Naru, Umino, Shitennou, and some other fanart stuff

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Apr 1, 2017
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D-Point
#1
In celebration of Naru's birthday, here's some of my drawings, made entirely in PaintDotNet. I've been working on very closely recreating the '90s anime look for my own digital drawings for an illustrated fanfic (possibly to be reworked as a comic) that I'm working on, with the working title "Serenity & Vitriol". I've been churning on ideas for it ever since I got into the anime in 2011, and slowly practicing.

My current model sheet of Naru's face (the expression is blank because it's a model):


Crystal Tokyo:


Jadeite:


Nephrite (not entirely happy with his face and hair here, and I'm going to change the epaulets on the second version later):


Kunzite and Zoisite (haven't done them in color yet, sorry):

(That's a pink rose Zoisite is wearing. These would be the lighter colored uniform versions to go with the Jadeite and Nephrite above, which is also why I went for a more 'innocent' look for Zoisite, though I'm not sure if I succeeded.)

And of course, Sailor Moon (I think I may tweak the design a bit more on this one):

Not sure about naming this form, but you can probably see what I did there design-wise. I also tried to give her sliiiightly more of a tummy than usual.

And here's a couple earlier drawings of Naru and Umino (sorry about linking these more than once around here in the past). These give a bit more of a hint about what the story involves, though I won't say how or why this happens, just yet...


Regarding part of the concept for what's happening to Naru, I took an idea from John Biles and Shadowjack's loose interpretation summaries/sketches, and ran off in my own, somewhat less comedic direction with the concept. It's... complicated.

I have most of the story written in prose form, but I'm still working on the ending and going over the main bulk of it repeatedly (both adding and removing things, and rewording badly phrased parts). I type way too many words (it's, er, kinda over 200,000 already ^^' oops) so I'm trying to pare it down, fix it up, and so on. I don't want it to be interminably garrulous like I am in my posts ^_^'

I might be interested in beta-readers down the road if anyone would like to see a prerelease draft closer to time (to be handled via PMs, e-mail, or some other format), but not just yet- I'd like to get the ending done before I show anyone and ask for feedback. And I'm not going to post the story publicly until it's completed.

And as mentioned above, I'm also hoping to rework the whole thing as a comic based on these drawings (though I would probably cut some corners on getting it all drawn). We'll see how it turns out, but I am very hopeful about completing and releasing this project properly, in some format, once it's done. Here's hoping, as 2018 begins...
 
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chrissifniotis

Aurorae Lunares
Apr 20, 2017
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#2
Holy cow Mitsukara! Your lineart and fan art is fantastic! I love the detail you put into your designs and the accuracy to the 90s style. I'd love to see your fanfiction and more of your work. :keke:
 
Jul 5, 2009
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#4
Maraviollantes said:
The legs are too huge and barely have any shape. All these works look like you carefully draw the characters, especially faces, but when you go down to legs you say "screw it" every time and just finish drawings with a couple of quick lines.
I would have to agree with Mara.

But everything else is great. =^_^=
 
Apr 1, 2017
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D-Point
#5
Thanks for the compliments! I'm a bit slow at making these, so trying to figure out ways to do the detail and still get it done at all is a tricky balance. Beware that any prospective comic will probably cut some corners for the sake of getting the thing done at all. I don't like making compromises, but I don't like never finishing my projects even more :dead:

The legs are too huge and barely have any shape.
That's fair. I haven't had any proper training and I get confused about perspective and anatomy sometimes, so I'm not surprised. ^_^' I try to draw them with the crude-sketch-first method, to figure out what size they 'should' be, then sorta try to figure out the actual line on a second pass, but even then they do feel a little uncertain and bleh when I'm done.

Trying to imitate Sailor Moon makes legs harder too, because of the insanely long legs everybody usually had in the show (and the manga even), it makes me try to draw the legs longer than I would because I look at their reference pictures, then at mine, and the way I wanted to draw the legs was half as long, so I would then go back and make them longer in an attempt to look more Sailor Moon-ish. But the longer the legs are, the harder it is to express a curve to them. Doubly so if they've got pants, and honestly I'm not that great at detailed fabric wrinkles and the like, either.

Similarly, I tend to have trouble making hands the right shape. Jadeite looks like he's got Mickey Mouse hands to me. Spooky indistinct claws like that second picture with Naru are a lot easier. I have a stroooong tendency to want to fall back to mitten hands though (As I kind of did with Umino), especially if I need to draw lots of poses where the hands are less emphasized than in those two pictures. Usagi's V-for-victory hand was pretty difficult for me too, I remember wrestling with it for a while.

I never really get comfortable with my proportions, I just sort of wing it, fiddle with it for a while, and decide when to say "eh hopefully that's close enough". I dunno. :(

If you have some advice on how to shape legs better more specifically, or some examples of legs done right, I'd certainly take a look. :)
 

CatKite

Luna Nova
Oct 16, 2017
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#6
Not get crying, you re learn art just do art. ( sometimes, there was only trash, sometimes it look diamond... )

There wasn´t limitations at it. Only sky.
 

SILVER

Aurorae Lunares
Jan 7, 2014
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Dark Kingdom
#8
^ Aaaah, I love it!!!
Your use of shading is very good! I admire it because I have so much trouble with that >.<
As for proportions, there are a few websites that give you photos to study from and are timed (which you can adjust if you need more/less) so you learn to use shapes and its useful practice for anatomy.

Figure study practice tools for artists
Quickposes: pose library for figure & gesture drawing practice

I use these ^.
Note that there are nudes but you can toggle for clothed pictures only if that's something that you're uncomfortable with.
Id say a mix between the two helps out more but what you use is at your discretion :)
 
Likes: Mitsukara

Onuzim Ima

Aurorae Lunares
Aug 11, 2010
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#9
*lol* This is cute. Do you mind if I save it for my private collection?

@Mitsukara Thx I regarded it as elementary politeness to ask. :)

P. S.: Here's another website with drawing tips/instructions that might prove helpful:

The Realm of Sailor Energy: Profiles
 
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Likes: Mitsukara

MariaTenebre

Systema Solare
Jul 22, 2009
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#10
Wow your designs for the characters look really awesome I can't wait to see what Zoisite and Kunzite look like in your sketch? BTW are their white outfits what you had for them if they turn good and return to being Tuxedo Mask's Guardians?
 
Likes: Mitsukara
Apr 1, 2017
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D-Point
#11
Thanks, everyone! I've been going over the writing a bit more at the moment, hopefully I'll have more drawings a bit down the road.
Your use of shading is very good! I admire it because I have so much trouble with that >.<
The two most helpful tricks I've found for shading: draw your colors on separate layers, and use the big soft brush. (I use PaindDotNet, which is similar to photoshop, but a bit simpler and free).

Figuring out where to put two-tone colors is a bit trickier; for that I suppose I just sort of studied what other art did, and then try to guess where the 'undersides' of things are. For the shadows and light, that's just more trickery with the soft brush (and then I hard-brush erase on the edges of things the light or shadow shouldn't effect).

As for proportions, there are a few websites that give you photos to study from and are timed (which you can adjust if you need more/less) so you learn to use shapes and its useful practice for anatomy.
I'll give those a try. I still feel pretty awkward trying to do proportions, and trying to match the Sailor Moon style makes it even worse because everyone is supposed to be more long-limbed. And then I think I default to drawing limbs too short on my own, so finding the right balance is tricky.

Note that there are nudes but you can toggle for clothed pictures only if that's something that you're uncomfortable with.
That's no problem for me, but I appreciate the warning.

Do you mind if I save it for my private collection?
You can save it, and feel free to point people to it here (I don't have it on a proper website to link to beside imgur, at the moment; I've been neglecting my deviantart account since 2012, and hope to dust it off and post this stuff there once I'm a little further into the project). Just please don't try to say you made it or sell it or anything like that XD

BTW are their white outfits what you had for them if they turn good and return to being Tuxedo Mask's Guardians?
Yes, although the designs are also meant for flashbacks. The story involves time travel, taking place partly in 31st century Crystal Tokyo (a century after the time Chibi-Usa was coming and going from), with new adventures of Usagi and friends (not Neo Queen Serenity per se... the time situation is complicated), and partly in the Golden Kingdom/Silver Milennium era, revealing the backstory of Beryl and Thetis, the last adventures of Endymion and the Shitennou together, and how the Dark Kingdom came to be, which then ties back into what's going wrong in the future.

The central characters of the story will be Naru, Usagi, Umino, Mamoru, the Shitennou, the Inner Senshi, and Luna and Artemis, though the Outer Senshi and Chibi-usa also appear, as do several other characters (not too many OCs though, mostly existing characters. Though I do have Prince Endymion's parents and some new youmas and stuff like that). My ideas are mostly inspired by the anime continuity (and those character relationships apply here), but I also krazy-glued in a few concepts from the manga. It's a little complicated/convoluted, but I feel pretty hopeful about it!
 
Likes: SILVER
Apr 1, 2017
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D-Point
#12
I recently resurrected my Deviantart account! (Beware that some of the non-Sailor moon content on there is marked as Mature, however, with adult and/or disturbing themes not suitable for general audiences. Especially my older stuff was a bit unhinged and dark.)

Here's a few new pieces!

Osakaite:

Doing this one reminds me of "The Crystal Weaver Saga" by E.Lidell, an old fanfiction based on the DiC dub with some strange (but sometimes interesting) ideas, in which Molly actually does this; although in their version she took the name Almandite, had yellow piping, mutated yellow eyes (whereas I decided to go for blue-green schlera similar to Jadeite and certain shots of Nephrite), long hair, and stopped wearing the bow. Similar premise, though.

And here she is with Umino glasses:


Unfinished early attempts at designs for Prince Endymion's parents, the rulers of the Golden Kingdom:


Sprites for a lot of major characters (most of whom exist in the manga or anime, but some have new costume details which are probably hard to discern at this tiny scale). A few are new characters, like Aethlius and Calyce, Aethlius' father King Aeolus, and two other minor new villains for the Golden Kingdom backstory (based on Zeus and Hera); a few are very obscure characters like Keiko Tomoe (far right past the Witches 5), Tamasaburou (the tea ceremony kid from that one S episode), and M.C. Fly.

These sprites are based on Another Story, but a bit smaller scale and with simpler/brighter colors. I was toying with using them for one iteration of my story, but now I'm not sure if I will or not. I am still working on the story in any case though. If anyone wants to see them at 1X scale, they're here.
 
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