(right click and select "view image" for zoomed in view)
This was a fun thing to do. There's a DA group called "Design-a-Character" that gives bi-weekly challenges for things to draw, and the above image was for the most current challenge.
I've never designed a video game character, or have never even drawn a video game character, so this was definitely an experiment for me. Instead of making up my own video game, I went with WoW, and designed a new species - Naga Elf :D I completely neglected to give her any sort of gear or weapon, but it's always fun drawing a svelte female form ^_^ That goofy thing in the lower right corner is the second part of the challenge, in honor of the new movie "Wreck-It Ralph" (awesome awesome movie!!): to show what the video game character would look like in a 70s-80s arcade game. Part of the personal challenge was to stop laughing every time I looked at it...
In continuing with my self-teaching, I've now broached the barrier of learning how to ink my lines using Adobe Illustrator! I'm also continuing to hone and, indeed, just find what my style is. I love the human figure, and drawing women in particular, and I can't seem to separate myself from realism. I adore cartoony styles, though, and my admiration continually pulls me away from my comfort zones. This is where I'd love actual coaching like I'd get from a class - self-teaching myself how to develop my style is difficult! But how I'm progressing has been very very rewarding, and also free :)
I've been using another Deke McClelland book to teach myself Adobe Illustrator: "Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One". Very nice book! I also really like this youtube video that shows a super easy way to ink things on Illustrator, but you still need some knowledge of how Illustrator works in order to learn from that video.
Happy drawings!
