Another Housekeeping post

Can I tell you a secret? There's artwork in my portfolio from 20 years ago. Characters I'd drawn in 2004!

My gallery deserved another tidy. I still like a lot of my older artwork, despite the fact that it might not quite represent my current capabilities. So, should I remove older artworks to make room for something new? Or re-work older images in an attempt to level them up a notch? I began making a few minor improvements to an older character art. An hour later, I realised it would probably be better to simply redraw it from scratch. And in that case, I might as well just start something entirely new instead!

Originally, I'd considered removing a dozen images from the site, but in the end, I just reworked the Orange Masked Girl below, adding extra splatter effects to make it a little more interesting. It's more full-on Chicano graffiti style now. This was originally one of six masked girls I created 10 years ago, in 2016. Time flies.

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Frieren

I also uploaded a new artwork I'd created of Frieren. 

Frieren is an immortal elf from the anime / manga series "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End." A Dungeons and Dragons style JRPG tale. She travels through various lands, accompanied by her companions, in search of bettering her magical abilities, such as casting spells that turn the ground into a field of flowers. Through her encounters with others and the challenges she faces, Frieren's character explores themes of resilience, companionship, and the passage of time. Her journey serves as a reflection on the nature of immortality and the complexities of existence.

Frieren Step by Step

Here's a stage-by-stage process of how she came together. Sketch - > Cleaned, Ink lines - > Flat Tones and Shadow - Rendering and Background. 

The final stage was to adjust colours and swap out the background for something a little more harmonious.

Lastly, a couple of close up shots...

The Frieren anime series shot up to the number 1 spot in the all-time best ever anime charts. It was good. Good enough for me to rate it a solid 7 out of 10, and to create fan art too. Although it's not quite able to compete with other anime I'd seen recently such as Dr Stone, Made in Abyss and Heavenly Delusion. I'm now feeling the need to create something less pretty and a little more bad-ass! Do you have any favourite characters from anime, games or films? An idea which might look cool? If you have any suggestions, let me know :)