For some reason techno is fun to draw

[secondlina]

 Another "fandom" post. Lately it seems I just feel like drawing other people's universes or something. It's fun and relaxing. Kinda distracts me from contracts and comic pages though. Yeah. Probably should dial that down soon.

I drew a few characters from the Avatar the last airbender RP. It's a pretty cool story and I love the people i'm playing with, lycorne , earthstar_chan  and zenavvy .  I didn't have time to draw all the characters. But I do love how varied the designs are. I really love doing character designs. Especially multicultural characters. So many possibilities!




I also drew the "How to train your dragon" meme aurora_sky  tagged me with. 

It's ....special....






Hey look at that! I think doing sketches for Namesake, Rose and Jabberwocky (published comics) really helped me to put the whole "developing my own style" thing into overdrive. My drawings, right down to the sketches, look less and less like pure manga and more and more like a mix of a whole bunch of influences and a personal style. Which is quite fine with me. 

When I was 15 I really geared my art style from "european" comics to "manga" style. As much as I love manga and that manga taught me a lot about dynamic action and inking (seriously, they are gods of ink), after I reached age 20, it was pretty apparent in people's comments that if my style didn't diversify I wasn't really gonna go anywhere. That's kinda when the whole thing separated into a bunch of different "test" branches of me looking to mix the things I learned from manga with other art styles I liked. It ended up making my art style really versatile and flowy. I,m really proud of the point I am currently at.

Next step? Owning photoshop. Yeah.

- Isa

Comments

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

Chibis! We really have a nice batch of characters to play with in the RPG. I can't wait for more of the plot to get rolling.

It is good to eventually develop your own style. When you're just learning to draw, it's fine to copy a style, but after a while it isn't a bad idea to develop your own. It just helps your art stand out more. Besides, it was bound to happen eventually since you are always drawing. (Granted, I've thought you had your own style for awhile, but that could just be me. XP)

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

The style has been becoming more unique as time goes by. But now it's unique and easy to draw (as oppose to being a chore to change styles).

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I need to do one of those meme things someday. They look fun. ^_^


Re: art styles: Developing an individual style is a must. Sadly, I have a few talented friends who are still stuck xeroxing their favorite artist(s).

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

They are fun!

Xeroxing can be okay too. The problem with it is that it's harder to make your mark.

[bonemarch.livejournal.com]

I really enjoy your style because it is not the norm and has a very natural flow to it. And to me your style is a breath of fresh air.

Not to down play those that go for the typical anime style. But much of it looks the same to me. It's the pit fall of many artists they find a style they like and just stick to it without branching out into their own thing. Then everything starts to stagnate in my opinion.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I like the anime style, and kinda wish I was better at it, but I don't think my personality and types of stories really match with that style. If some people want to do manga and are good at it, rock on. Because it is an interesting and popular style. I just think branching out did ME some good. It's really relative to the artist methinks.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I also went through an otaku phase where I tried (and failed) to adopt an attractive, anime-esque style. I finally gave up when I realized my anime stuff looked worse than a How-to-draw-manga book. >_<

[bonemarch.livejournal.com]

The trick with learning to draw is that you got to get back on the horse and hold on for dear life no matter how many times you're thrown off.

I know the doodles and sketches I do are influenced by it. But like Secondlina said you've got to draw how you want to and let your own style shine through.

[bonemarch.livejournal.com]

I agree, when I was 14. (Actually younger because I didn't realize just where quite a few of my favorite cartoons came from. Voltron, Robotech, etc.) It was really awesome to have a new art style take a step on the stage. Oh how it was shunned about 10-15 years ago. I just think now it's over saturated the market. I'm not saying the anime/manga style is a bad thing. But I noticed a lot of artists look like they're fresh out of the How to Draw Anime help books. Though in all fairness it's also what happens to be selling.

But yeah it's definitely relative to the artist.

[auriga]

The chibi characters are so cute! I love our cast, too. ^__^

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

:D So awesome!

I'm still missing a few chibis, like kosei. Will do those later.

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

I do enjoy anime and all (really! I'm just not really into the current stuff), but it kind of annoys me when 'Western' people just use the anime style for everything. I much prefer going for your own style as well. Anime sacrifices a lot of individuality in a way. I can't remember the last time I watched an anime that depicted a character with a nose that actually looked like a nose...

By the by, I came across this the other day. I imagine you might like to 'artgasm' some more. ^_-

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I have a bit of problem with the "new" stuff these days too. I think, before, we had less therefore the more popular (and some of the better) series got translated. Nowadays, the manga and anime section of the bookstore feels like a cultural dumping. They just grabbed a bunch of books and threw it on. Japan as a pretty large production of manga every month. Translators obviously use a few series to cash in. Fortunately, a lot of people who work for those companies really do love manga and strive to translate the good stuff. But it's becoming harder to find the good stuff in the larger pile. Especially since, here, the more "lucrative" age group seems to be 12 to 17, despite the really awesome "adult" manga (and by adult here, I don't mean dirty. I mean complexe storylines aimed at an older audience with characters who'se ages match those of the audience). I think manga is a little weird right now because not even 10 years ago, the market was tiny. Suddentely, floodgates opened and "defenders" of comics rejected manga while "defenders" of manga rejected comics. We still need to balance out the market and have people understand that you can't judge a cultural phenomenon by it's stereotypes.

Weird noses... remember Escaflowne? Like clothing hooks!

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

My gosh, do I know it! I did prefer the more 'adult' manga that was available back in the day (titles like Record of Lodoss War, they're not kid friendly at all!), but anymore when I happen by the manga aisle it's all just the same thing over and over...and yes, almost everything is aimed at preteens and teenagers. I need more 'meat' in my manga! XP (Because yes, I can handle things like character death.) I do still like to browse the Japanese manga over in Seattle since it's straight out of Japan, and there's so much more variety! Too bad I can't read much Japanese, but at least I know there's better manga to be had out there.

Gah! The noses in Escaflowne were insane! I had trouble paying attention to what little of the series I did see (subtitled, not the hack job) because their noses were so extreme. o_O

[rosemusek.livejournal.com]

Hee, I love the techno vikings. :P

I never really got into anime and cartoons until my final year of high school, actually - so, before that, my style was a mix of realism and American comic book.
I totally agree, though - the manga style, while very fantastic at times, can be a bit generic in terms of promoting one's own art style.
That was actually why I avoided the style, in the beginning.
After watching and reading more manga and anime, though, I really came to appreciate just the gorgeous fluidity, detail work and elastic facial expressions, and so I decided to incorporate it into my own style to a certain degree.
Really, that's the best way to go, I think. As you said - mixing the things you learned from manga with other art styles that you liked until you came to something that you're satisfied with.
(Oh, gosh, I'm totally rambling, sorry.) XD
Anyway. I just mean to say that I totally agree, and that it's fantastic when an artist reaches the point where they're comfortable with their own unique style. ^^

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Mixing styles really is the best policy. Because all styles have a little something special. And every artist style evolves from something (Tekuza was inspired by Disney after all!) so there's never anything new under the sun, only remixes of varying originality. And i'm pretty cool with that.

Remix.....techno.....ompta ompta ompta tsss tsss tsss beat beat beat

[elfgrove.livejournal.com]

ZOMG. Chibis are so cute.
And whoo! Ru being all bad ass. XD

I love the characters and people we're playing with. It's lots of fun. And has me arting again. Thank god.

Pssh. Nice job on the meme. don't judge me, frolicking and techno vikings made me laugh. :)

Re: Styles
Developing your own style is very important as an artist, and I wish I had one myself. I adore your style. It's very unique. ♥

I need to catch up to commenting on your entres, but I need to go do errand~y things now.
*frolicks away*

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I know! I love them!

And considering the next part i'm writing, Ru BETTER be badass.

Neh, frolicking and techno makes me laughs too, that why I made random jokes (tm).

LOL a few people told me lately "You post to often. We need time to catch up. Take a break."

[redherring1up.livejournal.com]

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<_< >_> <_<

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8AcoC6zyVQ&feature=related

:D

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

loving the sketches and HTTYD meme! Fun as always! You do have a great sense of humor *snicker*

It's interesting to look back at what really influenced your art through the years and where a style is really born from. I drew a LOT of disney back in the day (was what I watched most of :P) And to this day, I can't seem to totally get rid of that 'cartoony' feel to my work although it has changed and continues to do so as I experiment :)