Sketchavember - Tumblr Posts
I finally got round to putting my Sketchavember pictures on flickr, like I said I was going to ages ago! I drew one of my own characters every day, starting with the some of the oldest (created when I was 12 if you can believe it) and working my way forwards. I drew in really textbook shoujo manga style back then, so it was fun to try and make them all look reasonable in my current style. I realised early on that not only did I have a bad case of Only Six Faces, but I also never drew anyone who wasn't improbably attractive. I'm still not happy with how similar a lot of them look, and they're all waaaay too pretty, but I'm confident I can make them better - before this I wasn't at all sure it could even be done.
Anyway, I've posted them all with little descriptions of who each one is and how they've changed from their original design, so hopefully you'll enjoy reading about them.
If you're curious, the boy in the picture is Asmodeus, from day three, and he's the redesign I was most proud of. He used to have HUGE eyes and a little, childlike nose. Not to mention ears that were fairy-pointed instead of deformed-pointed. Turns out all this time it was mostly blushing that made him look like himself, I'd never have guessed!
Sketchavember 2012 - Part 1!
I missed doing Inktober because I was super-busy, so I decided to try to ink all my Sketchavember pictures instead. Last year I tried to draw all my characters, in age order, so I picked up where I left off. Then sort of wombled off topic. Anyway these are:
1 - Blackthorn, an elf in the Tolkein mold. I never did much with her but I quite like her design.
2 - Louise! She's got her own tag if you want more pictures of her. She lives in a pre-industrial time and has many encounters with fairies.
3 - Louise again. I was reading Hemlock and tried to draw her in the same style.
4 - And again! I'm not sure what happened to your face here Louise but I promise I'll never do it again! Louise is one of my characters in an arranged marriage, but she and Edward get on quite well. He doesn't believe in magic before they marry, and is much more uncomfortable with magic and the supernatural than she is.
5 - Franz, who doesn't appear very often on account of being hard to draw. He's very proud and hates showing any kind of weakness. He probably checked nobody was watching before blowing on his hands like that.
6 - Jemima, who appears more often on account of being fun to dress up. She has very low self-esteem and is bullied by her 'friends'.
7 - And then it was Friday so I drew Marceline the Vampire Queen!
8 - Lucas didn't come out great last year, so I tried again. This is much more on-model, although I still haven't worked out where his scars go.
9 - This is Lucas's sister, Lena, who has the gift of prophecy.
10 - At this point I'd started watching Gundam Wing, and had to try very hard not to just draw fanart for every subsequent picture. I could not resist drawing everyone's favourite pilot though.
Part 2 next week!
(Yeah yeah I know Sketchavember was months ago, but my scanner is old and senile and it took me a long time to get these onto my laptop.)
Sketchavember 2012 - Part 2!
11 - Chiihon, also known as 'Plant Girl' because she is a plant. A carnivorous one.
12 - Hephzibah! Finally on model! A witch from the North of England.
13 - Mirin, still not quite right. I'm trying to redesign him and I have one sketch that I like, which I'm constantly trying to replicate.
14 - Lucas again, as I was having another go at his scars. Still not right!
15 - And then I drew an alien! This is Kunin Ame (surname first) and I goofed up slightly while drawing him. His species don't quite fit into earth-based animal kingdoms, but he's loosely some kind of monotreme, so he shouldn't have a belly button.
16 - Patience! Sammy drew me a super-cute picture of her and I tried to use the same character model. It... didn't go so well.
17 - More Patience! This time I drew her in Carl's jumper.
18 - Patience once more, this time in a skirt that I want to make for myself. Oh Patience, I dress you in all the clothes I would like to have.
19 - This is BetaS15, also known as Bubbles or Bubblegum. He's a bio-android, who spent a lot of his life up to this point asleep in a vat.
20 - ...and Lillip, who has accidentally found him and woken him up. For these last two I was trying to work without guidelines.
Part 3, next week!
Sketchavember 2012 - Part 3!
21 - Meilee, my adorable and awkward factory girl. She always looks pretty gormless, because people leave you alone if they think you're an idiot.
22 - Lin, who came to the same conclusion in the boy's side of the factory. Also has the misfortune of being on the back of Jemima's page, which I shaded with markers.
23 - It got to about 11:30pm and I was falling asleep, then I remembered I hadn't done a picture, so I drew Coda falling asleep.
24 - I almost got through Sketchavember without drawing Duo again. Almost.
25 - Noone, the main character of a graphic novel which I planned and then scrapped. I still want to do something with the characters though.
26 - Haha, I tried to draw a demon but he kept going wrong, so I rubbed him out and drew an angel instead, which was a million times easier. I wonder if that says anything about my psyche.
27 - Ah, here's the demon.
28 - Having developed a character model for Hephzibah, I completely failed to make one for Gorse. Oh well.
29 - A Vrega, having a nice stretch.
30 - Last but not least, Kero. Originally he was some kind of alien that resembled a demon, but I've been thinking I might just make him a sort of feral demon instead.
And that was last year's Sketchavember! I hope you enjoyed this insight into my pathological fear of drawing anything that's not people. XD
Sketchavember - Day 1
Inktober is over, but Sketchavember follows right after! I already try to fill a sketchbook page every day, so I'm aiming to make sure every picture is something I'm happy to put online rather than a quick doodle only I will see.
Larkspur is an elf who lives in a marsh. Sympathy with their environment has turned all her people a muddy grey colour, and they look quite ill. They're happy there, though.
Sketchavember - Day 2
I haven't done a biro drawing in ages, it turned out better than I expected!
Isaac usually wears black for contrast, but I couldn't be bothered to draw proper clothes so he'll have to look more traditional for now.
Sketchavember - Day 3
I decided to try drawing the mirror twins in my normal style. They seemed to come out okay.
Sketchavember - Day 4
I was tired and ill yesterday, so I just doodled up whatever came into my head and boom! Sweetpea.
His ears are getting dry and will fall off soon. (Although I can't find any oaks near where I live so I'm not sure when they'll drop their leaves this year.)
Sketchavember - Day 6
I thought I'd try an environment picture, since I've been told that backgrounds are a weak spot of mine. I'm not too happy with this one either, that's two in a row! I'll have to try harder!
Don't drink the water.
Sketchavember - Day 7
I did something a little different, as I noticed my hands are looking a bit strange lately. Fun fact: I didn't want to just draw one hand and then copy it, so the pencil sketch for one of these was drawn with the wrong hand. It was hard! (I inked them both with my dominant hand though.)
I'm not happy with how this Sketchavember is shaping up compared to Inktober, I think I need to add a theme. Hmmm.
Sketchavember - Day 8
It's Shasta! I've been painting new postcards and naturally I included one of him, even though he's consistently the worst seller, because I love him and I'm going to keep drawing him until someone else does too, dammit.
Also, theme applied! All further Sketchavember pictures will be fantasy-themed (as opposed to sci-fi, horror etc.) supernatural themes may or may not count, I haven't decided. Expect fairies.
Sketchavember - Day 9
Hmm yes this is much better. I obviously have better ideas when I have a theme to provide some restrictions. Although I should have already know that since it's why I went into illustration instead of fine art. *facepalm*
The Crow Boy comes in through the window, never the door.
Sketchavember - Day 10
An actual sketch this time.
Since sympathy with their environment turned Larkspur's people a muddy, grey colour, and Fret is the same kind of elf, his people should look like the forest in some way. It's taken me so long to work out how to do that, and it doesn't even come across in black and white! *sob sob*
Sketchavember - Day 12
Asmodeus and Mirin are very old characters and still don't have consistent designs, but I think I'm slowly getting somewhere with them.
Sketchavember - Day 13
I realised the day before this that I have serious trouble drawing people leaning on other people, so I thought I'd better practice.
I don't think Caspian appreciates Felix's desire to share his napping spot.
Sketchavember - Day 14
Sweetpea don't pick it, you'll make it worse.
I think when his ears start to shed it's like when a scab has come off on one side, but the other side is still firmly attached. It's so annoying, but you know you'll regret it if you try to pull it off.
Sketchavember - Day 15
Continuing the theme of practicing things that are difficult, here's Nat in profile. I need more practice I think.
Sketchavember - Day 16
Oh Louise, I've done something weird to your face again.
I probably could have done more with this, but I was tired. Originally there were going to be some fairies behind the tree and things.
Sketchavember - Day 17
Coda attracts butterflies, although it's not clear why.