Progress

When I started the Arts Award my artistic style was very basic. It consisted of simple colouring and thick black lines. It was very Anime and Manga based as this was the style that I was most comfortable with. I did not go into detail and only used very basic shading. I did not like to shade in detail as this was a new technique for me. I used a program called GIMP to draw. GIMP is a good program to start digital drawing with but it is not very good for going into detail.

I then moved on to using Photoshop for my drawings a few weeks into the Arts Award. I started to go into more detail, adding in textures to my artwork. I also began to experiment with different brushes and stamps. I even designed my own virtual brushes and played around with opacity and texture. I then made a brush that, when I tested it out, reminded me of the bold brush strokes that you see when you look at an oil painting. After experimenting a little more I found that I could produce a drawing that looked like an oil painting. I also found out how to remove the thick lines that I had been using. This is my main style now but I do keep going back to my older style too.

I have recently started to draw eyes in different styles. I think that drawing eyes is a great way of showing emotion without words. When I draw eyes I like to go back into the Anime and Manga style I used when I started the Arts Award but I find ways to incorporate my new style as well. Doing this has made me more aware of how much my style has changed. My art style had gone from childish and messy to rather neat and far more mature.

Before -

Now - 

I have recently been inspired by a few people since I started the Arts Award. Here are two of the artists who I know that have inspired me.

http://mdragonheartlove.deviantart.com/ - Someone whose colour choice in her art has inspired me to use more vibrant and shocking colours in what would usually be plain.

http://afrosamurai091.deviantart.com/ - A friend who has supported me with my art and given me much inspiration from role plays that we have done.

I have also attempted some cartoon-style artwork based on Roy Lichtenstein's paintings.