#sailormoonredraw - Sailor Venus version

I've always wanted to do this version of Sailor Venus. Incidentally, this redraw pretty much sums up the beginning of my new year.

January started by letting me know my motherboard was fried and that this type of MoBo is now fairly obsolete. This means all of my commissions had to be put on hold while my nephew tries to locate a new MoBo.

A few days later, I came down with a sore throat... at the time when my city began having a lot of CoVid cases.

Thankfully, I wasn't very sick. But for many reasons, isolating at home can be very stressful. I'm grateful that it's finally over and that I have my PC back..!

Belated happy new year, everyone! While the pandemic still ravages the world, please remember to always wear your mask and wash your hands.

Six Characters That Remind You of Me

This took so long to finish! I was pretty nervous that I was going to abandon it halfway through, so I'm glad I was able to complete it~

These are characters that my friends on Facebook are reminded of me... Except for Camus, because there was a misunderstanding, but I'll take him anyway since UtaPri often reminds people of me anyway! (≧▽≦)

Here is the list of characters (clockwise):

• Camus (requested by Pau)
• Ittoki Otoya (requested by Fae)
• Cater Diamond (requested by Rin)
• Mexi-kon (requested by Jayjay)
• Rei Kuassary (requested by Honey)
• Li Kohran (requested by Jayron)
• Sailor Venus (requested by Jaden Kaiba)
• Kurama (requested by Michiko)

I hope you guys enjoy this piece! I think I'm finally getting back to my old self. Still taking it one day at a time, but instead of just crawling through, I'm beginning to walk again. (^^*)

HachiPaws Fan Art Contest

I joined a fan art contest hosted by HachiPaws on Facebook. If you'd like, please view the original entry here and send me a like~? Maybe help me win a new tablet? (^^*)

#sailormoonredraw - Furuhata Motoki Version

Gonna be taking a break from the redraws after this one, because I might try something a little more serious.

While everyone else was crushing over Tuxedo Kamen, I wanted to be with Motoko. (◍•ᴗ•◍) He's sweet, kind, and he never made fun of Usagi. I wanted to be with someone like that, and I was only in grade school when I met him. (≧▽≦)

I hope everyone is well during this pandemic... I feel very scared everyday, and I know of at least 2 people who died from CoVid-19. I don't have any words of encouragement for now, but please, stay home as much as you can, and wash your hands. Wear a mask whenever you are outside. Keep yourself safe for your family's sake.

Stay safe, everyone. (^^*)

#sailormoonredraw - Sailor Pluto Version

A friend of mine said I was obsessed with this meme. She might be right. But I can't exactly leave until I draw my favorite senshi now, could I? ( ◜‿◝ )♡

I always thought Setsuna was very beautiful. She has tanned skin, which made her so strikingly different from the other scouts. And she was so tall! The self sacrifice that it took for her to guard the Door of Space and Time, even if it meant being alone for a long time, made me think she was an incredibly strong woman.

I wonder why the screenshots chosen for this meme have mostly surprised/worried expressions? ヽ((◎д◎))ゝ

Anyway, maybe I should hop onto another meme before I drive everyone away with my love for Sailor Moon. (≧▽≦) See you guys next time!!

#sailormoonredraw - Tomoe Hotaru (Sailor Saturn) Version

This is getting addicting. ヽ((◎д◎))ゝ

I saw Suoh's attempt with this challenge and wanted to try it out for myself. Saturn is his favorite character, and Honey Den requested for her before, so I thought, why not?

Different sized screencap this time... I decided to keep the same format with my other attempts so that it will look good in the gallery later. (◍•ᴗ•◍)

For now, a bit of sleep! I wonder who I'll attempt next... (^_^メ)

#sailormoonredraw - Tuxedo Kamen version

(• ▽ •;) Okay, yes, I could not help myself. I drew Sailor Moon after all, so I definitely need to draw my first crush.

I say "crush" because I wanted Tuxedo Kamen to end up with Sailor Moon, and not for myself. (≧▽≦) but wow, did I ever love this series..!

I might end up doing a lot more of these because it is such great practice! I need to get used to this new program and hopefully it happens a lot sooner than later! Wish me luck!! (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)

#sailormoonredraw

Everyone was doing this on Twitter, so I thought I'd give it a go too. (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ Sailor Moon was a huge part of my childhood, and I am so happy to draw her again!

Also, I am trying to get used to Clip Studio for my new job, so I decided this would br good practice. (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡ What do you guys think? Is there much difference from the original?

I eyeballed the colors from this screenshot, though in hindsight, maybe I should have used the eyedropper tool. (๑•﹏•)

#SixFanarts

Finally gonna stop nitpicking on this piece, ahaha! After everyone started upping their game with this meme, I wanted to try making all 6 fan arts into one giant illustration... Kinda like anime posters often seen in the 90's~

And so we have:

• "Classic" Thor (requested by Mark)
• Reinhard von Lohengramm (requested by Pau)
• Sailor V (requested by Michiko)
• Proto Arthur Pendragon (requested by YumYum)
• Dimitri von Blaiddyd (requested by Shiawase)
• Sanji (requested by Niño)

Thank you everyone for granting my request for an all blond edition of this meme! Now... I will go back to cooking more food, because this quarantine is making everyone eat a lot. (^^*)

Sailor Moon Crystal: Tuxedo Uranus & Sailor Moon

I read about a Sailor Uranus’ “Tuxedo Kamen” form, but I never really got to see any evidence of it until very recently. When I was still quite young, and lesbian relationships were pretty much non-existent to me, I used to believe that Uranus was a man in her past life. This idea came from a flashback scene from the original Sailor Moon anime. I distinctively remember seeing Sailor Uranus in a tuxedo, rather than a princess’ gown, while she was standing beside Neptune.

I guess that made it seem natural for me that Uranus would flirt with girls and is extremely close to Neptune. My innocent brain made a story all on its own, I suppose? Is it still considered GL (Girls’ Love) or yuri when one was a boy in her past life?

I don’t necessarily “ship” Uranus with Moon, but I’ve been thinking about drawing this illustration for quite some time. You see, this was originally for Miss Nica, the voice actress of the Philippine dubbed version of Sailor Uranus. But life happened, so her birthday gift is way too delayed. Hopefully, she will still like it anyway~

Time for bed~ Drawing girls really do make a cheerful picture~

Sailor Moon Fever

There’s a Sailor Senshi fever going around Indie Komiks Manila, and it looks like the bug’s finally bitten me. (＊0＊;)

It’s no secret that Rei Kuassary’s design is inspired from Sailor Moon herself, so coming up with her Sailor Senshi design was fairly easy. ヾ(･ω･`｡) This would be her Karma version though, not the one from A.illusions.

However, for Crystal Shadows, it was far more challenging.

The girl in the middle would be Erin, but it felt kinda lonely that she was all by herself. I haven’t introduced a lot of girls in the series yet, so I decided to use Jeremy and Dylan.

…yes, that’s Jeremy on the left, and Dylan on the right. ヽ(　￣д￣;)ノ Hey! The Starlights were also “men” when they were humans and became girls when they transformed!

There’s a special place in hell for me isn’t there? Oh my gosh! щ(ಥДಥщ)

In case you want to try making your own Sailor Soldier or any other doll for that matter, check out Doll Devine for more awesomeness~ （￣ー￣）

The 8th Philippine Komikon: Aftermath

ANNOUNCEMENT: If you have any information regarding the theft of Ms. Alexa’s bag and Doc Carlo’s DSLR, please do not hesitate to contact Komikon.org. Thank you!

Another Komikon has come and gone, and this marks the second time that I was able to participate as a seller thanks to the amazing Raykosen and Studio 4 Eyes! Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

As I mentioned before, Crystal Shadows has officially launched under Studio 4 Eyes with the main characters on the cover! It’s too bad we didn’t know exactly how and where we can print colored covers without burning a hole in our Editor’s pockets, but hey, we actually managed to sell all the copies! How cool is that?! ヽ(；▽；)ノ

Developing an “Art Style”

I haven’t gone around to writing about Komikon yet because I can’t seem to get into the mood of taking photos of my haul. But I can’t sleep, so I decided to write about another topic.

When Misaki-chan and Suoh-san kidnapped me and I went for coffee, they began a little interview since it was the first we three meet IRL. ^^;;; I’ll admit, it was nerve-wracking, but one question got stuck to my head:

“How did you develop your ‘art style’?”

I was only able to answer with, “well, I don’t think you ‘make’ an art style… it’s just comes to you. My style probably came about because of college…” etc. etc.

I don’t think it was a bad answer, but I do think it was an incomplete answer. So I’d like to further expound on this topic here in my blog.

I’m no expert, and I don’t think my style is all that unique, but it is something I’ve become comfortable with. I believe an art style can only be developed if you’ve tried out as many different styles that you can think of. You may not like the plate-sized eyes older anime’s have used, but I said the same thing about drawing small eyes when I still enjoyed drawing in the same style as Sailor Moon.

Case and point: 2006 and 2012 versions of Rei Hino

All styles have their own strengths and weaknesses. Once you’ve tried them all, you begin to see what you really like and what you don’t. Draw what scares you; draw what you think is impossible for you to master. You’d be surprised with how hard simple things are (like drawing chibi), and how easy difficult things can be (like backgrounds… wait, they’re still hard! orz;;;).

Then you add all the elements you like into one. After attending college and being forced to draw in different styles, I realized several things that I liked when I draw manga:

• Smaller eyes looked more realistic, and therefore, expressions seem more realistic and easier to relate to.
• I like artworks with detailed hair.
• I have a pet-peeve with drawing hands. They really need to look good or at the very least, decent.
• Anatomy is a continued really process, and despite the exaggerated anatomy that you can get away with in anime, I prefer “somewhat” realistic proportions.

I’m not saying these are rules for you to follow. I’m not saying these observations are correct either. These are my rules. You need to make you own. There are no real rules on art, there are guidelines. But even so, both rules and guidelines are meant to be broken. They change continually as you develop.

One last thing… if you really want to make your own style, then practice, practice, practice! Draw what you enjoy drawing and not what you think others will. When someone gives you “expert critiques”, listen to them with a grain of salt. If it makes sense to change something they pointed out, then do it. If it doesn’t, (and this is the most difficult thing to do) then don’t pay them any attention. Usually, those “experts” don’t even know how to draw anyway. xD

Because really, at the end of the day? If your happy with your work, then that’s all that really matters.

Keep drawing everyone. :) Stay happy! ♥

EDIT 2012.06.01: A word from Miss Joanah Calingo:

For major influence, I fused the look from these --> http://fav.me/d2xdayn

Now that's out of the way, for me, a style is a combination of all the visual elements that you like + your skill. Basically, it’s the flavor of your art. I guess there are many ways for you to land on the “final” look that you like. While you're in the process of developing your style, you pick up the aesthetic choices (or the look) of the artists you admire. There are certain elements in their art that you like. Those visual elements, combined with the artist's skill, tends to influence the way you do your art, trying to "emulate" them in the process.

The only advice I can give is to expose yourself to as many artists as you can, and then learn tips to make your art look better (what makes their art/look tick), but never aim to look exactly like the influence. Just aim to be as good in skill, and eventually you'll grow out of the idol's shadow come out with something uniquely yours.

Meme: Draw This Again

I am on a roll~ *rolls~*

Something quick and dirty that I finished soon after that awesome commission. I need to post this now because I will probably hate it in the morning and never show it to you guys. xD;;;

Get the blank meme from Bampire at Deviant Art!

You see, I’m not sure if this is really an improvement, because the one I just drew doesn’t even look like Rei Hino anymore! OTL;;; Looks more like Tomoe from Rurouni Kenshin. =A=;;;

Not sure if want. orz;;; I can’t get myself to copy Sailor Moon’s style anymore. The huge eyes disturb me now, which feels like stabbing the artists in the back because I grew up copying their work and learning a lot about anatomy from them! Sailor Moon made learning anatomy fun when I was only a wee pre-teen! Granted, I made her eyes bigger than my usual style in the after piece, but still not big enough, wry~ =o=;;;

Still not sure if want. OTL;;; Takeuchi-sama, forgiveness please! ;o;

I said I'd do 4, but I didn't get a request from the 4th one so. ( ; ω ; )

As per this: [link]

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S
taichichan | Ranagol | Hobbes918

- kurohiko (dA 2010)

Sailor Mercury

Another one of those things I do for my job... (´ ∀ ` *)

Well, they were asking for fanarts of Sailor Moon, but I ended up drawing Sailor Mercury. (´ ▽ `;) Prolly because I've gotten over my obsession for Sailor Moon. Hehe~

Done in Photoshop with my ♡ tablet. ( ˙꒳ ˙ ) Hope you guys like it. (*≧ω≦)

- kurohiko (dA 2006)

Sailormoon - Hino Rei

The first time I ever outlined something in Photoshop with my tablet... (´ ▽ `;) Be ye kind. (≧◡≦)

I made this for work... We needed some fanart of Sailormoon for the sites. This was done by request... (≧▽≦)

I just realized, Rei's full name actually means "Fire's Spirit"... Cool~

Little things amuse me so there... (⌒_⌒;)

- kurohiko (dA 2006)

CrossOver: Sailor Lei Miko

When I was creating the characters of A.illusions, I noticed some similarities with my designs and existing anime series that I adored.

That was when I decided to draw some "cosplay" series. Takeuchi Naoko's "Sailor Moon" was one of the most influential manga and anime I've ever come across. This is my homage to her. ^_^