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Here we are at the start of another year! I love looking back at my art year to see what I've accomplished. It's been a productive year!

January [link] I resolved myself at the beginning of the year to find a way to do more stuff around my art instead of allowing my figures to float in white space. I took a tip from Naoko's artbooks and decided to go mixed media. This was one of my first experiments where I drew on semi-transparent paper then put colored paper behind it. It was fun for sure! I wish I had thought about the pose a bit more before starting though - I still don't like that her hand has to go through her hair (it's not very convincing).

February [link] Another thing I wanted to work on this year was facial expressions. Instead of drawing the same kind of face over and over I wanted to try to mix it up. This was a great opportunity because the commissioned characters fit into the dramatic situation. I don't think it really translated well... still something I need to keep working on, but I'm glad I've made the effort!

March [link] One of my New Years resolutions from 2011 was to make a Sailormoon poster with all 10 main senshi on it. I started it almost right away and I was really excited about it. I actually think the Saturn and Pluto image came out better than these two, but I chose to include Uranus and Neptune because it is another example of mixed media space. I cut them out of the paper they were drawn on and glued them onto some fancy scrapbook paper. It's a technique I enjoy and I will keep using it! (Saturn and Pluto were too big for scrapbook paper so they were digitally placed on their BG).

April [link] I watched a couple of great anime series this year! Nanoha is a show I really wasn't sure I would like but in the end, I loved it! I'm glad I had the chance to draw something from Nanoha and try out some different eyes. The outfits in the show are much more detailed than something like Sailormoon so I think it's good practice for me.

May [link] Continuing with my effort to try more dynamic poses and facial expressions, I used this commission to really play it up. I also tried to focus on adding in some reflected light and color in this drawing which wasn't something I really thought about much in my illustration before then.

June [link] Another part of 2011 was my motivation to start drawing more of my own original art as opposed to all fanart. I've pretty much used my illustration for fanart. I've never really considered it to be a medium for originality for me, but because Otakon had some original art requirements (and because my friends encouraged me) I decided to give it my all on a few original works. I was really happy with the feedback from people and I've really grown to love Bobbin as a character. I look forward to making more art of her in 2012!

July [link] Another fun stab at something original. I struggle with designing things so there were a lot of emotional ups and downs with this one. In the end I do like it. It's one of a series of drawings inspired by music I like that I plan to do.

August [link] Apparently I didn't get a lot of drawing done in August, but I'm happy to feature this chibi drawing! 2011 was the first year I really started to find a chibi style I like. It's still something I'm working on, but doing chibi commissions at cons has helped a lot. I also really loved Ouran. xD

September [link] Really proud of this image. At some point *jia-flynn rightfully started giving me crap about my noses and how lame they were (so lame haha). It sunk in finally so I started trying to put some more thought into them. I really like how this face came out with the freckles and all (don't get to do that too much), and I liked the pose too, with it's subtle perspective.

October [link] The thing I actually liked the most about this drawing was the weapon so please check it out if you haven't seen the full view. I felt silly making the weapon the focus of the preview but I think it's a bit cooler than the face haha. Not the best nose here but I do like the sort of smirk she has. I want to keep working on facial expressions.

November [link] I think this is the best thing I made in 2011. I don't have much more to say about it. I'm so fucking proud of this drawing like what.

December [link] Keeping up with the trying to do noses thing. I really like how the shading on this came out, especially now that I'm starting to mix in a few deeper tones into the skin. I'm also totally into the shadow the hair casts on the shirt. Just little things like that which I hope to keep growing in my art this year!

Plushie Summary:

Description
Here we are at the start of another year! I love looking back at my art year to see what I've accomplished. It's been a productive year!

January [link] I resolved myself at the beginning of the year to find a way to do more stuff around my art instead of allowing my figures to float in white space. I took a tip from Naoko's artbooks and decided to go mixed media. This was one of my first experiments where I drew on semi-transparent paper then put colored paper behind it. It was fun for sure! I wish I had thought about the pose a bit more before starting though - I still don't like that her hand has to go through her hair (it's not very convincing).

February [link] Another thing I wanted to work on this year was facial expressions. Instead of drawing the same kind of face over and over I wanted to try to mix it up. This was a great opportunity because the commissioned characters fit into the dramatic situation. I don't think it really translated well... still something I need to keep working on, but I'm glad I've made the effort!

March [link] One of my New Years resolutions from 2011 was to make a Sailormoon poster with all 10 main senshi on it. I started it almost right away and I was really excited about it. I actually think the Saturn and Pluto image came out better than these two, but I chose to include Uranus and Neptune because it is another example of mixed media space. I cut them out of the paper they were drawn on and glued them onto some fancy scrapbook paper. It's a technique I enjoy and I will keep using it! (Saturn and Pluto were too big for scrapbook paper so they were digitally placed on their BG).

April [link] I watched a couple of great anime series this year! Nanoha is a show I really wasn't sure I would like but in the end, I loved it! I'm glad I had the chance to draw something from Nanoha and try out some different eyes. The outfits in the show are much more detailed than something like Sailormoon so I think it's good practice for me.

May [link] Continuing with my effort to try more dynamic poses and facial expressions, I used this commission to really play it up. I also tried to focus on adding in some reflected light and color in this drawing which wasn't something I really thought about much in my illustration before then.

June [link] Another part of 2011 was my motivation to start drawing more of my own original art as opposed to all fanart. I've pretty much used my illustration for fanart. I've never really considered it to be a medium for originality for me, but because Otakon had some original art requirements (and because my friends encouraged me) I decided to give it my all on a few original works. I was really happy with the feedback from people and I've really grown to love Bobbin as a character. I look forward to making more art of her in 2012!

July [link] Another fun stab at something original. I struggle with designing things so there were a lot of emotional ups and downs with this one. In the end I do like it. It's one of a series of drawings inspired by music I like that I plan to do.

August [link] Apparently I didn't get a lot of drawing done in August, but I'm happy to feature this chibi drawing! 2011 was the first year I really started to find a chibi style I like. It's still something I'm working on, but doing chibi commissions at cons has helped a lot. I also really loved Ouran. xD

September [link] Really proud of this image. At some point *jia-flynn rightfully started giving me crap about my noses and how lame they were (so lame haha). It sunk in finally so I started trying to put some more thought into them. I really like how this face came out with the freckles and all (don't get to do that too much), and I liked the pose too, with it's subtle perspective.

October [link] The thing I actually liked the most about this drawing was the weapon so please check it out if you haven't seen the full view. I felt silly making the weapon the focus of the preview but I think it's a bit cooler than the face haha. Not the best nose here but I do like the sort of smirk she has. I want to keep working on facial expressions.

November [link] I think this is the best thing I made in 2011. I don't have much more to say about it. I'm so fucking proud of this drawing like what.

December [link] Keeping up with the trying to do noses thing. I really like how the shading on this came out, especially now that I'm starting to mix in a few deeper tones into the skin. I'm also totally into the shadow the hair casts on the shirt. Just little things like that which I hope to keep growing in my art this year!

Plushie Summary: