Sula's Sketchbook

[Ursula Dorada]

@Lyraina: The focus was storytelling through pose and light, so they're all from imagination :) They also had to be pretty closed-in portraits, so not a lot of shoulder or props. On the color comps, they're just quick thumbs so the anatomy is really off! And on this last one, I was very lazy I didn't use reference. I am bad like that lol
Someday I'll learn. Or not.

Here, for PD2 assignment. Oatley is trying really hard to get the damn edges things through my thick skull, but I really can't grasp the concept.
Here is my problem: if you say soft/lost edge, my mind thinks of it as a blur. But I think there is an incentive to use more looser brushwork - the problem is, visible brushtrokes means lots of hard edges. So when he ask me to "soften up those edges" I end up overdoing the brushwork to... blur it up. So my edge is now soft my brushwork got lost in the process.
So yeah, it was why I short-circuited when he asked me to do studies in full soft edges. Why would I do something out of focus? Seems nonsense.
So the whole loose brushwork came into play and I though I was getting it right, but in the end of day, I simply cannot make it work on a f*cking portrait. It creates a lot of unwanted texture OR makes it look like a sketch.

I don't know man, I'm too dumb for this