maffypop's art

So the topmost picture is a painting I’ll be giving my best friend tomorrow for his 18th birthday.

The bottom picture is a painting I have him for his 13th birthday. LOLOLOLOLOL.

These are our two characters, Q (right) and A (left). OBVIOUSLY THEY’VE GONE THROUGH SOME CHANGES. But then so have we, so I think it’s appropriate. It’s cool though, these two are like a symbol of our friendship, in a way. The two things that bonded us together the most when we met were A) our sarcasm and B) drawing. We created Q+A together and drew lame little comics that we thought were funny but weren’t, and gifted each other with yearly Q+A portraits for Christmas/birthdays.

I just. Okay. On one hand it’s hilarious to me, how good we thought we were at drawing and how funny we thought we were (but weren’t). On the other, I’m fighting back tears because we’ve bonded and grown so much and shared so many obsessions together and now we’re legal adults and going off to college next year.

Whew.

365 days drawing challenge: day 61-72 - May 6-17, 2012

Pages 31-34: Apologies for lack of updates! I didn’t have a whole bunch of time to draw thanks to AP tests. That’ll change!

My tip for you guys: I was recently complimented on the variety my sketchbook holds. What a great compliment! Though my style has been somewhat flexible for the past few years, my sketchbook has always been flat and bland and not very exciting (see: why I took up this challenge). But I guess that’s changing, which is awesome!

So to help any artists out there who are currently struggling with spicing up their style, or feel that they’ve fallen into a slump in which their drawings are more of a step-by-step procedure than an expression, this is for you!

Try drawing with shapes first. In the last page, there are two girls drawn at the bottom of the page - this is what I mean. Start with shapes and form the shape of your drawing that way. This helps to expand the body types you draw in. Also helps express body language and such.

Mold the face, don’t copy+paste. Anime artists, you’re at risk here! Since a lot of anime artists hold a specific, unique style they like to draw in and are known for, it’s hard to break away from the step by step procedure of drawing a face, especially when the way you draw faces has been mastered already. Instead, try forming the face from shapes - vague circles for the eyes, an oval or two for the nose, cross-hatches for placement of facial features, etc., then detail and perfect. This will help bring more life to your faces, and maybe help your style become more flexible and vivid. It’s thanks to this method that I’ve been able to jump back and forth between anime, semi-realistic, cartoony, and realistic styles whenever I see fit.

Good luck, artists!