2013 Summary of Art

Alright~! Here's a general outline of each month:
<sub>January: Here I was using Sai to draw and color still. And was trying to improve how I drew faces. I also did a lot of experimenting with colors and eye styles. Did My First "Secret Valentine" event in this month too. I was inspired to attempt my first serious BGS in this month as well. (Thanks to the lovely =Ruurin and =LuluSeason <333)
I also developed my OC Kikue this month!
25 pencil drawings this month + more.

February:  Practicing faces still + colors. I also joined my first art contest this month <3
12  pencil drawings this month. Not sure about how much digital.

March: I did my first AT in this month and worked on character interaction and was also trying to perfect the way I did things.
I looked in my sketchbook but can only find 2 pencil drawings this month? But waaay more digital? xD

April: I don't remember much about this month
The only I thing remember, judging by my sketchbook is that I drew 26 + more, super cute moe drawings this month xD
And have quite a lot of digital artworks.

May: This was my least favorite month. I had major art block, and everything I did I thought looked terrible ._. I was no longer satisfied with anything I drew anymore. This was the month where I totally felt completely lost and not sure what to do. It wasn't until later (near the end of the month) did I realize, I just wanted to go and try new things, and put a hold on drawing "cute, moe" looking art. I still love it now, but I feel I want to be more flexible in the things I can draw. The only thing I liked were my pencil sketches so I put that there.
Over 46 drawings this month. A lot of them were similar too the style I did in April, Feb, March. But later on as the month was nearing its end. I see a major change in style and it looks like I started to experiment more.
Pencil sketches wise this must be the most productive month! I have so manyyy eeee ;u;
The drawings are all very adorable and "moe" tho

June: My very first one-layer painting! Haha I did sooo many attempts this month I had been trying to get into doing a more "painterly" style since January, so I started to practice hard again~! I always really admired artists who can do it <3 This definitely was a month full of "experimentation" because I was trying out a lot of different things, like changing the face shape, nose and eyes, and making the body taller and head smaller.
Omigosh over 43 sketches and drawings this month~! ;___;
Lol I found a comic I did too which I don't remember doing. And I found evidence that I was trying out different techniques I learned from Bridgman and Michael Hampton. (various practice pieces xP)
But pretty much focused on "perspective, drawing BGS, shading with pencil only, and interesting "concepts" this month. I created a lot of OCs too, such as Hoshimi and others. In this month I drew a lot of surreal and neat concepts <3 It's also a mixture between, semi-anime, semi-realism, and pure realism + cute moe drawings <3
I mainly focused on pencil work it seems this month. But I did a lot of digital paintings too!
I had a goal to draw at least 1 realism portrait a day too in this month! (:

July: I really started to feel inspired again. Redrew my OC Yuki + and tried a ton of new things. And got way out of my comfort zone. In this month, I started to use only Photoshop and forced myself to not use SAI (which I'm more comfortable using haha ;u; ). I became more happy with my artwork and enjoyed myself more. I did a lot of stuff in this month and a lot of serious BG artwork. But I never posted it here >u< But yes I did a LOT of painterly artwork that I was proud of this month :yay:
There's over 23 drawings in my sketch book + more. I made a New OC called Nyxie this month + I went through Burne Hogarth's book to improve the way I did hands, etc (+ possibly others). I found a lot of gesture drawings this month too, and drawings of just hands xD. Also found a bunch of really neat concept sketches too! x)

August: Found out I really enjoy working with Photoshop. And so, continued using it to draw and paint. The summer months both (July and August) were my favorite months <333 I did a lot of head shots but also a lot of complex pieces (I didn't post some to DA though). I absolutely love summer break, because I can concentrate on improving my art ^_^
(For some reason, I can't find much pencil sketches?) I must have busy swimming and doing other summer stuff xD (at a lake where I usually go)


September: This was a really unproductive month, like last year as well... Once school started again, it pretty much sucked up all my free time. I mainly only sketched this month D: I also got a little side-tracked with a "flash" project I started working on. I pretty much only did a lot of drawing in my sketch book, and on the weekends I would try to paint like crazy~! xD
11 drawings and more in my sketch book this month. (I get a sad vibe when I look at a lot of them >u< A lot of the characters look depressed or expressive... Lol I must have been feeling really overwhelmed that month with school and possibly other stuff? I don't remember much haha, but it's very interesting to look through these sketchbooks again xD).

October: Discovered Clip Studio Paint! And started to work solely on that program this month. I absolutely love the sketching tools on that program <333 It feels like a mix between SAI and Photoshop <333 I did a lot of "serious" pieces in this month and tried out a lot of different brushes and techniques. I did a ton of pencil sketches this month too~! And also found a lot of artists I liked and felt really inspired.
Over 39 sketches in my sketch book this month. I went on pixelovely.com everyday in order to practice flow and poses. I found a lot of style experimentation in my sketch book too~! Semi-realism + various other neat stuff I don't remember drawing haha xD

November: Did a lot of gesture drawings this month to loosen up my work, and also went through aaaa lot of anatomy books. I improved the way I did hands and faces this month~! (The books I adore are the one by Bridgman, Michael Hampton, and all of Loomis's books <3 but there's many more I love~!) I have waaay over 20 drawings in my sketch book with serious drawings and some practice stuff. Plus, a whole digital art folder full of my practice pieces (like gestures, drawings, anatomy stuff, poses, just hands etc).
Everyday I would go onto "pixel-lovely" to practice gestures and I studied a lot from life too (which I've always done but really focused on that a lot this month). I also started to redraw and paint my OC Kikue but I didn't get to finish it (once I joined a lot of SS(s)... hopefully it won't stay a WIP I'm extremely happy with the way it looks though <333) roughly 39 digital artworks (sketches, practice, WIPs, finished pieces) on hard drive and (more than 20 drawings in sketch book)  (so roughly I produced 60 or so drawings this month wooow I was really surprised when I checked ;u; )

December: Did 4 Secret Santas. And continued to work on Clip Studio Paint and I also would sometimes switch to SAI (because I was more experienced on that program). I also did some artwork exclusively on Photoshop too~! Christmas was wonderful too! <333</sub>

What I think I've achieved this year:
Improved colors + shading.
Anatomy... hands, faces, bodies, eyes, etc got better.
Started to get into more complex pieces and BGS (yay~!).
Became more flexible! (I was able to work on more than 1 program, other than SAI) Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop, etc. And also became more flexible in terms of drawing styles.
When I looked inside my sketchbook for 2013, I saw a lot of improvement with the overall way I did everything, proportions, shading, hands... etc. The more I improved, the more I noticed a increase in the amount of sketches I produced x) And the poses no longer looked stiff or boring. And as I got better, I seemed to be able to get my ideas that I pictured onto paper a lot better~! ^^

What I hope to achieve in 2014:
Work on making clearer looking sketches + shading.
Try to further develop my painting style.
Start drawing animals like dogs and cats <3
Do more BGs and complex pieces (:
Have as much fun as I did this year~!

I was very inconsistent this year. But I learned a lot~! ^^
I also decided I prefer staying "inconsistent" because I enjoy experimenting and trying out new things! Style is definitely something I hope to find someday, but I don't want to concentrate solely on that, because for me it takes the fun out of drawing and painting! As long as I'm having fun and being creative I'm happy <333
So, for all my lovely watchers expect to see a lot of "inconsistency" in my art again in 2014 (:
And thank you all you guys for being so supportive throughout this whole year