I ask that you prepare yourself for some very old artwork. I wanted to present the wonderful people on Steemit a history of my artwork and see where I have come from. Please be warned: these are all mostly very ugly.
█ The Journey
I do not have much digital artwork pre-dating 2007, when I was first presented with a tablet. As soon as I had been gifted with a tablet to draw with, I had pretty much abandoned the pen & paper. I would of course doodle in notebooks and texts during class, but I stopped attempting to learn more about any traditional tools.
Year 2003
Ah yes, the horrid elementary school years. I was a huge manga fan back in my younger years. I took a lot of inspiration from Shaman King. There was one artwork where I attempted to draw a character from there. That is all I remember, LOL.
Year 2005
I unfortunately could not find anything from 2004. I probably read too much manga to really care about drawing. This was an original character I was developing for my own comic, now forgotten. He was based off a real friend I knew.
Year 2006
Remember how I said I did not have a tablet until 2007? Yes, that is true. This artwork from 2006 was all done with a mouse and Photoshop (pen tool). This was when I first had access to Photoshop and was playing around with the program. Someone had taught me how to use the pen tool, and I experimented with it. It took many hours, but I was really proud of myself back then. This character is a guy; I was very much into yaoi as a child. *cough*
Year 2007
I'm not sure if there are any other digital artwork from 2007, so I chose one that I noticed. This was my last traditional artwork in which I colored. It was a fan art of a comic series from an artist whom I sincerely admired for years.
Year 2008
About 6 months into using a tablet, I finally figured out how to really use it. I was at a stage where I would look up tutorials for everything. So all those luminescent grass strokes and illuminating moon was from a graphics effect tutorial I found. This was used for an English assignment haha.
Year 2009
I remember the exact moment when I first discovered the program Paint Tool SAI. A friend had gifted me a copy and I heard so many raving reviews about it that I was SO excited to test it out. SAI is known for its ability to imitate a "watercolor" effect and have better pen pressure than Photoshop. I experimented a lot with colors and blending. I looked up custom brushes that other artists used, and played around with those as well.
Year 2010
Getting more and more familiar with SAI, I began to experiment to try to make a "watercolor" effect. I always found watercolor, washed out, and other blended styles of art so beautiful. This is where I tested it out the most. I also began to use thinner lines for my inking and more details in the hair. I shifted away from the "cute" look and to a more "mature" look.
Year 2011
More color testing here! I went back to my cute style this year, and tried to understand more about clothes. I thought more folds meant that the clothing would look more realistic. (That is not always true!)
Year 2012
I remember that this year was dedicated to learning more about the "soft" coloring styles and shading. I wanted to truly make my artwork seem blended well, and overall softer. I spent the most time probably on the hair and skirt, trying to figure out how to shade them so that it looked best.
Year 2012
This is another artwork from the same year, 2012, but a few months later. I chose this one because I shift away from lots of "shine" and "highlights" that you see in the previous picture. Here I cut back and used a more simpler shading, but while keeping it soft looking.
Year 2013
This was made near the end of 2013. It was a time when I appreciated the more realistic art style a lot more. I was very influenced by Korean manga and seinen manga. I wanted to replicate their imagery in the face so I used different techniques (like varied inking in corners of clothes and hair). I also reverted back to including more "complicated" hair details, with more believable placement.
Year 2014
I seem so wishy-washy going back and forth from a cute art style to a mature art style, but as an artist, testing out different methods helps you grow! I went back to the simplistic idea but with much more blending, watercolor effects, and vibrant colors! I added shades of every color into this (as much as I could). For example, in the eye, you can see green, yellow, red, purple, blue, pink, etc. This is where I began my love for neon & vibrant colors!
Year 2015
I actually slowed down my art at this point. After 2014, I pretty much stopped drawing. That is... until the visual novel Amnesia: Memories came out by idea factory! I was absolutely ENAMORED with the art style that I bought 10 art books by their artist(s) (costed like $300, ouch), shipped directly from Japan. I rigorously studied the art style and tried to replicate as much as I could. I did this for about 2 months until I stopped art again.
Year 2016
It wasn't until Inktober (October) 2016 came around again that I picked up drawing once more. At the end of 2015, I stopped drawing at all. I hadn't touched my tablet in about 1 year. I focused on the "real world" and I was busy with juggling a job, school, and other activities. I had ZERO time for art. Then, I recently reconnected with a friend from high school who still kept up with her art, and she inspired me to go back to it.
Year 2017
Haha, now I have gone back to the cute style and tried to test more on the blending coloring style again! I have been really trying to improve my coloring and that is why the coloring here I am very proud of. Although it is not exactly where I want to be, I think it is closer to where I hope to be.
█ Conclusion
All the Anime Artwork you have seen in my blog was from October 2016 and forward. It was thanks to my friend that I got back into my art and started drawing again! I don't draw as much anymore (maybe once a month or so), but I am very thankful to her that I started drawing again.
I hope it was interesting to see my progress from when I first started drawing in 2003 until now! I would often stop for many months and come back to it again after watching YouTube videos or tutorials or speedpaints. 90% of the time, I would only "study" other people's styles for about 3~4 months and then try drawing from everything I could remember!
