~How I improve my skills (Part 2)~

"Eww~What the hell is that?"
"You did this? It doesn’t resemble anything!"
"Ha!Ha!Ha!"
"Why do all your characters look the same? Is that a guy or a girl?"
"I think you should…would be better!"

Ever heard of these before during your art life? Yeah, me I’ve heard it loads. At the beginning, it’s really depressing, to a point that I just crushed my page and threw my pencil away, sat up in a corner and pissed off at any thing.

Yes, I have been through this, it is not a very good feeling, I admit, but in the end, I found that…it helped!

No, I did not mean pissing off at any thing helped! Haha, I meant the comments and critiques. Most of the times, they do not please the ears, YOUR ears, but when you give a thought about it, these comments and critiques do and will help you improve your skills, not only at art like I focused, but at anything!

Listen, (+calm down > w <), analyze and note down the different comments and critiques that you find will help you to improve your skills. Did they find your anatomy strange? Then practise! Did they find the color strange? Then practise again! Yes, back to the basics, practice! Draw on scrapped papers, and compare what you have drawn years ago, months ago, days ago and even hours ago, you’ll eventually find some differences!

"Wow, that’s awesome!"
"Love it, simply love it!"
"You’re the best!"
"Superbe! Cute! Cool! …etc (+other similar comments)"

Are these familiar to you too? Yes, indeed, they are very pleasing and encouraging for you to continue drawing. I call these as ‘simple comments’ and ‘appreciation’. I am not telling people not to be thankful to their admirers, but I would prefer them to tell me why or what did they like in my work, so that I am sure that I am still on the right track! Or suggest me where and what I can improve in, that’s even better!

I always liked to comment and give suggestions on works which impressed me or where I find there is the potential and room for improvement. No, I am not a professional, never will I be one. But if what I proposed has been taken into consideration, I would be very happy! Also, through observing other people’s work, inspiration will come to me~

Never fear of critiques, Request for them! They will aid a lot in improving your skills, for SURE!

Let’s comment and criticise!

~How I improve my skills (Part 1)~

I am not a professional at drawing, but I love drawing! This hobby de-stresses me very much, specially during exams, where not the notes but inspiration and ideas will fly through my head. I will grab them down using a page and a pencil~! Okay, not a very good example for those on exams, hehe~

So, what’s the basic of the basics?

Observation is unavoidably at first place. Depending on what you would like to draw, you must first observe, be it real object or fan arts or original characters. For example, female characters are my favorite, but, how to make them appear differently and not always detain the same traits? I observed different female characters, on magazines, in manga/anime, around my surrounding. It is never a bad idea to redraw them down, try to alter their looks to your own style until you find one that satisfies you.

Next, am sure you are already full of it…PRACTICE!

Practice, practice and practice till you can draw without having to actually refer to something. Knowing the traits of objects can aid much when drawing backgrounds, knowing how to situate the light source can help in deciding on the intensity of shadow, knowing how to mix up the different colors to produce different effects…all are based and learnt from observation. Yet, what has been observed has to be put into practice…so just practice already!

And I am still PRACTISING too~hehe~Are you with me?

~Alive 30 Days II~

Title: Alive 30 Days II
Total no. of pages: 42
Type: Ghost Fanatasy(?)
Time: 2005
Link: Alive 30 Days II
"Shocking News! Famous Singer Heero Kentsu has been found poisoned and confirmed dead after his body has been found at…” Indeed, a shocking news for Nanami Takeuchi, fan of Heero. But Nanami did not know what was reserved for her after one year, when she encountered Heero…in her room!
Yes, Alive 30 Days continues! With Nanami Takeuchi as main character, together with Kamui Saitoh, engage in the solving of the mystery of death of Heero Kentsu! What lies behind the truth? Let’s discover!
Alive 30 Days II has sort of a detective storyline that I wanted to try out, without much success, yet I had fun drawing the characters! Each with their personality~I specially like the part where Kyo got on his nerves and that his hat simply flew off! hehe~ > w <~!
This was the last complete manga that I did some years back. Currently onto some projects, which have been pending since quite a long time! And I hope to complete them one day, for sure!
Have a nice reading!