Blog 142 > My Ancient Anime Art

Has it been a week already? Well, a few days ago, I told *Chun* the following: “I always plan to scan or take photos of my ancient anime line-art from the 1990s (when I still believed in pencil-and-paper, lol), but something always seems to pop up and get in the way…” So finally, after some shooting and digging, here they are! ^_^;

1> The first 5 photos were taken a few days ago: Orange Arria in Colored Paper. Completed March 1990, it took about 20-30 hours total. Wow, except for some fading in her blue armor, the design still holds up 18 years later! One of my proudest works, hehe. I just threw in the “Pocky” box to give a better idea of the 20×30-inch scale.

2> The next 5 photos were taken back in March 1990, my college days. Like I mentioned, the project took about 20-30 hours total: Pencil-sketching the initial drawing in a small 4×6-inch grid, blowing up the grid box-by-box onto a 20×30-inch board, inking the pencil lines, using tracing paper to transfer the lines to colored paper, cutting out the paper, then rubber-cementing all of the cut-outs together to fit the original board tracing. Yeah, you can see how much bluer the blue paper was back then. ^_^;

3> The last 4 photos include: (a) (Unnamed) Blue-Haired Serpent Girl in Colored Paper, March 1990. (b) “Engulfed”, April 1993, was created with multiple photo prints and connected with colored pencil. I think I called the red-headed girl “Arria” also, haha. (c) Blonde Arria in Colored Pencil, started in March 1990, but unfinished. This was the original tracing template to create the original Orange Arria in Colored Paper, which I started to color, but never finished. Lastly (d), triple Arria, haha. ^_^;

Well, that’s about it! My Ancient Anime Art from the 1990s! Remarkably, while I may not believe in pencil-and-paper much anymore (or lost the heights of my talent), my Photoshop-vector-based anime-art style in 2008 has hardly changed at all! Sugoi. But wait, here’s a mind-blowing thought: What if I re-create Arria in Photoshop vector? O.o;

Unfortunately, with projects piled up at work, and my newest “Blade” anime art due in one week, it’ll probably be a while before my next post, let alone my next “Arria” piece. I’ve even killed my subscriptions to DannyChoo’s “Otaku” and “2D Girls” feeds because I can’t keep up anymore, argh. So till next time, fellow otaku: What is your oldest, largest, or proudest anime artwork? ^_^

6 thoughts on “Blog 142 > My Ancient Anime Art

  1. Wow, big projects, I wouldn’t have bothered except for my major works for visual arts in my final year of high school. Unfortunately, I have no idea what’s happened to them as I never went back to collect them orz

    I really like the blonde Arria for some reason, maybe because I generally prefer manga’s colouring rather than anime’s flat colours (though you could argue anime is no longer so ‘flat’).
    And while I wouldn’t have a clue of what Arria’s about, I really like the composition in your more abstract work with the pink hair, and the photos. Really unique =o

    My first anime inspired works were in 97? I was still in high school and would fill the back of my artbooks with drawings from mostly Sailormoon and Dragonball Z, hehe. I should find and scan them (and draw more ^^;;).

    I can’t seem to stick to one style of drawing, it always changes u_u, wish I had a more steady style like you do, lucky~

  2. Hey Koshiko, sorry for the delay! For some reason, I never got an email notification to moderate your post! Odd…

    LOL, thanx! Well, it depends, a *steady style* can be a help or a hindrance. For me, it just came out that way, but I guess the anime styles of the time made the most impact, especially in the horizontal eye-shape (then) compared to the vertical eye-shape (today)… Intriguing…

    You know, I don’t really think I ever came up with a back-story for *Arria*; just her armor, lasers and expressions, lol. But I see what u mean about the *texture* of pencil and manga, versus the *smoothness* of anime. Her *texture* feels warmer, more natural. One thing’s for sure~ *smoothness* is typically quicker and easier to complete, lol.

    Thanx! I haven’t really done anything like the photo-pencil “Engulfed” since that one. Especially since I don’t focus on pencil art anymore. Which could be good? Bad? LOL ^_^;

    P.S. Don’t u have a blog link on DannyChoo?

  3. Seems like your blog doesn’t like me then u_u~ lol.

    Yeah, I can see the influence even though I’m not very familiar with the series that were popular at the time, earliest I can remember is Samurai Pizza Cats and Sailormoon (though, there’s also Evangelion, Castle of Cagliostro & believe or not, Ninja Scroll, that was my first shock xD;;). Steady styles are good, but always better if you can see yourself evolving just as you do in life, adds life to your drawings I’d say.

    It’s probably the artist in me that appreciates the ‘textures’, as you say, more because of the details that go into it. But yeah, vector-type drawings are so much quicker to complete, less headache for a finished job =D

    No time for pencil-works of that size anyhow, we’re all busy busy people ^^;; Digital is much more convenient anyhow, hehehe.

    I do, don’t know why I leave koshiko.net on the form ^^;; thanks for mentioning it, I should keep an eye out on where else I’ve left the site (koshiko.net was my first domain, but decided to use furudango for blogging instead. I may use koshiko in the future for my art & more personal stuff).

  4. Haha, ages since I’ve seen “Ninja Scroll”; maybe 7-8 years ago? Yet I still remember that *tongue* scene, lol… True, art reflects life, and life reflects art, ne?

    Hmmm, I know what u mean about *convenience*, but somehow digital still takes the same amount of *time* as pencil! If the paper cut-out *Orange Arria* took 20-30 hours, I’d guess the pencil *Blonde Arria* might take 30-50 hours. Compare that to my vector *Blue Akiko*, which took me about 37 hours. Before that, my bitmap *Mirai in Battle Mode* took about 77 hours! Then there’s the option of making vector *achieving* the detail of pencil~ gahhh, don’t wanna think about it, lol.

    No problem. Hmmm, I guess u could redirect Koshiko.net to Furudango.com for now. Either way, I updated the link in your previous comment above. Added u to my blog list too. ^_^

  5. I was so shocked, I didn’t know cartoons could be used for that sort of genre! xD;;

    Convenience I guess in that it’s much easier to store and duplicate. And you could also argue that it’s cheaper in the long run, depending on what mediums you generally use (paints & brushes would be extremely expensive say in comparison to a copy of Painter).
    And while digital art may take longer, in the end it’s much easier to duplicate for whatever purpose (online or off).

    Good idea! I should have thought of that one x_x; will do that soon. Thanks you for the update and link x3

  6. LOL ^_^

    True, duplication and transmission. Easier for unauthorized copies too, lol… And no prob, it was just a thought!… Sadly, I wish I had more free time, so I didn’t have to cut my *Danny Choo* and *Anime Art* time… =.=;

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