Hello world! As 2009 is steadily ticking away I thought it would be worth making a quickie journal looking back over 2009's art efforts.

Things I view as achievements
I can now use Manga Studio somewhat, and I successfully completed Broken Strings (a 20 page manga about Freya and Jono, sadly no longer available in my gallery). Though the manga was nothing amazing, I am proud that I completed it, and pleased with what I learned from doing it.
I think I've managed to achieve some more interesting compositions; more of my pictures have involved some form of background this year. I have actually done very few "draw a figure and stick a few pretty PS brushes in the background" pics - not that there's anything wrong with them, of course, but I'm happy I'm making some kind of an effort with backgrounds at last
I've developed my lineart and now tend to use three colours for it rather than just black
I've made a couple of semi-successful forays into "interesting lighting"
I feel my drawing of faces has improved in particular
I successfully ran my first contest and managed to complete all the prizes within a month of the contest ending
Hugh's Diary was hardly an art achievement as it was prose, but as it was submitted on here I thought it was worth mentioning.

Aims for 2010
To finish my Character Profiles
To incorporate other materials into my marker pieces such as fabrics, patterned papers, stickers, buttons and beads - I did this for one piece this year and was pleased with the effect, so I think developing this would give my art a more interesting edge
To do more forays into the world of lighting, because I pretty much ignore it at present and light could really advance my pictures
To try and improve my lineart when colouring digitally, because I really don't think my lineart works terribly well with digital colouring

I could make more, but I'll stop there - I think that is enough to be getting on with.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, thumbs of the artwork I did this year that I'm still pleased with:



Happy New Year, and let's hope 2010 is magnificent

Melody
Freya
Hugh
Celia

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