Art style restoration: Kan-nah

 

Art reflection: Kan-nah

Date drawn: August 2012

What do I like about this that I would continue using in my art?

• A cutesy kawaii art style
• Very thin lineart and soft feeling
• The coloring style in general is fairly minimal. Mostly flat colors with soft gradients where needed, and the occasional hard shading used sparingly. 
• Soft pastel colors that bleed together. Lots of light blue and pink
• Hair is light blue but the glow of her skin makes her bangs glow pink. I definitely used the pin light filter when fine-tuning at the very end. I can tell because the lineart in that area is pink.
• This was during my blurry eyes phase. Honestly, I still love the look. It’s not everybody’s taste, but it’s certainly mine. I love the soft ethereal effect.
• There is a vertical letterbox effect, with some objects extending past the borders to give it a more 3-dimensional effect.

What didn’t work, and how would I have done things differently?

• I remember struggling a lot with the backdrop. Eventually I settled for an aesthetic that I’d seen on Pixiv, inspired by the artist Suou. Flat organic patterns with a fringe effect. If I did this again, I would give the plant backdrop more definition.
• I would give more emphasis to the dango motif with soft round shapes repeated throughout. Soft round shapes are a visual symbol for soft and cute.

Finding my art style: 2012

 This is where my coloring style perfected. I was on a roll in 2012. My style has changed a lot since then, and some characteristics have been lost over time. I made a list of the style choices I would like to keep / bring back.

• Notable characteristics

• I personally think this is where my art style peaked

• Perfected the art of soft, ethereal coloring

• Glowy special effects

• Floral and other ornamental patterns

• Drawing

• Thin linework

• Color and shading

• Pastel colors

• Small accents of more saturated color

• Shading is crisp and rich with color, but also subtle and soft

• Narrow range of values for shading

• Less important details blur together

• Soft, glowy coloring

• High contrast shading used sparingly

• Bleeding glow

• Face

• Cutesy art style

• Minimal shading

• Rich yellow tint for the skin

• Eyes

• Blurry eyes

• Emphasis on the eyes

• Hair

• Narrow range of values

• Bleeding glow

• Soft, subtle shading

• Minimal highlights

Timeskip Herrington gift art

An alternate design for Herrington where they're older and some sort of gang boss or something. I still don't really know.

This one was an art trade with TFOTR back in 2011. I really love the colors on this one. I remember the artist asking if Herrington was a boy or a girl. Yes.

Art by Lightshelter, done for either an art trade or DA gift exchange, also in 2011.

Things I miss about my art in 2011

 A snapshot of my art style in 2011. I will be writing about characteristics I want to preserve or bring back.

• Notable characteristics

• Blurry overlay to create an ethereal effect

• Soft blurry shading

• Drawing

• Thin linework to accentuate softness

• Crisp outlines

• Color and shading

• Pastel colors

• A relatively narrow range of hues

• High contrast shading used sparingly

• Colors flow together to create a soft, ethereal feel

• Hair: Fine strands

I like the fact that it's both crisp and blurry at the same time. I struggle with deciding to give things definition or to leave it vague. This is an interesting solution, especially for the art I like to draw. I enjoy the ambiguity.

Love the pastel colors on this one. Minimal shading and very subtle gradients. Also, kitty~ This would be a good reference point if I ever get back into cel-shading (this was specifically cel shaded for a charity commission event)

This was an entry for a coloring contest on Deviantart hosted by the user Gasara. I have always liked how her midriff coloring came out. The coloring is soft, blurry, and ethereal, but still crisp enough to have definition. I really want to bring this coloring style back.

Letters from the dead

 

In the sky

 

A girl and her owl

 

In a world where owls were domesticated. Like cats but they can fly!