Crystal Shadows: Manila Kenkaku Romantan

When the live action film adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin was first released here in the Philippines, I didn’t think that I’d be able to watch it because I was so busy! ヾ(×× ) ﾂ And since it was supposed to show through just one weekend, I decided to drown my sorrows by drawing something that was inspired by one of my favorite anime of all time. (*´・ｖ・)

Little did I know that my brother was planning to surprise me with a movie date! ━Σ(ﾟДﾟ|||)━ You have absolutely no idea how fast I typed that evening to finish all of my reports for the entire week! And I believe I may have broken my own speed record in running up and down the stairs without injuries! ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ

In any case, I was hunting for a DVD copy of the movie when I remembered this illustration. One of my new year’s resolution is to try and finish anything that I have started in the past and this was the first experimental guinea pig. Not too shabby despite the lack of a decent background, and very satisfying overall! (￣▽￣)ノ

Now to get back on actual manga making. Gambatte de gozaru~! ヾ(^ω^x)ﾉﾞ

Q&A: Imitating or Plagiarizing?

Crispy Chip asked: Is copying or tracing a good way to master drawing?

My answer: Well, there’s a big difference between copying and tracing.

For this doodle, I copied Enjelia’s fan art of Kirito from Sword Art Online. Yes, I actually do this when I need to de-stress over life and don’t have the creative juices to draw my own illustrations… but I digress!

When you copy a drawing, you draw it from scratch, imitating what you see. When you trace a drawing, however, you copy the original by tracing on a transparent paper (or “layer” in a drawing software) placed over the illustration. You’d get instant gratification through tracing, but copying will allow you to actually learn how to draw.

Nevertheless, copying someone else’s work does not make it your own. It’s only good for practice and for sharpening your drawing skills, but if you do decide to upload your work to websites like Deviant Art and Facebook, it would be wise to share your references and/or sources so that you won’t be accused of plagiarism. Besides, giving credit where credit is due will make both your fans and the original artist very happy. It’s just good netiquette!

If you’d like me to answer a question or two, feel free to email me at kurohiko at gmail dot com! You can also leave a message on my Facebook Page.

…and in case you’re wondering, I did start out copying Enjelia’s work, but I forgot to save the image on my phone and thus had to draw his right hand from memory. My memory sucks so the sword position and hand is completely off! Sorry, Enj! Forgiveness for my fail, please! щ(ಥДಥщ)

How I Draw: Anatomy Tips on Drawing Arms

To be honest, I didn’t think there’d be a lot of people who’d be interested in learning how I draw, but I’ve received a lot of requests to continue giving tips on anatomy and drawing in general. Thank you so much! I’m so flattered! ヽ(；▽；)ノ

Well then, let’s continue where we left off! We’ve learned from the previous lesson that a person is generally 7 heads high (see point number 2), now let’s study drawing the arms! ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

The elbows are actually aligned somewhere along the waistline when they are placed on either side of your body. You can check this yourself when you stand in front of a full-length mirror. And when I say waist, I mean your upper waistline, not where low-rise jeans usually sit on your torso! o(-`д´- ｡) Tori is wearing low-rise jeans in the diagram, but his elbows are above that point! (｡･ω･｡)

Similarly, when your arms are straight down on either side of your body, the tip of your open hand falls halfway of your upper thigh. Khyle’s right arm is closed in a loose fist so this might not be the best example, but I hope you can see what I mean! ( (ﾐ´ω`ﾐ))

This is of course, only a rough estimate, and since anime does not follow any set of rules regarding anatomy, your character may have shorter or longer arms. Either way, I use these tips so that the arms don’t end up looking too short or too long. ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ

I hope this tutorial was helpful to you! ヾ(^ ^ゞ Feel free to post your questions in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them! (*≧▽≦) Oh, and if you’d like to learn about anything specific, please do let me know! (*´・ｖ・)

Draft Manga Page

What the heck am I doing starting another webcomic, you ask? щ(ಥДಥщ)

Well, don’t kill me yet! (／。＼) I decided to try out for a manga artist position. As much as I love to draw webcomics for free, money simple does not grow on trees anymore. ヽ(￣д￣;)ノ And it would be really nice to work on comics for a living again, no matter how much it really kills my social life!

Wish me luck, guys! Now it’s time for some sleep. Hello again, morning sun! (。-ω-)zzz

Shortcuts with Jeff, Enjelia, and Jayron

Some of my friends have put together a small compilation of love stories under Black Ink’s “Shortcuts”! I’ve been looking for it ever since I heard about it and I was finally able to buy a copy the other day! ヘ(￣ω￣ヘ)

Jeff suggested I should take a photo of their book with mine, and I was more than happy to oblige! But our book is only a xerox-type! ヾ(*д*)ﾉ゛ Uhuhuhu~

The three love stories are all one shots, so you don’t need to worry and fret over when the next installment would come out (so they say, but I do want to see more from them! щ(ಥДಥщ)) I would suggest to pick it up yourself instead of reading my review, but if you’re curious, here’s a short description~ And I’ll do my best not to give anything away! （⌒▽⌒ゞ

• Some Sweat, Some Love by Nald and Jeff is about a chubby girl who wants to slim down to get the boy of her dreams. Will she succeed, or will her love of good food conquer all?
• A Decade of Waiting by Herbs and Enjelia tells about a young boy who wishes to become the best so that he would be good enough to be the boyfriend of the girl of his dreams. But after working so hard for the past decade, will she even notice his efforts?
• The Tree of Happy Leaves by Ron and Jason (huh? Jason not Jayron?!) is the story of a girl who likes a boy who has been ignoring her forever. One day, a golden leaf fall on her head which reminded her about the Tree of Happy Leaves. Could a little, dried up leaf, really bring happiness to a girl’s longing heart?

Honestly, I don’t like shoujo very much. This coming from a girl who’s writing and drawing a shoujo manga herself! o(>< )o But after I’ve read all three shorts, it kinda made me feel like I wanted to fall in love some day too~ ♥（ﾉ´∀`）

Then again, I think I should be focusing more on drawing new pages for Crystal Shadows and preparing for the next Komikon! (,,#ﾟДﾟ)

In any case, please pick up this book! (≧▼≦；) It’s only P69.75, so you really get your money’s worth! I mean, a good fluffy story is so hard to find these days, and with this book, you get three! (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) ♫･*:.｡. .｡.:*･ It’s happiness in a book!

A New Year’s Gift from Honey

~ Originally from Honey Den on Facebook ~

I think I might have died of cuteness overload. щ(ಥДಥщ) This is one of the cutest fan arts I’ve yet received! Just look at the adorabubble~! (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) ♫･*:.｡. .｡.:*･

…and I can’t think of anything else to say except, thank you, Honey!!! You are amazing! (o;TωT)o

Art Trade with yuukihanabusa

It would appear that my coffee was not decaffeinated last night. (¬▂¬) I’ve barely slept, and since I can’t seem to fall asleep at all, I’ve decided to finish this art trade of Yuuki’s character, Alex Fiore. (*´・ｖ・)

Still used the same watercolor texture as before. (´-ω-｀) That neko wasn’t really supposed to be there, but I wanted Alex to wake up to something adorable. ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ It would have been boring otherwise if it was just a bishie in bed… right?

Kitty was from this photo, I just changed the colar into a bow. ～(^з^)-☆

Art Trade with petmeow

Continuing with my art trade meme, petmeow wanted a sketch of her original character, “Akai”. (* >ω<) She is a feline youkai and a technical assistant for Youko Kurama. Although one is considerably protective of the other, their relationship can neither be described as business nor romantic.

Although I definitely ship Maya with Shuichi as they are a canon couple, Akai seems like a nice girl. So I gave her a Youko plushie to go with her portrait.（⌒▽⌒ゞ Oh, and if you think her clothes look familiar, that’s probably because that’s Mist’s female uniform. ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

I miss drawing Mist, but ah, those are the breaks. Hope you guys like it! o(≧∇≦o)

Secret Santa 2012 on SmackJeeves

I’ve always wanted to participate in a Secret Santa game. In fact, I went so far as to host one last year at Indie Komiks Manila because I’ve never gotten an invite to one myself. o(╥﹏╥)o

Well, this year, I found out that SmackJeeves has an annual Secret Santa event where anyone can sign up. And if someone happens to have gotten “scrooged” meaning they didn’t get a gift from their Secret Santa, Smack Santa and the Head Elves will hire a Gift Elf to draw for them! ヾ(･ω･*)ﾉ

I participated as a Secret Santa and Gift Elf just for the fun of it~ More work for me, but hey, no one wants to get scrooged over the holidays, right? ヽ(*^ｰ^)人(^ｰ^*)ノ

I don’t think anyone was able to tell these two artworks were done by the same person, haha! I wouldn’t have believed it either now that I think about it… （⌒▽⌒ゞ I’m a little sad that Marchen de Lune didn’t comment whether they liked my version of Krianos or not, but I’m also quite happy that my fellow Gift Elf, Bad Banana seemed really ecstatic about my version of Charlie! ヽ(≧∇≦)ノ

I almost didn’t draw Charlie for her because her webcomic is hardcore yaoi. (((( ;°Д°)))) But when I thought about it, it seems really disheartening to receive a fan art of someone else’s work when you were already scrooged! ━Σ(ﾟДﾟ|||)━ I think I was pretty lucky to have found Charlie in her tumblr. He seemed like an adorable guy, so I gave him a fluffy coat~ ╮(─▽─)╭

And so, Santa, I’ve been really good this year, but I found out I got scrooged too! (」゜ロ゜)」 Well, no matter, Santa got me Gift Elf and I am more than happy with what I got~

Because really, who would have thought of mixing all three of my series on SmackJeeves into one fantabulous fan art? Earthfield, that’s who! (´ω｀★) And it makes me wonder, did Jeremy follow Erin home? Maybe he was worried about her but decided she’ll be ok after getting off her stop, so he’s on his way home now.

Or they’re actually neighbors! That’s even better! (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) ♫･*:.｡. .｡.:*･

Not a bad start for 2013. I’ve nearly forgotten how fulfilling it is to give a little love to a fellow artist. I think I’ll do a few more of those art trades. ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝ

Art Trade with ItsyBitsyshutterbug

I decided to try and be more active in the Deviant Art community this year, and what better way to do it than to participate in an art trade meme? ヾ(*´∇`)ﾉ

This is inspired from ItsyBitsyshutterbug’s portrait shot “Halo”~! ヾ(･ω･*)ﾉ I may have gone a little bit overboard on this and gave her a kimono instead of her stripped t-shirt, but hey! A direct copy would have been too boring, right?

I hope she likes it! Now on to the next trade! ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

2012 Art Summary

Summary of artworks! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ I somehow managed to draw at least one complete piece every month this last year! ヽ(；▽；)ノ

I wonder if there's any sign of improvement? Hm~ ﾍ(￣ ￣;ﾍ)

Characters:

1. A.illusions: Khyle
2. A.illusions: Lain
3. Carciphona: Veloce
4. Curtains for Hire: Eldrin
5. Karma: Rei Kuassary
6. A.illusions: Eri (Vocaloid + Black Rock Shooter Cosplay)
7. A.illusions + Karma: Lowlife and Azorite
8. Soul Dice: Lan
9. Crystal Shadows: Jeremy Chan
10. Crystal Shadows: Erin Kiraly
11. Karma: Rei Kuassary
12. Afterlives: Sh'Hari Monmahoye

Did you guys do a Summary Meme too? ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ