october art diary #10 ★ a corner of my room (animated version) <3
TODAY’S MIXTAPE:
TODAY’S PROMPT: VINYL
FIRST SKETCHES
The moment I saw the prompt word, my mind instantly went to my favorite corner of the room: my record player and vinyl setup. Without overthinking it, I sketched out the composition and everything just flowed perfectly right from the start.
I’m not sure if my choice to draw this scene at night was subconsciously inspired by the fact that I only ever play music on my record player after midnight, or if it’s because Taylor Swift’s Midnights vinyl is front and center in my collection, staring back at me every time I glance over. Honestly, it’s probably a mix of both, a little psychological nudge from my surroundings, haha.
HOME SETTING INSPIRATION
I always end up drawing inspiration from something personal in my illustrations, whether it’s a memory with my bestie, a place I visited, an outfit I wore, or even just a random photo I took. But as you can see below, for this piece I went full-on inspired by my own home setup.
Since this corner is so special to me, I wanted to include everything: the record player with a disc spinning, a plant, my vinyl collection, a painting in the background and even the perspective that shows the window behind it. To bring the whole vibe together, I also added a few extra treasures, layers of lighting and small details to create the perfect mood, but more on that later xx
LO-FI AESTHETIC INSPIRATION
Aside from being inspired by my favorite corner of the room, I’ve always wanted to try my hand at creating a lo-fi inspired illustration, the kind you see on those Youtube chill mix playlists (I practically lived on those during high school while reading or drawing for school). And since the prompt theme was “midnight” related, I couldn’t resist channeling that energy into this illustration.
Here are some snapshots to get the vibe xx
BASE COLORS VS DETAILS & TEXTURES
With every new illustration I post, I always say it was the most fun to make, but I swear, this one was the most fun yet, haha.
I love playing with moody lighting where it's not fully dark but not bright outside either, the kind of illustration where I get to experiment with different sources — whether it’s something upfront like the lava lamp, a little bulb in the background or even the moonlight reflecting on objects by the window. I’m absolutely obsessed with all the lighting effects.
After laying down the base colors, I focused on adding as much shadow and highlight as I could to really bring out the depth. Then, I added the usual grain effect which I think ties everything together perfectly. My favorite part of the illo is right in the center, where the plants meet the glass with the pink drink, and of course, the Midnights vinyl which took me forever to sketch and make it look recognizable but not too obvious, haha.
And, even though I don’t actually own a lava lamp (thanks to some tiktok horror stories about them exploding), it has become such a staple in my illustrations. So here’s a little lava lamps appreciation moment, I’m absolutely obsessed with them <3
FAV FALL ALBUMS CAMEO
You know by now that my favorite part of every illustration is adding those fun little details that make the piece feel extra special, so for this illo I couldn’t resist sneaking in three of my favorite fall albums: Midnights, Evermore and GUTS. I wanted to kept them subtle so they don’t steal the spotlight and I think I did a pretty good job at blending them in with the lighting.
MULTIPLE VERSIONS TURNING LOOP ANIMATION?
Even though I spent hours working on this illustration, once I started experimenting with lighting I got so caught up in it that I ended up with too many versions I couldn’t choose from. So, my go to fix for when I’m stuck with lighting choices (it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it really does) is to turn the illustration into a loop animation, giving each lighting version its moment in the spotlight.
With the lo-fi inspiration I had, animating this piece actually felt like the natural thing to do, I don’t know how I didn’t think of it from the start. So I dove straight into it, and while I know I could’ve used a simpler technique in Procreate or After Effects, I chose the hard route and redrew every detail I wanted to move, woops? The moment I’ll stop choosing the more complicated methods it will be over for everyone, but until then, it took me about 45 minutes to prep every frame which I opened into a new Procreate project to let the magic happen.
Confession: I was so excited to post this illustration and I was so proud to see that I still remembered how to animate (I used to do it a lot in uni but lately not as much), that I didn’t have the patience to animate everything I initially planned. I ended up settling for just the stars out the window and the spinning vinyl. So before I show you how it turned out, here’s a look at the four non-animated versions ((my personal fave is the second one)) <3
AND THERE SHE GOES <3
FINAL PIECE, CLOSEUPS & ANIMATED VERSION
