2014 Art Summary

Hey look I finally did one of these things! Been meaning to for a long time.
Blank meme: 2011 Art Summary Meme BLANK (edited this some)

I'm going to ramble. tl;dr, characters, full illustrations, improvement, lots of the phrase "this year"

Long version:

January: Jungle adventurers!
I was (and still am) super proud of this for looking kind of like a real comic, having full backgrounds, getting across the atmosphere/aesthetic I had in mind for the whole thing, and portraying a scene and from Aureus's history (even if just a quick amusing one~).

February: Cafe
 Looking at it now I see a lot of aspects that could be better, and it didn't quite capture what I had in my head for the scene, but still I really like it. I feel like it was a big step forward in doing big, full-background type illustration images. Also a nice happy follow-up to the conclusion of Aureus's story, which was a pretty big event in the early parts of this year.

March: Rook Reference 2014
Wow so much work and time and fine-tuning went into this one. And as a result I finally have an updated look and a good reference for one of my all-time favorite characters : D This also marks the year Rook finally took over my gallery (or the year I finally let him).

April: Aureus
Not so much to say about this one; I mainly just picked it because it's aesthetically pleasing. And the fishdog didn't resize as well.

May: Negotiations
Ok this. This is one of my favorite works yet. It was a huge step forward in art quality--and I've yet to do anything quite as involved since (partially because my processor could barely handle it by the end), but it was good to put in the extra effort and hours to really refine everything and see what I could really do with a character illustration.

June: Unusual
Shadowfire : D It was fun breaking out of the same expressions I usually draw him in. I enjoy the colors in this one with all the blue. Though it was really a tossup between this and Tundra and a Goat, because they both really exemplify the sketchier/quicker style with more of an emphasis on concept than polishedness that I sort of embraced this year.

July: creaturebeast
This was the first time I've successfully gotten down the look for a character I've had for quite some time, and of course the first time I've posted anything about him on the internet. It also represents the development work that he and his story and world underwent this year (the vast majority of which stayed offline though--but I'm very happy with breakthroughs that were made, ideas that were fleshed out and refined, and new directions things are going in).
This was a close second though: Waiting for Someone

August: adrift and sudenly alone
This sort of continues the theme from the last one of work with that particular story, as well as with making full scene illustrations (which is super satisfying when it works out as intended).
Super close second I almost went with instead: Ember Eyes

September: summer fields
I just love this~ It's a simple piece and I almost went with something else, but it's one I really connect to. Plus I really like the refinements made over the year to my self-representational character's design, and this is one of my favorite depictions of that.

October: Fear and Loathing in I can't think of a good pun
Just... how could I use anything other than this image for October. This is one of my favorite things.
Also it's not super long-term art related but having bronchitis for several months kind of messed with a lot of things including my style, and this shows it in the line work. >:I Even if it totally works for effect in this particular case.
_{IT THREW OFF MY GROOVE}

November: 11/2/14
Another one that's maybe not the most technically fantastic piece, but I love it. I really like how his expression turned out still. Random character drawings I just felt like making, like this one, are some of my favorite things to do for fun. Also because this just feels somehow very November to me.

December: Terrible jokes
Yet another one that was just purely enjoyable to do, and I was really satisfied with the end result. I like the snapshot of character history, and Mira has proven to be entertaining to work with as I've been developing her more than I really had in past years (before she was more of just a rough concept but now she's feeling more like an actual character). I also enjoy the the expressions here, and the quicker more stylized look combined with the coloring and lighting.
This is an honorable mention, because it's a technically better work I'm sure and was something new in terms of clothing and backgrounds: At the Royal Ball

_{Not pictured was progress made in learning to draw humans. Even though all I have are sketches (with one exception), doing any real work toward that was a pretty big step for me personally. Faces have always been particularly difficult/uncomfortable to draw for some hard to define reason. I plan to do at least a little more work in that area in the upcoming year; I don't know if human art will ever be a big feature of my gallery but it's good for personal growth if nothing else. And it will let me fan-art more things I like, which is a plus. : D}

On the whole I'm really happy with where my art went in 2014 ^^ I had the most fun with it than I think I've had in a while. I didn't have nearly the same degree of problems with the unconstructive variety of over-self-criticizing that's held me back in the past. As far as years go in general, it wasn't without its own difficulties but it beat 2013 by a long shot (though it didn't have to work hard to do that). Here's to hoping 2015 is even better! ~ ~