woaw! a whole year as passed... I'm 20 now! scary. anyway here's my summary!I think I got more comfortable with my rendering style this year. It definitely looks different than it did last year, I think I'm more thoughtful about where I put lines and how I render different textures. I definitely got more comfortable rendering full body pieces, I remember being very scared of doing them last year and so stuck mostly to busts. Part of the reason I got more into full body pieces is because I finally figured out how legs work. which is kind of crazy, idk why it took me this long. 20 years of having legs and i only sort of get what they look like NOW?? maybe next year I'll finally learn what arms look like. I'm also a lot more conscious of what colors I'm picking for shading these days. I was relying on multiply layers a lot before, which worked fine, but personally picking out what colors I want to use makes me feel a lot more in control of a piece. I was doing that a bit last year, but I think I have a much better handle on it now. My favorite piece is definitely this one, the poses turned out so nice and I loved rendering it, I'm just really proud of it.
Next year, I'd like to get better at backgrounds most of all. I need to do more studies of nature and indoor environments. Also random knickknacks so I have a better idea what to fill a background with. Also anatomy... I need to find weirder poses to practice from and actually learn something from them. look at skeletons & muscular diagrams more. its harder to find reliable animal references for this kind of thing, but I still want to try. Another thing I'd like to work on is expressions, I feel like I could push them more. Also different face shapes for the same animal. and maybe I will finally learn how to draw and stylize a human face next year
As for less directly art related stuff, I started a lot of my stories with just putting characters in situations but they now have themes that the characters dont quite align with anymore so next year I'd like to work on revising character arcs and backstories to better match the story theyre intended to tell. I also want to finally work on 13 Beware again. I miss it and I want to actually start posting it eventually.
I want to consume more other art next year too... movies, shows, books, podcasts, etc. I have a hard time focusing on things for too long but I want to try harder actually pay attention to things. I also don't have most streaming services so i have to sail the high seas to get most of the popular stuff (the only reason i havent watched Severance or Pluribus is that i cant find it anywhere online). I want to look at less stuff that makes me mind bogglingly angry. I want to find more things that i actually enjoy. more hobbies too, i cant just draw and play games i need to do More Things. when i dont have anything to draw or anything to play i start going a little crazy, i need something else to occupy my time with. I want to be more social! comment on more posts, send more tumblr asks, text my friends first more, participate in more group chat conversations. I'm incredibly shy and i dont like talking to people most of the time but i also feel pretty lonely and isolated a lot. it would be nice to feel like im actually part of a community instead of just standing on the sidelines, only participating when directly addressed.
whoa thats 600 words! according to sheezy's little word counter in the corner anyway... thanks for reading! i hope everyone has a good new years and keeps making art forever and ever!