon and yellow orange for orange flavor. I used cool colors for the chibi guy to give him more of a male look and give contrast to the bright colored ice cream. Blue and yellow shades give the summer vibes so these colors match the season when I drew this.
THE EYES
I want to put a bit of emphasis on the eyes because I finally learned the technique for me to achieve the coloring style I want for the eyes. It shows clearly in this drawing since the eyes are big. After choosing the base color, I put some shading using two dark shades. I used airbrush tool to give it a smooth texture.
For the final touch, I used a basic brush then I selected my desired size to create the white circles with one tap. I did the same for the light blue circles at the bottom. In the drawing software I use (Krita), the main purpose of the Gaussian Blur effect is to add glow on some objects in the drawing. I experimented on it, hoping to achieve the soft glossy look on the eyes like the ones I see in anime and it's actually effective. Learning about this helped me achieve the overall look I want for the eyes. I've been doing this consistently from the time I learned about it.
SHADING
I apply cel shading in the chibi subject like what we usually see in anime since it's my style. For the ice cream, I used a little blending to give it a bit of soft look because I find more suitable for foods. This is also the reason why I did not use black for its lineart. I got this idea from the food games I played before and based on my observation when I watch anime. I completed its details by adding the toppings for the finishing touch. Since it's a spicy ice cream, I added the chili at the center as garnish. I got this idea from our local chili ice cream found in Bicol province. That place is known for hot and spicy dishes and I found out that they put such twist in their ice cream. Their spicy ice cream is usually pink. I just made this drawing a tricolored one for a change. Another purpose of the chili is to comply with the requirements of the project because we are required to incorporate it in our drawings.
THE FINAL RESULT
I added the background to complete the artwork. A simple background is enough for this drawing since the ice cream is already decorative. I just came up with a gradient purple background to make the colors of the drawing stand out while it matches the shades of blue and yellow. Here's the final result of the cute and refreshing chili ice cream.
This Spice NFT is still available.
Here's the link where you can find this artwork:
https://spicenft.art/artwork/373
