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// Wow can you guys believe it, 2025 is coming to an end ฮต-(ยดโ๏ฝ; )
I didn't draw as much as I'd like this year. However, compared to last year, I had way more completed art that I like, so I'd say it's an improvement :D
Jan.
In January, all I had are sketches, repaints, and simple portraits/halfbody... which sounds like a lot, but I didn't spend much time on them.
Feb.
The Starliner x Dragon art is significant for two reasons: 1) This might legitimately be the first time I've finished a drawing of two characters interacting (as in they're doing something more than standing side by side) and 2) my first time trying out a certain texture brush which would come to define my art style for the rest of the year.
Mar.
For the Cygnus drawing in March, I experimented with colors in a way that I wouldn't have dared to last year, such as using an overlay layer to tone the colors heavily and funky shadow/highlight colors like the orange and blue in the hair. I really like how the chibi turned out <3
Apr.
This Starship art is way overdue. I had the line art and flat colors done all the way back in JUNE OF 2024. I colored the hair in October of the same year and then just never went back to it ๐ญ By the time that I started working on it this year my art style had already slightly shifted but I was determined to stick it through and finish it. When I started this drawing I had half a mind to make it into an acrylic standee, but now that it's done I can't help but notice a lot of things that could be improved. But hey, at least it's done!
In this month, I drew a full-body Transformer digitally for the first time!! I also drew a lotta chibis ths month ๐๐๐
May.–Jun.
Not much art in May, but I was really productive in June in preparation for Art Fight. This Hyuna
drawing
is where I fully pivoted to a new-ish art style and painting process. Technically it was drawn in
April but it's the 30th so CLOSE ENOUGH.
Jul.
Who up arting they fight ๐ฃ๏ธ ๐ข July was full of Art Fight attacks and revenges.
Aug–Nov.
From August to November I was in a mega art block ๐ I drew two things in early August and then the post-art fight burn out kicked in I'm afraid... While working on the August Starship drawing I could feel the art block slowly kicking in; the drawing's rushed and not as rendered as I'd liked but I still liked the way it turned out :) For nearly 4 months I was thinking about drawing more than I was actually drawing... I want to draw, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I still doodle in my notes, but picking up the tablet felt scary somehow. The October/December Megatron drawings were me trying to ease back into drawing by doing some studies while still going out of my comfort zone ever so slightly because I'm learning how to draw mech. And guess what? It worked!
Dec.
Did a Cyberworld screenshot redraw and it got me out of art block :') Thank you Megabull for getting me out of art block hell ๐ I'm really happy with how the Christmas Webb art turned out ๐ฅบ So glad that I can end the year on a high note.
// Slight Change in Art Style :0
Some time in late 2024, I downloaded a brush texture freebie from Tumblr. I wish I had noted down who made it because this brush genuinely changed my life. I wouldn't say my art style necessarily looked that different comapred to last year, but my drawing process have changed and so did the set of brushes I use to paint!
Before:
- marker brush at 30% opacity to do a messy sketch
- clean up messy sketch into line art
- base colors on a separate layer with basic shading
- color line art, merge all layers and render
- smudge, crayon, and dry paint for details
- post-processing
Now:
- rough sketch with chalk or sketch pencil at a thick brush stroke width
- clean line art with sketch pencil at an opacity that is somewhat translucent
- colors on a separate layer, rendering with primarily chalk brush
- lay down the base color and add an overlay layer to tone it
- play around with layer effects for basic shading
- merge the previous layers with base color and render
- crayon, sketch pencil, and rake brush for details
- airbrush line art, merge all layers, and do some clean up
- post-processing
I think this year was big for me in terms of coloring. I feel like my colors became more interesting—bolder, more saturated, and, well, more "colorful." Instead of only shading with analogous colors, I would jump around the color wheel a bit more. I also learned to shade with... *gasp* black!? Yep! It turns out that shading with pure black sparingly can help to push the contrast in certain areas.
// 3 YEARS DIFFERENCE I'M NOT CHOPPED
I made this year's JWST Christmas art specifically with the 2022 one in mind because I wanted to prove to myself that my art skills have, in fact, improved ๐ฅน I still like the 2022 version—it's simple but cute. In three years' time, my JWST gijinka has gone through a major redesign which I think is a massive upgrade from the old one. I learned know how to shade gold better and actually made an effort to draw the galaxy background this time around. The 2025 background is inspired by the L1527 and Protostar image captured by Webb's NIRCam <3 I like how unlike the 2022 one—which is pretty much flat lighting—you can actually tell where the light is coming from in the 2025 one. Never give up guys, progress is possible.
// Special Highlight: Nightshade
I drew a lot of Nightshade this year ๐ Comparing my first time drawing them (top left, Jan.) to the latest one (bottom right, Dec.), I feel like the improvement is insane. Granted the first one was drawn on my phone which I haven't done in a long time. The colors I chose though... yuck :/ All the art I made for the itabag were churned out in June because I wanted to have the bag done for anime expo lol.
<-- What happens when a mf oshikatsu a little too hard
// 2025 New Year's Resolution
Before we look forward to next year, let's first take a look at what I was supposed to accomplish this year, shall we?
As far as I know I never made a proper list of 2025 New Year's Resolutions lol. Woops. The only three goals I noted down were:
- learn how to draw men
- learn how to draw Transformers
- learn the basics of AE and tweening
Uhhhhhhh. Did I accomplish any of the above? Nope. Kinda? I still don't know how to draw men. Everything I draw looks feminine because I developed my sense of aesthetic for character art by looking at anime-esque female characters. Like I'm not even joking, my initial point of reference for what a "good" art style looks like was solely based on Vocaloid fan art, mostly Miku. Obviously my scope of reference has broadened since then, but that doesn't mean my art style have. As for the second goal, ehh kind of? I drew a couple of Transformers fan art yeah but I rely *heavily* on references to be able to draw anything half-decent. I did design a TF OC (whom I drew once and never again) so that's gotta count for something. I have not touched AE since I installed it on my computer.
// 2026 New Years' Resolutions
Art-related/Fun Stuff
- learn how to draw men (for real this time)
- draw more Transformers
- draw more in general - consistently, no matter the quality
- further develop my chibi style
- continue working on this website, adding new pages and maintaining new ones
- continue blogging
- learn how to skateboard
- get back into building Metal Earth models again
Not Fun Stuff
- get an ADHD diagnosis
- get an on-campus job
- get a credit card
- join an engineering-related project team
disregard previous goal if I switch major
Aaaaaaand that about wraps it up! Might add to the list when I think of more things. Unless something else comes up, this should be the last blog of the year (ยดโฝ`สโกฦช) See you next year!