Monday 29 December 2014

Happy New Year!

Unfortunately I went on a major panic about what to draw for this. I'm not so great at thinking up ideas with a specific theme, especially if this theme is very general. There is a bright side though. I actually thought new year's eve was tomorrow so I've got this drawing done early!


I'm actually really proud of this. I didn't use any sort of reference for the pose or colouring (something that doesn't happen often) and it's worked out quite well. Plus I've never drawn someone with red hair before so it was a lovely change. Plus for the first time (possibly ever) I've actually drawn shoes that look decent! 

Also, I've almost finished my drawing for next week so it'll definitely be up. I'm considering just going on a drawing spree since I'm in a good mood.

Thursday 25 December 2014

An idea!

For some reason this wouldn't post two weeks ago so I'm trying again. 

So I had an idea today for an animation. Since I've been suffering from depression I thought I'd try and attempt a short on it. Here's a sneak peak. Don't want to show too much so this is all for this week (excuse the bad photo). 


Friday 19 December 2014

It's almost Christmas!

So last week I didn't post anything. I couldn't get online so I'll have to make up for it this week with a completed picture!


I'm quite pleased with this. I wanted to experiment a bit with shadows and colouring this time. I thought that I'd expand a bit on my more simple style and add a lot more colour to it, especially since Christmas is all about the bright colours! It's a simple concept but I didn't want to go overboard, especially since I've not seen a similar concept.

That's all for this time. I've got a few sketches I've been messing about with so perhaps I'll have another finished drawing for next time.

Monday 1 December 2014

It's December!

Its almost Christmas. That means I only have a few weeks to work on a Christmas picture. I've been sketching a lot of doodles lately but not much development has been happening. 


I really need to start doing more. I'm struggling finding the time to work, learn Japanese and draw so I'll have to rethink how I'm doing everything. Everything's settled after the move so I can start getting in a better routine. It's not much this week but at least I'm still sketching!

Sunday 23 November 2014

Mooving

I haven't actually been drawing much this week. I have a good reason for it though! Dun dun duuuuuun...


It's actually a little bit late. I moved into a flat about a week ago so it's been really hectic trying to balance packing, unpacking and work. Oh plus my new Japanese lessons. Not sure if I mentioned this before but I've finally started learning properly. I underestimated how difficult the language was tough. Nice to watch stuff and recognise certain phrases. I'll have more to show next week. 

Tuesday 11 November 2014

Collab

It's not often this'll happen but I'm thinking of posting twice this week. I just did a collab with my friend Laura Burns (you can find her work at tsutsuji14.deviantart.com/). 


I'm definitely going to do more collabs with her in the future. I loved her design and it was so much fun colouring it. Let me know what you think of it!

Monday 10 November 2014

Lets have some supernatural lighting

Finally time to post this! As I said before, it's been up on my website for a few weeks but I thought I'd post it on the blog anyway. 



I saw a picture ages ago with a boy and a butterfly. It was a completely different style, although a similar pose. It inspired me to sketch and I just kept adding to it. Originally it started off as a simple colouring style but it looked a bit too plain. I added a lot of supernatural light and dark colours and eventually ended up with this. I'm very happy with it. I'll be messing about with lighting more to see if I can get it to look more natural. It's also nice to see that I can bring elements of my simple style into it.

Friday 31 October 2014

Happy Halloween!

I'm early this time. Dun dun DUUUUUUUN!

This once I'll take my previous post back. I said I wouldn't draw something new until my old drawings were finished but it's Halloween and I felt I needed to upload something. I just about finished it on time. I completely forgot it was this week so it was really last minute. Glad I managed to finish it though and move onto something else.


There are so many things I can fix. I feel that the more you learn, the more critical you get about your own work. I was running out of time and so there are a lot of things which were rushed more than they should've been. I'm very happy that my characters have a bit more life in them. Before they were very "robotic". I also didn't use any kind of reference material or colour picker so I feel I did a good job considering that.

Also, I have good news. I managed to finish the picture I sketched on the plane to Serbia! Some eagled eyed viewers should've noticed it was up on my website. I won't post a blog about it until next week. Only one completely finished picture at a time. It's taking me too long to finish one to upload more than one a week. Sketches will be different though and I'll upload as many as I want. Until next time!

Sunday 26 October 2014

Website overhaul

So I've completely redid my website layout. I thought the old design was pretty bland and didn't show any kind of creativity. I'm hoping that the new layout seems a lot better. I feel it's a lot more artistic. You can see it on www.nanimations.com.

I seriously have too many ideas. Every time I try and attempt one, another idea pops into my head. I really need to sit down and finish my drawings before I start any new ones.

As I said before I went away to Serbia for a week visiting family. I saw a picture of a boy with a butterfly and fell in love with the picture. So much that I wanted to use the concept but change what was in it and the colour scheme. So not my own idea as such but I'm developing from inspiration. Well that's what I'm saying now. When I was on the plane I just altered without thinking and ended up with this picture.


So I've started on colouring the picture. I won't give any sneak peaks cause I'm still adjusting everything. Hopefully next week I'll have a near completed drawing - if not completed. I better get myself motivated to finishing this! Then I'll be working on that snowy forest picture from before. I refuse to allow myself to draw something new until these are finished.

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Serbia is gorgeous!

I'm finally away meeting family in Serbia and I must say it's gorgeous here! I'm getting so inspired from being here so I've now got loads of drawings that I want to create. 

So as promised, I've uploaded a picture that I created for my sisters 18th. I thought I'd create something that shoes the different sides to her, although it not very clear on the drawing. 


I was also pretty productive on the flight. Sketched out a drawing I want to attempt using my simple style and planned a couple of other drawings. So hopefully I'll be uploading something else soon. I may not upload something at the end of this week since I get back pretty late on Friday. I'll wait and see how I feel and if I get enough drawn by then. 

Tuesday 7 October 2014

A little late

I'm a little bit late this time. I meant to upload on Sunday but I never got round to it. I'm away for a week on Friday but I should be able to upload something either just before I go or while I'm away so there should be a post for this week too.

I've been busy doing lots of sketches. Nothing anywhere near complete but it feels good getting lots of ideas down again. Especially when I'd been struggling before with my artist's block. For some reason I've been sketching a lot of halloween themed drawings. Definitely seeing some improvements as I'm drawing without reference and completely from my imagination. Plus my characters seem to have a lot more "life" in them now - not completely rigid poses. Still plenty to improve on but I'm making some progress.





I've already started work on the drawing for this week's post. It's my sister's 18th so I thought I'd draw her something. I also wanted to experiment a bit with drawing hair so I've got another character on the way. Some day I will actually get that forest scene finished or at least enough done to post an update on this. I have been working on it but as so many ideas came to my head I thought it was best to sketch them before they go. Hopefully I'll have more to show of it when I'm back from my holiday.

Monday 29 September 2014

Work drawing

Almost time for my week away so been busy preparing for it. This means that the blog post this week will just be of a drawing I did while on my breaks in work. I'm hoping to get some more development done of the snow forest drawing done by next week. Hopefully I'll have the time for this. 

Anyway I'm pretty happy with this drawing. It's inspired by ghibli's princess kaguya. Looking forward to seeing this film when it's out here so thought I'd show this with a drawing. 


That's all for this week. Hopefully there will be a lot more to show next blog post. 

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Quick post

Just a quick post this time. I lost track of time drawing so didn't get round to posting last week. There should be another one later in the week (hopefully) to make up for it. 

So this time I decided to create something completely by myself - including my own concept. I've felt very lost and isolated since leaving uni as I've not known what to do and how to move forward - something I'm sure many people feel when they finally set off in the big bad world. 

So really this picture is just trying to tell that story. It may not come across well but I'm learning. Trying to develop my own style in the process so I think I'm starting to see it coming through. Found an artist on deviant art that has a similar style so it's really helped inspire me. It's taking me a while but when I get used to using no references I'll be able to speed up. Quite pleased with the result though. Despite it still mostly being sketchy. 


Sunday 14 September 2014

My creativity is back!

I think my artist's block is going! All it took was a bit of experimenting by myself with no references and a new style. So I decided in work experience I'd stop this copying another artist's work in my own style. I saw an image and decided that I'd do a forest scene. Everything in it was drawn without a reference and even using my own colours. Also, I thought I'd add the flowers myself to make it prettier. I'm pretty pleased with the result. Definitely making progress! Plus I think I'm starting to develop my own style, which is really neat! 


After many relaxing days - plenty of which were spent playing games - I looked through my photos of my trip to the zoo and came across the penguins. They're my favourite animal. I realised that I don't draw animals (at all!) so I'm going to have to start sketching some. Don't know why I never got round to it, especially when it'd help with creating my own characters. Anyway, I just started sketching some penguins, finally got a picture I liked and tried out a new brush. I actually really like it. It's a bit of an adaption from my Japanese girl picture. It's a similar enough style so I think I'm going to be developing it a bit more.


I was so pleased with the penguin drawing that I kept messing about. The colours need worked on but I really do like this style. There are so many things you can do with it so I'm going to keep using it. Looking forward to seeing what I can come up with.

Monday 8 September 2014

New mindset

It's not often I come home after work and feel like being productive. After a few messages from people on twitter, I decided that I needed to update and start with a new mindset. I've been in a slump lately and found it very difficult to get out of. I've been drawing so much but ran out of ideas and even started to avoid drawing but all I needed was to take a step away and enjoy myself. I had a good time with friends, went to work, the usual stuff minus the drawing and I feel it's helped. Plus I've had a few conversations with popular artists, some even saying that I've to send a message cause they want to follow my work. That really gave me a kick start. It's not often that I get such positive feedback, well not from people who make a living from their work. 

So I've had a flick through all my different accounts and decided that I need things to be a bit more professional. I'm considering doing a redesign of my website, perhaps when I have more time but for now I concentrated on my twitter. I wanted something simple that shows off my work. I think it does a nice enough job.


Some actual work in progress this week too! It'll probably take me a while to finish these as I'm doing them within my own time. Thought I may as well show them to show that I have actually been doing some work! The first was a drawing I did cause I felt a bit trapped, only drawing what people expected rather than what I wanted to show. I also wanted to see how I'd cope with drawing something completely without any reference. I'm amazed with the result. Before I started experimenting I couldn't draw anything in proportion and my characters looked robotic. Think this shows how far I've came just from drawing continuously and experimenting with styles and ideas.


I also wanted to try something a bit more peaceful. I love playing the piano so thought this would be a good thing to draw. With this I'm trying to experiment with my own colours and different brushes. Still got a long way to go but at least it's a start!


Sunday 31 August 2014

I'm learning!

So this week I came down with a really bad bug. Got time off work to recover but I was too ill to go near a computer and do much work. I did create some quick character sketches when I was getting better so I'd have something to show. Plus a friend of mine requested characters that resembled myself and two other friends. Not the best drawings I've done but the proportions are at least better than my older ones. Shows I'm learning. Plus the colours are much better than previous attempts.


My friend is a big "yes" supporter (for the scottish independence vote) so he wanted some artwork that showed this. Since he's not a big fan of drawing he asked me to do this for him and then I decided to experiment with myself and my friend Lilia, along with our favourite "Pokemon".

I do have two other sketches that I'm planning on colouring. Hopefully at least one will be finished by next week - if not then I'll do some more experimentation until they're ready. They're completely my own design (no copying artwork to learn) as I feel I'm ready to start experimenting. Perhaps these won't be great, but at least I'm trying and not getting too comfortable with using someone else's artwork as a platform to learn. 

Also, before I forget. I did promise to show the character design I did a few weeks ago. Dun dun DUUUUUUN!


Here he is. I won't disclose too much about the company - been asked to do some more freelance work for them so hopefully this'll go well and I'll have more to show. This isn't the final character so I'm able to show this as it belongs to myself. The aim was to create a character that kids could like. I'm quite pleased with this as it's not too kiddy. Plus everyone I've shown seem to fall in love with the character so I must have done something right.

Thursday 21 August 2014

Tah dah, pictures!

So I have some good news. I've not only finished that underwater background but completed another one! I'm actually quite enjoying this. Still using concept art as a reference but I started to mess around with the plants and colours in this first picture. Starting to feel confident enough to start messing around. I'm surprised at how quickly I'm picking this up. I know it's difficult adapting to colouring in graphics programs. Must be because I'm experimenting so much!

Also, a friend recently told me about downloading brushes in photoshop. I'm ashamed to say it's taken me this long to start using more than one brush! It's making the drawing so much easier and looks a lot smoother than it did before. Really glad I was told about this. You should check out her stuff. It's amazing! You can find it at liliacheung.com!


I wasn't too sure of this second picture at first. Originally I was starting to make backgrounds that could scroll but I wanted to try something a bit more detailed. I found this concept art online and fell in love with it. Thought I should redo it in my own style so I could learn more about underwater colours and sea life. I'm now really happy with it. Took me slightly longer than I expected (maybe 6-8 hours?) but it was well worth it. I've been told this is quick for a background but it still feels really slow to me.


Anyway that's it for this week. Might try and do some character work for next week and show the character design I did not long ago. I'll wait and see what I feel like first. Also depends on what Zapcoder want from me next week.

Sunday 17 August 2014

Quick update

Just a quick update this time. Been pretty busy with work so not got much to show this week. I'm currently in the middle of a new background - being adventurous and going for an underwater theme. Hopefully that'll be done within the next day or two so it should be ready for the next update.

Also, I've been having a bit of artist's block lately. I get it every now and then and usually I can get over it by just looking at other people's amazing artwork. Not a good thing to have though when you've got to draw for work experience. I thought I'd do a quick character drawing to try and get myself out of this slump - plus it feels like it's been ages since I've done a character drawing. Don't want to get out of practice!


Still got a lot of things to work on, mainly colour and proportions. I'm quite happy with how this turned out considering it was supposed to be a quick drawing. Plus I'd seen a colour palette I wanted to try out and this gave me an excuse. Better get back to that underwater background so I have something for next time!

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Such a busy bee!

So between work and work experience I've got hardly any time to myself. Good thing the work experience is an excuse to draw! Gives me a chance to keep experimenting and keep learning. I'm now proud to say that I've started experimenting with my colouring so I'm now picking my own colours. Must mean I'm learning something!

I thought I'd try a more dark background that lacks colour. This way I can work on my tones and even lighting. I'm quite pleased with the end result, especially since I wanted a more cartoony style than my usual drawings. I think this works well and I'm glad I tried it. Definitely found that it's helping with my tones for other drawings.


I was asked to make some general assets for work experience. As I usually draw human characters, I thought I'd go for a change and draw an animal and see what I came up with. After some doodling I came up with this bee. I'm very pleased to say that's it's completely my own design, colours and all. That's something that doesn't happen often. Usually I use some sort of image as reference.


Today, although I was working on general assets, I did a LOT of backgrounds. I've been asked if I can try out Illustrator so I thought I'd try out a vector style in photoshop before I learn the new program. I've got to say I quite like the style. It's a lot different from what I'm used to but it's fun messing about with gradients and shapes. Plus it takes a lot less time than I'm used to!


This isn't something I usually do but I was reading manga the other day and came across one called "Bokura no Kiseki". It's all about people remembering their past lives and being friends in more than one lifetime. Also, it explores the idea of people being reborn to forgive past mistakes. I thought this was a pretty neat idea. I'm not just randomly saying this, I actually got really inspired by this! I think that it's a really sweet thing to imagine so why not play around with this topic. It's gave me an idea for a short animation, although it won't be started for a while. Since a blog post's supposed to outline development and thoughts I thought I'd stick this in here. Plus it means when I reread this I'll remember about this idea. 

Wednesday 23 July 2014

Work experience is fun!

There is an incredible amount of freedom during this work experience. Lately I've been working on a specific game so I haven't had much freedom on the topic but style is entirely up to me. I think I'll explain my progress a little (be prepared for more drawings than usual).

I got this work experience due to my 2D honours project. The guys from Zapcoder loved my hand drawn backgrounds and then asked me to come in and do some work for them. Personally I was very proud of them. I've never properly experimented with backgrounds so it was interesting to test this out. Also, I know that most big 2D companies (ie Studio Ghibli) draw their backgrounds so I thought I'd test this out with my project. It also meant I was able to figure out what I could and couldn't do when I went into the industry.


The company requested that I drew parliament for the upcoming game on Scottish Independence. I'd never drawn a background on a graphics program so I thought this would be great reason for experimentation. Plus it'd save the hassle of deciding what to draw! They liked this style so much that they asked for more, which I was very pleased with. Not bad for my first ever background on the computer!



For the past couple of days I've been working on something for the Ryder Cup. I'm getting more confident with buildings so I thought I'd challenge myself again and add a proper environment to this. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I'm now getting used to backgrounds so I was experimenting more with the colours for the grass. 


It's lovely being able to draw in my own style, something I completely didn't expect. Being at my work experience has definitely motivated me into learning more about drawing and is actually inspiring me! I've spent the past couple of hours looking up different kinds of backgrounds to draw, something I always hated doing before. I'm really glad I got this opportunity as I'm able to expand my drawing skills and gain some contacts along the way. Not to mention I'm thoroughly enjoying their company! They make work so fun, it's actually hard to stop drawing at the end of the day and relax. I hope that I can stay there for a while and I definitely plan on making the most of this opportunity. Be prepared for a lot of work to be posted!

Thursday 17 July 2014

Who knew characters would be so fun?

Wow talk about being busy! Everything's happening at the one time. I got a job to help out my family and then just after got contacted by a local company about work experience! I'm allowed to create any kind of artwork, no matter the style, and it'll be uploaded to their app. It's not quite up and running yet but keep an eye out for Zapcoder. It's basically an app where you can create your own games, even with your own customisation settings. Going to be pretty busy if I'm going between work and work experience!

I've also got a little job as a character designer for a friend. I never thought designing kids characters would be so much fun! You get to be as crazy as you want and go wild with the colours. I do really enjoy drawing characters, but usually they're inspired by an image or a certain style I come across. It's not often that I actually design my own characters. So I never thought designing would be as much fun as experimenting is. Don't think I'm quite cut out for character designing but it's definitely fun giving it a go!

So I've been experimenting more with that style from last time. I'm quite pleased with how these have turned out. Perhaps they're not as good as the last but I'm definitely adopting this style! Plus I've decided my next project will use illustrations in this style. 


The first is loosely inspired by "Nausicaa" by Studio Ghibli. It was quite an interesting pose to attempt. Think I'll try and stray away from the rigid poses I'm used to as this pose gives the character a bit more "life".


I also wanted to do another "cute" picture. One theme I've never explored in an image is a proposal so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try. I think the style fits it so I'm very pleased. Think my next challenge is working on my colours so that my project can be even better. Bring on the inspiration!

Saturday 12 July 2014

Simple, yet effective

So it's about time I upload something new. Not that I'm keeping to a strict timetable but I feel that this should be updated regularly, even if it's just progress sketches.

I've now officially graduated! It wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be, just another day. Not one of us tripped up, in fact it went by rather smoothly. I was lucky enough to get a photo with my class so that I can remember them for a while. It's kind of put me in a weird mood. I want to be productive and be the best I can but at the same time it's the end of an era and I don't want to rush things. I'm finally through education (although I'm considering a Masters degree) and it's quite emotional going through that. The stress of trying to get a job combined with a lack of knowing what to do with yourself if a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. 

So right now I'm taking things slowly. I decided that I'd experiment with a new style I came across earlier today. Just something small and cute to upload while I sort out the inevitable question of what to do for the rest of my life. I'm incredibly pleased with how it's turned out, despite how quick it was to create. I definitely think I'll be using this style a lot more often. I quite like the colouring style too. Despite not knowing much it was very simple to replicate. Every step helps though so I'm glad I've managed to create something I love.


I've always wanted to create something Japanese and I've never been able to create something I'm happy with. I'm quite happy that my fascination with a culture so different from my own has been put into a simple drawing.

Thursday 3 July 2014

Patreon and sketches!

A friend of mine told me about a website called Patreon. If any of you are artists and are wanting to share your work (for a donation) feel free to check it out. People can donate whatever amount they want to help you, the artist, create more work. It's kind of like Kickstarter only it's with small, regular projects rather than a big one. If you want to have a look mine is at http://www.patreon.com/nanimations. Anyway onto the blog.

So it's been a pretty busy week. Graduation's just round the corner and I thought I'd do some sketches to distract myself from IMPENDING DOOM! If only it was that dramatic...

First off, I thought I'd do a bit more pose sketching. I do it a lot so try not to get sick of the pose sketches. I figure you can never stop learning and it's always interesting seeing new poses. I've never drawn a character from this angle before so it was quite interesting to try. I'm quite liking it so I may try a few more dramatic shots with a similar angle.



I've been having a look through all of my old work. It took me quite a while to look through and personally critique it but I've learned a lot. It's weird seeing all of your old work. Especially when you're comparing it to the new stuff. You see how far you've came in not only a short amount of time but you dig up work from years ago. It's amazing what you can learn over the years!

It also makes me appreciate everyone that's helped me along the way. From my parents, to teachers at school and online critiques, I've developed my own style and I'm truly happy about this. Not so long ago I was able to copy any drawing style but I was never comfortable enough to try my own. Now I think I'm developing it, still got a long way to go but I'm getting there. Every little step counts.

So this next drawing is just a quick character design I created. I realised that I tend to draw a lot of single characters so I thought I'd try two boys this time. Yes that's a boy on the right! I wanted to make him look a bit girlier than I usually do. I've been reading a manga that explores friendship between two male best friends and it inspired me to create this. 


It's also a bit of experimentation. Another friend of mine is helping me get better with my colouring so hopefully in a few years I'll have something completely original that I'm happy with. Can't wait! Anyway that's enough text for now so I'll keep sketching and post another time.

Thursday 26 June 2014

While I wait for inspiration to strike for my next project, I decided to do a character doodle. I thought I'd challenge myself a bit and create a fantasy styled character. I also wanted to attempt a more realistic sketch than my usual drawings.




I also thought I'd attempt a quick dramatic pose sketch. I liked experimenting with the flowing hair, although more work needs to be done on drawing flowing clothes properly.


Sunday 22 June 2014

Hi there,

So now that I've completed my honours degree at university I'll be working on many projects - hopefully not just my own. I thought I'd create a blog so that I can show my work in progress and hopefully see my development throughout this blog. It also means that people can still see that I'm alive and working hard!

So while I'm creating my next project (planning starts tomorrow!) I thought I'd do a quick drawing so my skills don't get too rusty. It's quite nice going back to traditional drawing after experimenting with drawing packages. Turns out this "quick drawing" took me a whole day - not often I spend that long on one.



Hopefully when I get more projects on the go this'll become quite busy. Even so, I plan to develop my own ideas and upload progress shots. So I hope you look forward to the updates!

Natasha