Image resolution: 4900 x 3500
Date: 1/1/2024

I decided to draw this around December 2023 for fun. Like the lazy child I am, I didn’t finish it right away. At the time, I was struggling to find the right colours, constantly changing the palette. The original drawing had neat outlining, which I spent a good amount of time on, but the colours? They were the complete opposite of the final result. I started with cool tones—purples, blues, and pinks—but nothing was clicking for me. At one point, I even considered giving her light purple hair, but that didn’t quite fit either. So naturally, I shelved it, hoping future-me would figure it out.

For the initial sketch, I didn’t exactly go in freehand. I posed a humanoid doll in the way I wanted the character to look, snapped a quick picture of it, and, well… I traced it. Honestly, at the time, I just had a hard time with sketching anime body bases from scratch. The thing with proportions and anatomy were really new to me at the time. I was watching a lot of tutorial videos on anatomy and proportions for drawing, they explained about the muscles and skeletons and the whole thing just deep-fried my brain. So, I just took the easy way out, hehe. 

As New Year’s approached, I felt like drawing something special to mark the occasion. That’s when I remembered this unfinished piece lingering in my gallery. Instead of starting from scratch (because I just was too lazy for another base drawing), I decided to build off what I already had. I ditched the entire colour scheme and, the line art too. I realized that I just don’t like line art as much. So I skipped the outlines, jumping straight into colouring.

For the colour palette, I took inspiration from one of Mika Pikazo’s artworks. I had been watching a YouTube video analyzing her style, and I loved how dynamic her use of colour was. Something about it felt so alive and expressive, which is exactly what I wanted for this piece. Plus, her use of vibrant contrasts felt perfect for a New Year’s celebration. So I applied that as a base inspiration. Despite a few mishaps, I actually liked how it turned out in the end.

Now, the background… Instead of painstakingly creating my own, I  used one from Gacha Club (I mean why not?). In hindsight, it was probably not the best choice. The background was super simple, maybe too simple, and it doesn’t quite match the energy of the foreground. But honestly? I wasn’t too bothered by it at the time. I just wanted something there that wouldn’t distract from the character. It’s passable, but if I revisit this piece, that’ll definitely be the first thing I change.

To finish off the artwork, I added a few layers of multiply, threw in some subtle lighting effects, and fiddled with other blending modes until I was satisfied with the overall look. I do see some mistakes now that it’s finished, and I’ve definitely grown since then, so who knows? Maybe a future version of me will take another crack at it.

Fun fact:
I used a cat jumping in Genshin Impact as a reference for the pose (I traced it, too). Well, that part I actually drew myself.

For the clothes, I had no idea how to draw fabric wrinkles back then, so everything kind of looks like solid blocks. 

This was my first time really experimenting with colour, and I’m proud of how it turned out, despite its mistakes.