[Art] Atelier Levi: Youkai Mountain Travel Guide

[Ibaraki]

Greetings, fellow members of Maiden of the Kaleidoscope. My name is Levantine, someone who is aspiring to become a good artist and able to publish my own original stories in hope to improve the quality of entertainments here, in my country, one day. My favorite artists, to name a few, are Cosmic, Cis, Siro, Abo, and (danbooru) Soejima Shigenori, 
 
If I missed anything, be it rules, or requirements, to make a thread here in Atelier Alice, please feel free to correct me as you see fit. I consider myself still new here, so I most likely will need some direct pointers to be a better user.

There goes the introduction, and now...
Probably because I'm restricted to make drawing a hobby only, up until today I still feel like I haven't found my style yet. My experience of drawing anything Touhou-related is relatively minim. If I wanted to draw something, I'd draw my original characters. So with this Atelier created, I hope my motivation to enhance my skills in Touhou Department can be increased as well as my aim to find the most appropriate style for myself to be made into fruition. Constructive feedbacks are greatly appreciated.

The artworks provided here are all black-white, directly scanned from the sketchbook with no edits, except resizing, via any image editor programs. If only I could, I would color my own artworks. It's always been my dream to color them, though with the potentially increased activities later on and drawing being restricted as a hobby-only activity, it's highly unlikely that I can spend time to practice at it.
Until the time I can purchase my own tools, such as pencil, good rubber, pen, and scanner, please bear with the low-quality scans and dirty paper. Really sorry for the inconvenience.

Without further ado, here are my attempts at drawing Touhou characters more than a year ago.
<<from left to right>>

>> Lily White. I made it because I wanted to show my gratitude for someone who supported me all they way to continue drawing, even until now.
>> My original Touhou character, Yukianesa Yamaxanadu.
>> Parsee's always been one of my favorites.
>> Magicians Guild, featuring Patchouli Knowledge, Alice Margatroid, and Hijiri Byakuren.

And these two are the most-recent drawings. I probably need to meet a doctor because of my Dirty Dirty Hand disease.

>> Palanquin Crews. Aside from Ichirin and Unzan there, this is my first attempt at drawing all Palanquin Crews.
>> This is a picture of my original character, AIR (and her dragon), and Byakuren switching uniforms. It's a pure coincidence that I made AIR resembling Byakuren in terms of personalities. If they had a chance to meet, they would probably have a fine tea party to spend the day.

[Vento]

drawing is also a hobby to me too but that doesnt mean i use it as an excuse to not do things like colour.............

[DX7.EP]

I definitely am seeing elements of a style here, and there's noticeable improvements over time.
In terms of stylistic development, it's really up to personal preference. That being said, learning art fundamentals (shading, perspective, anatomy, so on) will improve anyone's work regardless of style.

Doesn't make sense to omit colouring for that reason, especially considering that many of us here are also hobbyists. Lack of equipment seems to be your major concern, so I'd advise starting by looking around for decent supplies in your area.

[Vyrien]

so I'd advise starting by looking around for decent supplies in your area.

Don't worry about spending a great deal of money on supplies, I still use a cheap mechanical pencil and an eraser I pinched from college + value cartridge paper. For traditional colouring I use crappy pencil crayons from the local supermarket that break as soon as a look at them.

If you are learning I believe it's best to not exhaust copious funds upon the acquisition of "artist's" equipment before finding your feet and becoming comfortable with your chosen methods.

[Ibaraki]

drawing is also a hobby to me too but that doesnt mean i use it as an excuse to not do things like colour.............

Doesn't make sense to omit colouring for that reason, especially considering that many of us here are also hobbyists. Lack of equipment seems to be your major concern, so I'd advise starting by looking around for decent supplies in your area.

I cannot deny the fact that I am using it as an excuse, yes.
I've just started drawing a lot again recently, as in earlier this month. My parents' have always been actively monitoring me so I would never attempt to become an artist, not even random doodling is tolerable. It's kinda traumatic, at least for me, when you, as a little kid, showed a drawing that you consider good to your parents and they stomped on it. Now that I live alone, my first priorities are to stay alive, study well, and find job to earn enough money for myself. I'd practice coloring occasionally though, it's just that I don't think I can fully focus at it, for now.

I apologize for the personal ramblings above. My relationship with drawing is a bit personal and thorny at best.

I definitely am seeing elements of a style here, and there's noticeable improvements over time.
In terms of stylistic development, it's really up to personal preference. That being said, learning art fundamentals (shading, perspective, anatomy, so on) will improve anyone's work regardless of style.

What method would you suggest so I can improve my skills in those areas mentioned? Would draw more be enough? That's what I've been doing in hope to improve my skills, aside from seeing my favorite artists' works.

Don't worry about spending a great deal of money on supplies, I still use a cheap mechanical pencil and an eraser I pinched from college + value cartridge paper. For traditional colouring I use crappy pencil crayons from the local supermarket that break as soon as a look at them.

If you are learning I believe it's best to not exhaust copious funds upon the acquisition of "artist's" equipment before finding your feet and becoming comfortable with your chosen methods.

Hha, we're kinda similar in that sense. I'm still using a non-mechanical pencil and rubber from high school, though as backups since I just purchased newer ones recently.
I will take that into account. Thank you for the advice.

[SuperParadox]

What method would you suggest so I can improve my skills in those areas mentioned? Would draw more be enough? That's what I've been doing in hope to improve my skills, aside from seeing my favorite artists' works.

http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,12285.0.html  :V

And on the topic of spending money on art supplies I agree, hobby grade things should do just fine.

[pasu]

These are pretty nice  :3 As for the Dirty Hand Disease, get a scrap piece of paper and put it under your hand when you draw, lesser smudges that way!

[Ibaraki]

http://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,12285.0.html  :V

Silly little me. I really should pay more attention to sticky threads. Thanks for the heads-up, I'm going to check some out.

These are pretty nice  :3 As for the Dirty Hand Disease, get a scrap piece of paper and put it under your hand when you draw, lesser smudges that way!

Thank you, for both the praise and advice. I honestly never knew that.
Here are the products made from the recent 2 days by your suggestion. From my perspective, it sure works like a charm. (doesn't it?)


>> I've been looking at a lot of Ichirin fanarts and her full-body portraits in UFO and HM. For reasons unknown, I feel like she is the most difficult to draw among UFO casts (not counting Unzan). In this drawing, I tried to give her a slight touch of fantasy JRPG.
>> One of the 8 Heroes in my original story, Yagyuu Kohana. Half-Beast. Her class is Samurai.
>> (with a little cameo, 'someone within the gap') One of the 8 Heroes in my original story, Axel Cesare. Human. His class is Tactician/Mastermind.

[DX7.EP]

Certainly looks cleaner as a result!

[Ibaraki]

Recently, I've been thinking to give more love to my 'forgotten' original character, Yukianesa Yamaxanadu. Her first design is present in the first post and now that I think I've improved a bit since a year ago, I have a plan for some step-up.

My plan is to give her a "majestic that doesn't make her look reserved" kind of image while still retaining similar outfit with Eiki's.
Does anybody have suggestions for additional accessories, references, or examples that I can use to improve her design?

[Vento]

There isnt much in terms of character description  to provide a solid design direction if u get my drift like currently it still looks like eiki witn an alt outfit

[Delfigamer]

majestic that doesn't make her look reserved

Why did I think about a monocle?

[Ibaraki]

Why did I think about a monocle?

It'd be more than just an 'improvement' if I made her look like a gentleman.

There isnt much in terms of character description  to provide a solid design direction if u get my drift like currently it still looks like eiki witn an alt outfit

Going by the Create Your Touhou format, it should be something around:

Code: [Select]

Name: Yukianesa Yamaxanadu

Title: Shadowy Ice Judge of Sanzu River

Species: Yama, formerly a Yuki-onna

Occupation: Shinigami, Judge of the Dead

Ability: Total control over cold and ice (to what extent is not known)

Age: Unknown

Appearance: Yukianesa has aquamarine eyes and long silver hair with light blue highlights.

Personality: Friendly, cheery, and easygoing. Yukianesa isn't like your ordinary Judge, or Shinigami even.
She loves to hear stories from the deceased and gets easily saddened by tragic ones.
Despite of that, her decision-making ability is no way inferior than that of the other Yama.
It's just that because she doesn't look like a decent judge that she is often underestimated.

Likes: Hot delicious foods, listening to stories

Dislikes: Cold

Location: Sanzu River, sometimes Higan

Relationships:
Shikieiki Yamaxanadu - Co-worker/Friend
Onozuka Komachi - Co-worker/Friend


[Delfigamer]

Flower in hair. ...Flower? Oh, we even have a candidate!
She doesn't like cold? Give her a warm hug shawl.
And hot delicious food... hmm...
...ha-ha, no.

[Ibaraki]

Design updates rolling:

>> Tried giving her hood to make her resembling shinigami more, though the result didn't end up very pretty.
Those circular objects around her waist are actually coins. This approach is based from the concept of coins for shinigami and Komachi's design.
>> Combination of her old design and her newest one . The best position I can think of for the Lycoris is on her hat. That shawl was actually meant to be flowery.
It also shows that her scythe is formed by cold.

In the end, nobody sells Shawarma around her place.

[Ibaraki]

In the recent 2 weeks, I've been thinking to make a theme for the Atelier to boost my motivation and make things more fun, at the very least for myself. But before talking about it, here are 3 entries for my original characters. The left-most is from my original story, the middle is my Half-Demon Touhou OC that I have yet to name, and the right-most is Yukianesa as both Yama and Yuki-onna.


As for the new theme, I think I'm going to shoot at Youkai Mountain inhabitants first. Here is my attempt at drawing Aya for the first entry:

Please share  your thought about it and feel free to suggest me on who to draw next. I will really appreciate it.

[Kirnis]

I like what i'm looking at.
Compared to the beginning the new drawings are cleaner, and looks more accurate in the traits
That Aya really looks nice, i belive it's the best one among them

[Pirate]

In the last three drawings, characters don't look like they have a very defined jaw. Unless there is some unexplained pocket of fat beneath, said jaws should be rather straight, not curved. Otherwise, your faces are going to look rather 2d and peculiarly round.


Aya's back looks remarkably straight in that pose. Looks rather awkward.

[Ibaraki]

In the last three drawings, characters don't look like they have a very defined jaw. Unless there is some unexplained pocket of fat beneath, said jaws should be rather straight, not curved. Otherwise, your faces are going to look rather 2d and peculiarly round.

Aya's back looks remarkably straight in that pose. Looks rather awkward.

Now that you mention it, I did feel rather awkward when drawing both parts, especially around the chin. It was mostly just me having a hard time to draw the face and deciding how chubby the character should be. Thank you for the pointer, I will make sure to remember it for my later works.
--

Staying true to the theme, here is Shizuha Aki for Harune:

and a picture of Trio Tengu + Nitori. Actually, I only wanted to try to draw Hatate, but ended up drawing them all probably because I was listening to Wind God Girl and got 'provoked' by it.

[Delfigamer]

Looks like Shizuha Komeiji. D:
Probably because of those lines around (wind?) and that somewhat typical pose "hands cover the 3rd eye".
And hairstyle.

[Ibaraki]

Looks like Shizuha Komeiji. D:

Nooooooo cannot unseeee.
(you're exactly right)

I should be drawing Satori later just too see how different my Shizuha and my Satori is.

[Kirnis]

Let us greet autumn.
At first sight it left me with the same impression, also because of the leaf on her head somewhat resembling the heart on Satori hairband.

[Ibaraki]

Cannot have Shizuha without Minoriko, so here goes the first entry for this week:

Just realized that I seem to be having problems drawing child-like characters.

The next entry should be the equalizer for Aki Sisters. I'm so excited to draw them both in the same picture.

[Ibaraki]

My excitement was well-placed. It's a very tough but fun ride.

I should practice drawing background more for the next entries. Hina is already there to receive the torch.

[Howaito]

I daresay your latest drawing showcases a lot more on what you can do with background - an important aspect that differentiates from just portrait-esque representations of a character. A background can add a lot to drawing.

Having Shizuha partially fade into the scene is also a nice touch, and it blends well with what's going on in the pic.

Poor Hina, reduced to a distant black figure.

[Ibaraki]

I daresay your latest drawing showcases a lot more on what you can do with background - an important aspect that differentiates from just portrait-esque representations of a character. A background can add a lot to drawing.

Having Shizuha partially fade into the scene is also a nice touch, and it blends well with what's going on in the pic.

Thank you for the feedback, much appreciated! As of now, I'm still improving my background-making skill, slowly... real slowly.

Poor Hina, reduced to a distant black figure.

Dirty and full of scratches. I had (most) difficulty drawing her hair, bows, and dress.


Also, to celebrate Blazblue anime, I made a quickie drawing of Hakumen and Tsubaki:

[Howaito]

I imagine repeating the frills over and over again is one of the more tedious parts to that Hina drawing. She has a rather stiff posture, but it's nicely done.

Your Hakumen in your other pic looks spot on, and the hair bit is marvelous. He looks right intimidating in that one.
now TSUBAKI in your second pic looks cute! You should try having a go at drawing her fully someday.

[Ibaraki]

Aye, I have difficulty drawing frills. Although in Hina's case, her design as a whole is pretty much problem-personified for me.

now TSUBAKI in your second pic looks cute! You should try having a go at drawing her fully someday.

Oh oh, would you prefer caped or battle-ready?

[Howaito]

While I'm a fan of the NOL's style of Inverness Capes, I think a battle ready Tsubaki would give you a lot more freedom, since the cape virtually conceals a large portion of their bodies!

[Kirnis]

My excitement was well-placed. It's a very tough but fun ride.

I should practice drawing background more for the next entries. Hina is already there to receive the torch.

Zun blast off at the speed of light!
*Ahem...
That Minoriko, lovely.
Adding a background can only do better to your pics, infact it gave a nice touch to that one.
A that's a good portrayal of Hakumen, his "crest" is well done and the armor looks nice too.
Dirt in Hina sketch can pass for misfortune mist *problem solved*. She looks pretty.