{"id":7215,"date":"2025-07-08T12:39:50","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/?p=7215"},"modified":"2025-08-04T19:35:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T02:35:30","slug":"arquel-paintover-july-8-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/2025\/07\/arquel-paintover-july-8-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Arquel Paintover | July 8, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_7216\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7216\" style=\"width: 532px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2025paintover-wip1-web.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7216 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2025paintover-wip1-web.png\" alt=\"Digital painting of a front-facing male figure sneering at the camera. He has a desaturated blue color scheme, more saturated and the lips and eyes, the eyes shining scarlet. \" width=\"532\" height=\"950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2025paintover-wip1-web.png 532w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2025paintover-wip1-web-168x300.png 168w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 532px) 100vw, 532px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7216\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2025 paintover of a 2021 painting | Work-in-progress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I&#8217;ve had this drawing of Arquel around for several years, that I first did during one of the days for <a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/2021\/11\/paintober-2021\/\" rel=\"\">&#8220;Paint-ober&#8221;<\/a> in 2021. This was a daily painting challenge I made up for myself during October of that year (if it existed prior, I don&#8217;t think I saw anyone participating that year). I was inspired to try this challenge by the ubiquitous &#8220;Inktober&#8221; which used to be in vogue years back. Ironically, I decided to do my own, non-ink challenge at the time, because I didn&#8217;t have interest in doing line or &#8220;ink&#8221; drawings back then. Oh, how making comic pages has transformed me! Haha.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll always adore painting, of course &#8211; it&#8217;s still what I am more comfortable with. Anyway, I always liked the concept behind this Paint-ober Arquel painting &#8211; I mainly thought the color palette turned out in a pleasing way. I intended to finish the painting after the month-long challenge, and I did fuss around with it here and there, afterward.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Below are the original and an earlier version:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-7215 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-full'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2023paintover-wip-web.png'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"532\" height=\"950\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2023paintover-wip-web.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-7217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2023paintover-wip-web.png 532w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2023paintover-wip-web-168x300.png 168w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 532px) 100vw, 532px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-7217'>\n\t\t\t\t2023 paintover &#8211; this is how the file looked when I opened it today\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-web.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"532\" height=\"950\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-web.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-7218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-web.jpg 532w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-web-168x300.jpg 168w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 532px) 100vw, 532px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-7218'>\n\t\t\t\tOriginal 2021 painting\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>My dilemma with this painting is it always felt like it was &#8220;almost there&#8221; to me, but never &#8220;there.&#8221; I felt that with the original drawing, and also with the 2023 version (this version is how the file looked when I opened it today). This caused me to set this painting aside for long stretches of time, and dabble with it infrequently &#8211; with years-long stretches, apparently!&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I had the random urge to revisit it again today &#8211; from the filename, for the first time since 2023. And now, there&#8217;s the current 2025 version, at the top of this post.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I still don&#8217;t think it is &#8220;quite there,&#8221; but each time, I think it&#8217;s veering closer. These paintovers are fun for me, though rather self-indulgent, as it would probably make better sense for me to start a new painting of the same idea, at this point. But, I am enjoying fiddling with this painting now and again, because I enjoy seeing what I would do differently each time, compared to the last time I opened the painting. The 2023 version I started approaching faces differently &#8211; slightly more defined forms and shadows &#8211; which I think is further developed in the 2025 version today. Today&#8217;s version also had much higher contrast compared to how it looks now &#8211; I might update this post with that version to compare.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And here it is:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7222\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7222\" style=\"width: 532px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2025paintover-wip0-web.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7222\" src=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2025paintover-wip0-web.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"532\" height=\"950\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2025paintover-wip0-web.png 532w, https:\/\/lizliu.com\/sketchblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2021.10.26-arquel-2025paintover-wip0-web-168x300.png 168w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 532px) 100vw, 532px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7222\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2025 paintover, earlier version with higher contrast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There are some things I think might work better in this version, but I&#8217;m leaning toward exploring more of the subtler, more atmospheric tone of the one at the top of the post.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve had this drawing of Arquel around for several years, that I first did during one of the days for &#8220;Paint-ober&#8221; in 2021. This was a daily painting challenge I made up for myself during October of that year (if it existed prior, I don&#8217;t think I saw anyone participating that year). I was inspired<span class=\"excerpt-ellipsis\">&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/2025\/07\/arquel-paintover-july-8-2025\/\" itemprop=\"url\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[300,475,618],"class_list":["post-7215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-art","category-work-in-progress","tag-arquel","tag-paintober","tag-paintovers"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Landy","author_link":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/author\/liz\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/category\/digital-art\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Digital Art<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/category\/work-in-progress\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Work-In-Progress<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"I&#8217;ve had this drawing of Arquel around for several years, that I first did during one of the days for &#8220;Paint-ober&#8221; in 2021. This was a daily painting challenge I made up for myself during October of that year (if it existed prior, I don&#8217;t think I saw anyone participating that year). I was inspired...Continue&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7215"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7235,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7215\/revisions\/7235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/landylachs.com\/sketchblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}