The Year of Art in Review

January:

I finally, successfully drew feet.
                                       
And a hand holding a gun.

Mature Content

 
And I started forcing myself to (very hesitantly) play with lighting.                                         

 Really, I made some pictures I was very proud of in that month.

February:


I really started experimenting with my shading, and digital painting. Using dark purples on a multiply layer set at a low opacity gave me some really n ice shadows.
It became important to me that I try to get out of the habit of my static, re-used poses.


March:

 
I started really focusing on complimenting shades in backgrounds and playing with the effectiveness of representing light and color in easy backgrounds. I was working on lots of busts, discovering the way I like to shade faces, mouths, eyes.
 And I got to work with my collaborator’s inks, playing with blurry, out of focus backgrounds behind other’s crisp inks over my own sketchy lines.

April was a month when I really, really started doing some pieces I was very proud of.
 
I started checking out Colour Lovers a lot for pallette ideas. My lines were still really messy, but I was definitely  getting smoother with my shading.
 I figured out that by using the preserve opacity tool in Sai, I could change the lines of a picture, using my own messy lines as texture in a piece.

April was also the month that Edjnr did my most favorite collaborative piece ever, taking three of my sketches and making... well... the most awesome thing in the world.

So rad.

May was a busy month for me, but not artwise.

I spent more time being a chef than a doodler, but I felt like I was still an artist. Though I didn't get a lot of coloring done, I did some great sketches during that month that I'm just now going back to for coloring.

Thankfully, Edjnr to the rescue once more!

I've mentioned this before, and I'm sure it'll come up again in the future, but let's say it together now: Goddamn, Ed is insanely talented.

Unfortunately, June was a bad month for me for drawing. I was working a whole lot. It's sad to see that stress take it's toll on my creative output. In June, the only picture I uploaded was a sketch of Phoebe Blackwood with her dog. 


But July! July was when the spark came back, in part inspired by Phoebe's chunky, chunky hair. And butt.



Finally, August was a return to form. And also a return to Celeste. Drawing Celeste relaxes me. It's like making a dish I've already made a thousand times. My favorite dish. Though I'd fallen in love with Phoebe's hair.


September had a shift to cooler colors for me.


But then October! Cruel October! I didn't feel like coloring ANYTHING!

Thankfully, November was a little better as I got back into a normal-ish sleeping schedule and a little less crazy on the hours at work.


December has been a much, MUCH better month for me. I have been slowly re-teaching myself all the things I forgot in my slump, and getting back into the habit of drawing lots and lots. I'm trying to push myself to have much cleaner, smoother shading next year! Maybe some cleaner lines!


Happy New Year, and thanks for all the watches, favorites, and comments!