Moon angel lineart

 I traced over an old drawing from middle school. Feel free to color!

Starry Hair 2025

 

 

 

Here's the original from 2005. I wanted my redraw to be as close as possible to the original. The concept was inspired by the art of Yuu Watase.
 

20 years on Deviantart

 

I drew this to commemorate 20 years on Deviantart. On the left is my friend's OC Kiva the wolf demon. On the right is my OC Sakura the cat demon.

Kiva and Sakura lineart

I drew this to commemorate 20 years on Deviantart. On the left is my friend's OC Kiva the wolf demon. On the right is my OC Sakura the cat demon.

- Colored version here.

Mermaid Warrior

Me 'n' Nikki update

Adding the next layer of paint was so satisfying! The blue shorts are still quite bright, but I emphasized other details since my last session. I can't get over how much better this looks than the original painting. I still want to add another layer of details once this new paint has dried. Other than that, she is quite close to completion. 

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Me and Nikki update

I ended up coloring this all in one go, so now I can wait for it to dry. I had a lot of fun working on this one, and the subject matter is very dear to me too. It looks so much better than the original painting, and I am also glad I fixed Nikki's face. I'm finally getting comfortable with how I draw cats.

Main colors used:

• Titanium buff (Cobra) - general white
• Persian Rose (Cobra) - shirt and shorts
• Naples yellow light (Cobra) - Nikki
• Naples yellow (W&N) - skin (lighter tone)
• Naples yellow red (Cobra) skin (darker tone)
• Yellow ochre (W&N) hair
• Cadmium red hue (W&N) 
• Burnt sienna (W&N)
• Phthalo blue (W&N) shorts

Even though the painting is incomplete, I still think it looks quite nice as it is. The blue shorts are very loud, but once I add in the other details it won't feel like the main focus. There are a lot of things I would still like to do to this painting.

• Add red stripes to shirt
• Emphasize Nikki's orange-ness
• Add hints of blue or green to the staircase
• Fine-tune details and outlines
• Small color corrections
• Shading on face
• Make foot smaller
• Fix Nikki's front paws

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Me 'n' Nikki, redux

I started this all the way back in May 2021 and then forgot about it. I was very unhappy with the result of the original painting and decided to start over completely.

Here is the original drawing. I drew it digitally, then transferred the image to canvas using a projector. Which seems like it would be the smart thing to do, but it was such a pain to set up that it isn't really worth it. 

Here is where I left off, two years ago. I painted in the background and let it dry for so long I forgot this painting existed until the other day when I went through some canvases in the closet.

I've been itching to try out all my newly acquired painting techniques, so after a two year hiatus I'm going to finally get some work done on this. First things first: fix that cat's face!

The underpainting / imprimatura technique has been an absolute game changer. It's fun mapping out the values ahead of time and keeps me from rushing through the early stages of the process. I used various sienna and umbers in water-mixable oil paint. I also washed over the stairs backdrop to give it a more vibrant tint. I'll most likely go over it again to add some texture, but that can wait.

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Sakura and Michie

A doodle of my childhood OC, Sakura. And, her loyal sidekick, Nikki Michie! I would love to draw a full artwork of her as if presenting it as a gift to my younger self; I'd make it look like the awesome anime art I drooled over during my childhood. 

Me 'n' Nikki

I took a painting class at my local college, but didn't audit it (whoops) so I had to actually participate in class assignments. But nothing wrong with that. The teacher was cool and I always had fun in the class.

For this assignment, the prompt was to paint from an old family photo. Naturally, I chose a recently discovered photo of myself with Nikki from 2003.

Then, we would use the Zorn palette to give it an 'aged' look, fitting for the theme of the painting. The Zorn palette consists of: Yellow ochre; Titanium white; Ivory black; and Cadmium Red. The cool thing about this palette is that it creates a full spectrum of colors, including the suggestion of blue and green, despite them not actually being there. Isn't that cool?

Luckily I saved some progress shots. I did the under-drawing in alcohol marker, which I DO NOT recommend - over time, it permeates through the paint. So if you made a mistake, the paint will only cover it up for so long.

Not my best work but I do love how Nikki came out. I also love how child-Mel's shorts appear blue despite there being no blue in my palette. I think this Zorn guy was on to something!

Middle school randomness

Maybe it's because I'm on the spectrum, but in middle school I had so many inside jokes with myself. I was a quiet student but there was a lot of weird stuff going through my head.

Doodling characters as cats

Took Japanese in middle school. Kuruma no shita ni XYZ ga imasu. I ran with it.

I was obsessed with the guy from this video. Bubb Rubb

Yay for over-explaining the joke.

Tellissian OC group picture

This is directly based off of a previous OekakiBBS drawing (it's the first image) which was in turn inspired by Yuu Watase. These are my Tellissian OCs: 

• Blue haired girl: Marawe (design ancestor of Herrington)
• Red haired girl in upper right corner: Ebak (design ancestor of Emily)
• Girl with veil: Chauntelle
• Red haired guy in lower right corner: Enci (design ancestor of Mr Cass)
• Bottom middle: Steimei (I'm seeing lots of parallels between her and Princess)
• Green haired guy: Kizus (who are you again)
• Pink haired girl: Naoyo
• Middle: Joaijihag - I reused assets from this picture.

The only character whose design has remained relatively unchanged is Naoyo. Everyone else here is essentially an ancient ancestor of their current incarnations, or I haven't drawn them in like 15 years.

This was done at the start of eighth grade. I was beginning my edgy middle schooler phase. Good times!

WHY DOES NOBODY LOOK AT MY ART????

 Also me:

Champagne supernova

A colored artwork from the summer of 2006. I was heavily inspired by the art of Zeiva. I think it would be fun to revisit this someday.

Gaia Online commissions and art trades

God I miss middle school. Wait no I don't.

Don't think you're all that and a bag of potato chips!

I started taking commissions in 2006, in the form of Gaia Online currency. This was during the site's golden age before things went way south. Here's a link to a really great video by Red Bard documenting the site's history. 

Next: Art trades with fellow Deviants. 

My art trade partner told me to draw whatever. I don't remember a specific prompt. I drew my cat Nikki in the basket. Also, I do like the coloring in this one, especially on her hair.

Looking back at these pictures really makes me wonder where they are now. It's been a good seventeen years. 

Another "draw whatever you feel like" art trade. But this is by far one of my favorites. I wish all of my 2006 pictures looked this good. Yes, it has its mistakes, but I love the colors. I ended up saving this character as an OC, but have never since captured the magic of this original artwork.

+ The d i v i n i t y +

This is the original title when I posted it on DA or at least similar. Back then it was a trend to spice up post titles to distract from lack of skill. I also used Deviantart Green for the backdrop. 

This artwork is of my Tellissian goddess character, Joaijihag. She has such a lovely name that rolls right off the tongue. I find myself shouting her name when I stub my toe.

I completed this artwork just as I was wrapping up seventh grade. I was so sure this would be a banger with the cool kids and end up on the front page of Deviantart. Oh, Mel!

Honestly, I still like this picture. It was fun to work on, and my mind was buzzing with ideas. I've always loved sparkly gemstones and ornate textures.

God I love these. They're such a snapshot of life back then. I obscured the thumbnail because I wanted to be mysterious and that is what the cool kids did when they posted WIPs. Also random Homestar Runner reference. Meh!

Parrot warrior girl

A lineart of a parrot girl. I never got around to coloring this for whatever reason. Might have to revisit this at some point because I like the idea behind it. Just imagine the colors!

A very shojo romance~

Marawe c. 2006

Enci Soro c. 2006

Marawe (now Herrington) and Enci (evolved into Mr Cass) used to be love interests, as well as the same age. The names are made up and not based on anything.

They're speaking a made-up language, Tellissian. It doesn't mean anything.

I love that this is supposed to be a sexy shirtless scene where he's all wet, the girl is blushing, etc. 

Now kiss!

Here was my attempt at drawing a romantic scene between them. There was never a plot or any context. Writing stories has always been difficult for me. Can you tell I read a lot of Yuu Watase?

Kenoko 2006

That watermark takes up so much space! Why!!!

A detailed artwork of my magical cat angel OC, Kenoko. I was getting more confident with Photoshop. I was in a bit of a slump and my artworks looked stiff and overworked. Interestingly her design has not changed that much since then. Hopefully my anatomy looks a little better now at least! Do you think those shoes are comfortable?

I don't care much for this picture but I do think it makes a fun set piece - I like the floating bricks with patterns on it and the shooting star. This might be fun to revisit someday.

Thank you, 13-year-old Mel, for saving the lineart!

First pictures in Photoshop

This is my very first picture done in Photoshop, featuring my eponymous OC, Steimei. I went wild with the various features that weren't in OekakiBBS. Looking back, it's interesting to see how I tried to transfer my Oekaki coloring style into a different software. Also, I couldn't figure out how to make the lines transparent.

I went completely buckwild with layer styles and special effects. That's what Photoshop's all about, baby!

This is my OC, Ebak. (Pronounced E-bake) She is a primordial version of my OC, Emily. 

Fun fact: unbeknownst to me for many years, "ebak" is a Filipino slang word for evacuating the bowels. Be careful about making up your own names and words... you never know what it might mean in a nother language!

I loved coming up with those fancy dress designs. I was obsessed with Fushigi Yugi at the time and all the fancy outfits.

This is my OC, Marawe. (Pronounced MARA-way) 

She is the original incarnation of what is now Herrington. They are so far apart they are completely different characters at this point. Marawe was a priestess. I borrowed a lot from Fushigi Yugi.

Mermaid warrior. Honestly? I still absolutely love this one because of the the design and the colors. I'd draw her again.

Another mermaid warrior. I loved giving people and animals wings, even if it makes no sense. The only other explanation is that they're actually space mermaids. Which is actually a lot cooler in my opinion.

One of my favorite things about being an artist is the memories associated with each picture, even if it has nothing to do with the picture itself. I was just wrapping up 6th grade. I was just starting my art journey, spending lots of time on Deviantart and drawing in Photoshop. Summer of 2005 was epic. (As I would say.)

I love this one because it's such a bad artwork but so honest and free about its intentions:

• Obnoxious lens flare
• Illogical color choices
• Random rainbow
• Badly drawn background
• Liberal use of textures and effects

It's a bad picture, but I miss the experimental freedom that came along with it. Childhood is magical!

Here's Ebak again. I entered this one into a contest for something and genuinely thought I would win. Can I have some of that naïve confidence back?!