Nate (older)

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As some may remember, this is my original character Nate. I roleplayed him again when he was seventeen and I felt the urge to draw him.
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I had the pose I wanted firmly set in mind, but because I stubbornly refused to draw him any other way, I went through a small stack of paper trying to sketch him in the pose correctly. I had originally planned to color the picture in Photoshop and I wanted the colors to be soft and pastel-like. I left the line art in pencil then because I had discovered I liked leaving my line arts in pencil rather than struggling to ink them. I am also able to keep more detail and allow the lines to feel more natural. I also do not run the risk of messing up my sketch and having to trace over it again. *laughs* The effect was the same in the end. Sadly I forgot to finish the piece after I filled in the base colors and I didn't have the heart to complete it. But I liked what I had anyway. I'm especially pleased with how I captured the dreamy, pensive look on his face.
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Drawn February 2, '08.
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Mechanical pencil and Photoshop 7.
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Picture and Character (C) Alice Falling

Gemini

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Third astrological sign in the zodiac. Gemini is represented by twins. I had the pose decided on before I even reached this sign but I was debating exactly what kind of approach I should take. I somehow settled on Gothic Lolita children. *laughs* My brother said it reminds him of something from The Shining, although I have not seen that movie. The symbol is on their cheeks.
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After drawing this, I decided I was never drawing curly hair ever again. *laughs* It was incredibly time consuming and I had the hardest time trying to find references. A lot of it was improvised. But thankfully I shocked everyone with the detail in the hair. Because I spent so much time on the hair, I slacked off when it came to the clothing. But the focal point is their faces so the curls draw your eyes there. To set them apart, I made one of the twins have more narrowed eyes than the other. I have to admit it was enjoyable although the lines were a pain.
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Drawn January 27, '08.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Picture and Characters (C) Alice Falling

Taurus

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Taurus is the second zodiac represented by a bull. I felt a nature-like approach at this would be best and I did not feel like drawing clothing for some reason this time. I was not sure how to work with a bull since each of the signs were going to be female. I settled for more of a cow instead and made her more docile looking than you would first imagine a bull to be. The astrological sign is on her stomach.
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I nearly went hysterical when I was drawing the lines in her hair. But her hair in general is what I'm most proud of in the entire picture. The flowers look awful but the vines turned out decently. I might have drawn her thighs a little too thick, but I look back at it now and think it works well since she is a bull.
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Drawn January 20, '08.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Picture and Character (C) Alice Falling

Aries

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I started a personal project where I wanted to create a female character for each of the Western zodiac signs. I did a little research at work about common personality types for each but I later scrapped the notes I took and went with what I imagined. Unfortunately school became hectic and I was only able to finish the first three. My brother was upset I didn't finish and told me I had to complete it this summer (which I haven't done *laughs*). I think he's most upset because I left off at his sign, Cancer. *laughs* I promised myself I would finish the series because I had a lot of fans of it but I have had a mind block when it came to drawing Cancer. I have most of it worked out now so hopefully I'll finish that soon. I wanted to practice my anatomy so that is the main reason I wanted to do this series in the first place. Aries is the first sign in the Western zodiac and is represented by a ram. In each of the pieces, I wanted the symbol representing the sign to be somewhere in the picture, such as a tattoo or an emblem on a piece of jewelry. In this case the symbol is tattooed on her chest. I'm also giving each a custom font with which I'm writing their name.
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I had originally drawn her entire figure as a faun, but I was having a tremendous amount of trouble with the hooves and her hind legs so I cut it off at her waist. My brother wasn't too happy about that. *laughs* But it also allows me to put more detail into her upper half. I think I made her face a little crooked, at least her eyes are. The tattoos on her arms and stomach were doodled on a whim. I had no reference or planning but I'm pleased with how they turned out. Since Aries is ruled by the sun, I tried to give that impression through the tattoos. I'm very pleased with the horns. I also did not have her hand or the spear in the picture until my brother pointed out that it felt incomplete, so I added it later and it really enhanced the picture I think.
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Drawn January 13, '08.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Picture and Character (C) Alice Falling

Imaginary

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Close-up
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Please excuse my poor photography skills and also the glare on the image. My teacher put the painting in a plastic frame and I'm afraid I will tear the picture if I try to take it out. This was the last project I was given before Christmas Break in my painting class. We were required to make something surrealistic. I had an idea I wanted to use for a long time of a little girl in a box where everything around her is beautiful and peaceful while everything outside the box is chaotic. I finally found an opportunity to use this idea. The girl is modeled after my friend who sat beside me in class. She was absolutely thrilled when I asked her if I could use her as a model. I aimed for a Wonderland feel so I gave her clothes that resembled Alice's. The title I chose was from a song by Evanescence called Imaginary. The lyrics suited the picture well, but my teacher ignored my title and gave it something like "Far Away Place". I thought it was rather cliche. I spent very long hours working on this and almost missed the due date when we came back. It was a hit though and went to two art contests. It did not make the first one (Scholastics) but I made it to the second of three rounds in the Excel contest. Then the piece went to the art show at the end of the year and was almost nominated for a frame. I think I came in second place. Surprisingly, this is not one of my favorite paintings that I have ever done nor do I think it is one of the best, but apparently it is. If I can do this well my sophomore year, I hope I can go even further the last few years of high school. The best part was when the piece was in the art show and my friend who modeled for me told me her mother pointed out how the girl looked strangely like her. *laughs*
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Although I wanted it to be a child, the girl ended up looking older than I wanted and it still bothers me to this day. It defeated the purpose of childhood innocence but it's too late to change anything now. I had the devil's time trying to figure out how to go about painting the trees. I struggled with a technique for the bark and finally found one that suited me after several days of failures. I probably had the most fun with the clouds inside the box. I watered down the paint and lightly dabbed it into cotton ball shapes. The grass still doesn't set well with me but I was running out of time. I also had a lot of trouble with the red sky because I could not mix the same shade of red twice so I ended up painting it at least four times. And I will never be satisfied with the lava. I had no clue how to work with it, but my teacher liked it so I am content I suppose. *laughs* I remember that halfway through painting it, I dropped a paper towel that had red paint on top of the picture. There was an enormous smear across the sky and trees. I was depressed for the longest time until I fixed it. I came back from break beaming because you couldn't tell anything had happened. *whistles* Wow, this painting has a history. *laughs*
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Painted December of '07.
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Tempera paint.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling

Lycrios and P[i]nk K[i]ller

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I have a friend on Gaia, known as Lycrios, who simply loves to take requests from me and I'm always more than happy to draw them for him because I'm paid well in the end. *laughs* And he's such a wonderful person to do business with and I enjoy talking to him. The avatars he gives me to draw are always fun and interesting to depict. This was one of the best I think I may have done for him. Although my shop was closed, I took a special Christmas request from him and drew this as a present for a friend of his, P[i]nk K[i]ller. I was pleased to know that they both loved it. Unfortunately, I missed the deadline and gave it to Lycrios later than I had intended because of my Jersey trip. But neither of them cared thankfully. *laughs*
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I like the concept I came up with for the separate colors although I could have made the line art a little darker. The hands surprisingly turned out fairly decent (which I'm tickled that they did). My favorite part of the entire piece were the facial expressions. I captured them exactly the way I had envisioned them mentally. The clothing could have been done a little better, but in general it was a very successful picture.
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Drawn December 23, '07.
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Pen and Photoshop 7.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Characters (C) Lycrios and P[i]nk K[i]ller

Lauren

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Lauren was an original character I created based on the Gorillaz art style and loosely around Noodle's character. I drew a sketch with the plan of painting a full-size picture later on. I started the painting and I think I got as far as the background and skin before I left for New Jersey and I never finished it from there. I still have it and hope to finish it some day because I really liked the character. I came up with a profile list with her height, weight, likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc. but I misplaced it somewhere. *laughs* I was bored on the flight back. All I can recall is that she disliked spicy food, she loved music (obviously), she played guitar, and she lived in New York City with her father. I think she liked to skateboard as well.
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Even if it is following the style, I feel like her arms and legs may have been a little too lanky and her top is...rather disfigured. *laughs* I wasn't quite sure what I wanted it to be. But I'm very pleased with her hair, face, and headphones especially (modeled after my own). I cut my hair like hers later because I liked the style so much.
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Drawn December 24, '07.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Picture and character (C) Alice Falling

Gorillaz

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Line Art
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I planned on drawing a group picture of the band members and the line art I drew turned out really well. Later on though, I started feeling lazy and I was moving on to another band that had become my new obsessive favorite, so I cropped the image to only include the lead singer. The members are, from left to right, Russell (drummer), 2D (lead singer/keyboardist and also known as Stuart), Noodle (guitarist), and Murdoc (bassist). It's a pity I never finished the original. It would have looked very professional.
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I wanted to color the image similar to the way Jamie Hewlett colors his pictures. I liked the overall result better than the method I usually use to color my pictures so I'll probably use this technique more often in the future. I'm especially thrilled with the shading on the jacket. The main reason I cropped the image in the first place was because the other three were not turning out as well as 2D was and I felt I was wasting my time. The arms were suppose to be skinny because of the style, but I felt I may have drawn them a little too skinny. The background was slapped on impulsively, and I struggled with trying to get the logo on for some odd reason.
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Drawn December 16, '07.
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Pen and Photoshop 7.
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Pictures (C) Alice Falling; Characters (C) Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett

Little Red Riding Hood, Gorillaz Style

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A doodle I drew while waiting in the airport terminal again. This time it was during Christmas Break and I was flying with my brother to his apartment in New Jersey to stay with him for a week. I had fallen in love with Gorillaz and their music so I was trying to find an excuse to draw them. I brought Rise of the Ogre along with me (a biography about the band) and I used it to help me with references. I'm not sure how I chose Red Riding Hood, but it seemed to fit well with it. I remember the man sitting next to me on the plane was looking at it curiously when I finished it on the flight. *laughs*
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I was going to include 2D as the grandmother and Russell as the woodsman, but I didn't feel like finishing it and left it as it was. I didn't want to give Murdoc (the wolf) actual wolf ears, so I made them attached to his hat. Noodle (the girl) turned out almost exactly the way I wanted her to. Overall I was pleased with the end result even if it was just a doodle.
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Drawn December 27, '07.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Characters (C) Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn

Salem

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This character ended up not having much of a purpose. I created him for a roleplay I was going to do with a friend, but we stopped halfway through. I took the opportunity to experiment with a set of new Copic markers I bought about a month ago. During the time I was creating him, I was reading The Demon Ororon by Hakase Muzuki. I really love her art style because of its uniqueness, so I wanted to draw something similar to that style. I based Salem off of Shiro, a demon cat and my favorite character in the series.
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I didn't do a very good job at the coloring portion, but I was trying to get a basic idea of how the markers function. I liked the line art better than the finished picture, especially when it came to his hair. I'm tempted to draw another character using the same hair technique. I realize the body proportioning is off, but that was the number of heads the style used so the body looks longer than it normally is. It's a pity I wasn't able to use him for something more useful.
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Drawn November 19, '07.
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Pen and Copic markers.
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Picture and character (C) Alice Falling; Style (C) Hakase Mizuki

Seven Deadly Sins, Naruto Style

My English class was beginning to read Canterbury Tales, and our teacher discussed how each character in the story possessed at least one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I've always been a fan of the sins ever since I watched Fullmetal Alchemist (I know that is not where they original came from). English class is rather dull most of the time so I brought my sketchbook with me everyday and drew one of the sins using a Naruto character who could represent it accurately. I then drew that character in modern clothing while trying to give them a stereotypical label (ex. punk, jock, goth, etc.) Thankfully, my teacher was thrilled when I made her a copy of each and I didn't get in trouble for not paying attention. *laughs*
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Envy
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Text: Painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess that same advantage. Envy is my favorite sin (because I have a tendency to be consumed by it) but the piece itself ended up being a close second favorite of the entire set. I chose Gaara because he grew up without the proper love and affection a child needs. None of the children wanted to play with him and everyone feared and hated him. So I reasonably assumed he would envy everyone around him because he was deprived of these things. I actually finished this at work instead of in the classroom. I love the earring I came up with. *laughs* The net is a little messy especially by the shoulder. I went with a goth/punk-ish style.
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Gluttony
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Text: An inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires. This is rather self-explanatory. Choji is constantly seen eating in the series and is often called fat. Not too happy with the hand or the chicken, but I didn't have a reference so I suppose the chicken is fairly decent. *laughs* Choji actually doesn't have an obvious stereotype. I leaned more towards normal, but if you had to give him one, I ironically chose jock.
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Greed
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Text: A selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed. Also somewhat self-explanatory. Naruto wants to be the next Hokage, has to be better than Sasuke or at least seen as an equal, has to be recognized by the village, has to be the best, etc. This could also be seen as ambition and not necessarily greed, but the two could go hand in hand. This piece was my favorite out of the entire set. I adore how Naruto's hair turned out. I went with a skater stereotype.
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Lust
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Text: An intense or unbridled desire for the pleasures of the body. Sakura is madly in love with Sasuke and wants to be with him before any of the other girls. It may not be intensely lustful, but the motive is. I enjoyed coming up with the design of her top. Since it had to be school appropriate and I could only show half of her body, I doodled something that I'm still not sure what it is. *laughs* But my friends thought it was cute. Her hand looks horrible, but again, I didn't have a reference. Her forehead might be a little too big as well. I made her a slut (excuse my rude language).
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Pride
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Text: An excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individuals recognition of other's talents. Neji fit the mold quite well. During his fight with Naruto in the tournament, Neji always talked down to Naruto and said that he was not chosen and it was predetermined by fate Naruto was to lose. Neji was very snobbish and stuck-up, but he softened after he was defeated. The angle I used makes his face look a little awkward and his body seems stiff, but I suppose that would work well if he is prideful. I tried something a little different for long hair, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. I made Neji a prep.
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Sloth
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Text: An avoidance of physical or spiritual labor. Yet another self-explanatory one. Shikamaru is very lazy and does not like to go out of his way to do things. He has a popular phrase he uses when he complains of "It's so troublesome". I had trouble trying to figure out where to position him. Originally I wanted him facing forward with just his eyes looking off, but that changed by the time I was finished. I made him an emo punk-ish style.
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Wrath
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Text: A strong, vengeful feeling of hatred or indignation. Self-explanatory again. Sasuke is out for revenge against his brother and is often chided by his older sibling that he "lacks hatred". I accidentally drew his shoulder backwards (drew it as if you were viewing it from the front instead of the back) so it looks dislocated. I could have drawn it a little bigger too. The Sharingan (his eye) was fun to draw. I aimed for a punk/emo style.
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Drawn October 11 and 13 - 18, '07.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Pictures (C) Alice Falling; Character (C) Masashi Kishimoto

Gaara

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I was in Taco Bell one day and drew a quick sketch of Gaara in modern clothing in the sketchbook I brought along with me. I liked it enough to scan it to my computer and color it in Photoshop. This was my third experiment actually using Photoshop since my brother got it for me recently (I've had it for a while now *laughs*). I learned quite a bit coloring this piece, and that knowledge has come in handy for me nowadays.
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I probably should have made the line art a darker shade of red along with his hair. His body is out of proportion with his head by quite a large amount. The hand would have been fine if I had drawn the fingers closer together. It makes it look like he is missing a finger. *laughs* I can't critique myself much on the shading, especially the clothing, since I was trying to get used to the program. I know now there should be much more contrast between the highlights, midtones, and shadows. The wrinkles in the clothing should be placed differently and blended a little smoother. The only thing I'm really pleased with is the background. I used a lot of layers of images to make it turn out the way it is and I love the end result.
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Drawn October 9, '07.
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Mechanical pencil and Photoshop 7.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Character (C) Masashi Kishimoto

Heaven's Not Enough

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I stole the title from a track on my Wolf's Rain soundtrack. A doodle I created at work while listening to the song. I'm very proud of this because I had no references to refer to since I didn't have my computer with me. All this was from my memory, and it turned out wonderfully. This is also another scene from the epilogue of the Haku and Zabuza arc that I created in my head.
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The snow is smudged because I brushed it with a tissue when I was trying to clean away the eraser shavings. I originally wanted to draw this with my graphite pencils, but I messed up the first time. It ended up being a doodle than a full-fledged art piece. I would have chosen to shade it but I was feeling lazy and the flat surface would enhance the feeling of lifelessness. And yes, he can breathe through his mask. *laughs* I know he's not suppose to, but he's awesome like that.
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Drawn August 15, '07.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Character (C) Masashi Kishimoto

Haku and Zabuza

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I fell victim to the Naruto fandom last summer while I was staying at my aunt and uncle's house in California. My cousins were at work and the adults were out doing some sort of shopping I wasn't interested in, so I spent most of the week watching the original Naruto episodes. After I finished the Haku and Zabuza arc, I was very depressed and unsatisfied with the ending although I must admit the story did a wonderful job concluding it. I came up with a little epilogue in my head and doodled a picture that went along with it that I later colored. I loved Haku and Zabuza together, and Haku was my favorite character. *sniffle*
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I colored this very lightly but I had to mess with it on my computer so the colors would show through. It looks a lot darker than it's suppose to be. I wanted to color the picture without any line art, but it did not look right, so I used light pencil lines. The colors themselves are the wrong shade, but mixing my colored pencils would make it look grainy. It took me three tries to get the characters to my liking, but Haku's hand still bothers me (Haku is the smaller character).
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Drawn August 5, '07.
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Mechanical pencil and colored pencil.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Characters (C) Masashi Kishimoto

Wonderland Illuminated Book

Another project we had in my first high school art class was to take an old book or books and uniquely illuminate, destroy, paint on, glue on, etc. it to our taste. I went with a Wonderland theme. This later went to the art show at the end of the year and I received a small award for it. I apologize if the photos are dark or blurry. My posts have not been very exciting because I don't recall the creating process clearly. I promise they will get better once the pictures become more recent. *laughs*
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Front Cover
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I did not spend much time on the cover except to apply the gold leaf (that you can see peeling off already). I concentrated more on the inside of the book so the outside looks rushed.
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Gold leaf, tissue paper, magazine cutouts, web printouts, and marker.
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Page 1
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The first part of the book I began on and gave me the most motivation. I had a miserable time trying to apply the yellow tissue paper. I needed it thick enough so you couldn't read the text of the actual book through it. Then I had to get it to actually stick. I think I ended up applying at least four layers. The hardest time was trying to find a white rabbit. *laughs* I ended up cutting out a brown rabbit and painting it white. The watch is my favorite part of this page. Small text: "I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!"
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Magazine cutouts, newspaper, paint, tissue paper, chain, wire, and cotton ball.
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Page 2
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My favorite part of the entire finished product. The bottle was a real glass bottle I bought at a fair. It used to have colored water in it, but it dried up by the time I got the project back. The area where the bottle sits is actually cut out along with the door at the bottom where the rabbit is peeping out. The door swings open too. It was very difficult trying to cut a hole in the inch thick stack of pages. Surprisingly I didn't cut myself. *laughs* Label on bottle: Drink Me.
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Aluminum foil, paint, magazine cutouts, parchment paper, glass bottle, and plastic rabbit.
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Page 3
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Nothing very exciting about this page except the Cheshire Cat. It made me laugh when I glued the lips on. *laughs* I scared a few of my friends with it. The foliage was difficult to put together.
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Magazine cutouts, paint, wood stick, and parchment paper.
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Page 4
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Nothing exciting about this either. I wasted a lot of time and gas driving to various stores trying to find a child's tea set. I wanted plastic cups but I wasn't able to find any in the size I needed. Thankfully my dad had the tools necessary to cut through china, so I bought the glass tea set instead. I went a little crazy splattering paint for the tea.
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Paint, tissue paper, magazine cutouts, and china teacups.
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Page 5
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By this point I was running out of time and ideas. The last page was thrown together a couple days before the project was due. The stripes drove me crazy but I like the chaotic effect they give off. Text: Painting the roses red. Off with her head!
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Cards, paint, and magazine cutouts.
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Back Cover
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This was also rushed. I wanted a simple conclusion to the story so I used the scene where Alice wakes up and finds herself by the pond. I don't recall if someone suggested the frame or if I came up with it on my own, but my dad helped me again with cutting and sizing the pieces of wood correctly.
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Wood, web printouts, and colored pencil.
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Created January 10, '07.
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Book (C) Alice Falling; Original story (C) Lewis Carroll and Disney

Swift Sweeper 280

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On the flip side, this is what I was working on in my computer animation class. We used a 3D program called Maya to create our own robots. Maya is a popular digital animation program that was used to create the Final Fantasy games and special effects in movies like Hellboy, The Matrix, and Shrek. Of course, we only used very basic tools, but it was quite an experience and rather difficult. The robot I created was called the Swift Sweeper 280 and worked as a maid. You could program it to sweep the house, wash the dishes, and fold the clothes for example. It wasn't until now that I realized how much it resembles WALL-E, although I designed this before previews even came out. It was just pure coincidence.
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Not much I can say in the way of critiques since this was my first time ever using the program. But I did come to realize I don't plan on being a storyboard artist any time soon. *laughs*
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Created July 28, '07.
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Maya (version unknown).
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Design (C) Alice Falling

Harmony

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Another photograph I worked with during my summer art classes. This was my favorite and the piece that ended up in the show on the last day. I set up a still-life on my mom's bed because her room has the best lighting (although the negative still ended up fairly dark). I spread out a satin sheet and arranged my violin and one of my favorite musical pieces on top (though I can't recall which piece that is now *laughs*).
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The misshapen blobs scattered haphazardly are wooden rose petals, and they contrasted nicely with the woodwork of my instrument, but I forgot we were taking the photographs in black and white so they did not look as good in the final result. One of my most meaningful still-lives I've arranged and one of my favorites.
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Taken July 26, '07.
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Panoramic camera, cloth, violin, sheet music, rose petals, and sepia wash.
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Photograph (C) Alice Falling

Sadie

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During the summer of '07, I took a three week art class at the University of Saint Francis. You chose two classes from a list provided, and the first to submit their application were given first picks. I took photography and computer animation. The photography class was amazing. We took, developed, and edited our own photographs in the adjoining dark room. It was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. One of the photographs I worked with was one I took of my cat Sadie, who seems to be very photogenic and adores the cameras because she always holds still for me. *laughs*
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The negative was not originally suppose to be this scratched. I accidentally dropped my film on the floor after I finished developing it. The dust and fingerprints would not come off and left scratches. I was upset at first, but I started noticing how this caused it to look more like an old movie when lines and blotches would appear on the screen. To enhance this feeling, I soaked the photo in a tub of sepia stain to give it the dusty color. It added a unique effect in the end.
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Taken July 26, '07.
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Panoramic camera, cat, staircase, and sepia wash.
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Photograph (C) Alice Falling

Snuffles

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Above . . . Front Side . . . Front . . . Back Side . . . Back
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Each of the links directly above is a separate angle. I found this sculpture buried in the back of my shelf above my desk. In the first art class I took my freshmen year of high school, we had to create a "found objects sculpture". Instead of wandering around my house finding odd knick knacks I could use, I specifically had in mind what I was going to make and looked for those items I needed instead. Lots of time was put into this werewolf sculpture, and I remember how furious I was when I came to school the day after the project was due and discovered someone thought it would be amusing to drop something on it. The back legs were twisted together and had become a mass of tape and wire. Thankfully, my teacher let me take it home and fix it and kept it in her office until it was graded. The reason I named the sculpture Snuffles is...I don't have a reason. *laughs* It was originally titled The Werewolf (very original, I know) and too much sugar plus a group of friends equals the dub of Snuffles. I suppose the inspiration for the name came from Harry Potter when Harry, Ron, and Hermione referred to Sirius as Snuffles.
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I had the hardest time trying to make the damn thing stand up. It kept collapsing because the wire I found was not strong enough, so that's why I have a Popsicle stick on its neck. The legs were the most difficult part especially when I had to fix them the second time. I had the most fun with the ribcage, which you can see clearly in the front side shot. There use to be strands of saliva between the teeth that I created with hot glue, but they broke by the time I got the project back.
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Created April 22, '07.
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Electrical tape, wire, plastic, and hot glue.
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Sculpture (C) Alice Falling

Wolf's Rain

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Another series I became a fan of, though I don't care much for the manga except for the beautiful art. I prefer the anime mainly because the story is explained better in it. I spent a long time working on this collaborative piece as a dedication to the series. The main characters depicted are Kiba (top left), Tsume (top right), Hige (middle left), Toboe (middle right), Blue (bottom left), and Cheza (center).
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I used card stock paper this time instead of regular printer paper because I felt I would be working so much on the characters that printer paper would not be able to handle it. It's a good thing I did that too. *laughs* The only downside is that card stock makes it extremely difficult for me to transfer my sketches onto the paper because it's so thick and light does not shine through it effectively. I used many various references for the characters, who turned out almost identical to how they appear in the anime, except for Cheza. I had her pose firmly set in my mind and I did not want to budge, so I had to do without a decent reference. She ended up lopsided and elongated, but I gave up trying to fix that a long time ago. Each of the characters had their own separate sheet of paper where I scribbled out a sketch. Then I put them all together in the end. In Cheza's case, I went through about seven pieces of card stock because I was trying to trace her in ink. Her eyes were too detailed and my pens were not thin enough to ink the outline without the lines bleeding together. I wish I would've given up earlier and saved some paper. *laughs* I eventually just used pencil, which makes her stand out and has a nice contrasting effect thankfully. Another thing I didn't want to fix was the left side of her bangs. The line art was too thin and coloring Kiba's hair overlapped it. I had a lot of trouble with the background too. I was not sure what to do but I wanted something along the lines of a subtle color gradation so the characters would stand out more. I aimed for a sunset at first, but the colors were too vivid and didn't capture the mood I wanted. I had to go back over it with acrylic paint and settled for a pale blue instead. Then I got carried away and splattered some more paint across the surface to add snow. There's a lot of snow in the series. *laughs* The border was taken from the DVD covers. Overall, it turned out quite nicely though. One of my best pieces I think. I'm very thrilled with how the colored pencil shading turned out.
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Drawn May 20, '07.
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Mechanical pencil, pen, colored pencil, and acrylic paint.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Characters (C) BONES

Little Bunny Foo-Foo

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Oh my, I almost forgot I still had this. *laughs* I have a rather twisted sense of humor, as you can tell, and I find sick pleasure in twisting children's fairytales and nursery rhymes into my own dark interpretations. This started with me innocently singing the Little Bunny Foo-Foo nursery rhyme under my breath (or loudly, whichever I felt like doing at the moment) and sneaking up behind friends while hitting them over the head with my water bottle when I came to the part where it says "bopping them on the head". Somehow, it branched off into me wearing plush bunny ears I bought during an Easter sale and a baseball bat. *laughs* I doodled a miniture version on the corner of my page where I added the nails in the baseball bat and the stitches. It was an immediate hit among my friends and I elaborated on it until this was born around the same time I finished my werewolf picture. I changed him from being fat and stocky to anorexic and demented. He reminds me of Frank from Donnie Darco.
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The blood is not half bad, but I have been working to improve that since I have the feeling I'll be needing it later on in my drawing career. *laughs* The mouse (one of the Meecy Mice) is suppose to have its head severed, but I didn't do a very good job getting that across. The body is rather lumpy too...but that might be because it was beaten to death, so I can use that excuse. *laughs*
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Drawn March 31, '07.
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Pen.
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Picture and Character Design (C) Alice Falling

Werewolf

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I went through a lycanthrope phase right before Spring Break. I read Blood and Chocolate and watched all of the Underworld movies that are currently available. We also had to write a research paper before school let out for vacation and I chose werewolves as my research topic. So, understandably, I felt the need to draw a werewolf. I was flying to Florida with my mom and Krys when it was finally Spring Break. It was a two hour wait in the terminal before our flight arrived so I sat by the window and ended up working on this piece, which I later finished in our hotel room. I know this is not the politically correct way a lycanthrope appears, but according to Hollywood it is. I simply say she's in the process of transforming to make everyone happy (which is true, since that's what I was aiming for from the beginning).
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I only regret that I did not use black paper. *laughs* This was a piece of regular white printer paper. I used up all the ink in my brand new pens that I just bought a week before we left. I really like accuracy of the anatomy, and I am extremely pleased with how this turned out although it was a royal pain to color.
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Drawn March 31, '07.
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Pen and brush ink.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling

Taylor

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Reference
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Alex
Not my work.
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Another character I created, second only to Nate. Taylor is basically an embodiment of myself although his history is not quite as complicated at Nate's. It's more typical of a high school student's life with little quirks here and there. Taylor's pair is Alex (who was created by the same person who made Joe). Their story is more emotional than Nate and Joe's, which is more action-based. Unfortunately, Taylor and Alex have retired and are living happily together where we last left them off. I suppose it's an appropriate ending. We didn't want to push it any further. Angst usually ruins my day, yet my friend loves it. *laughs* I based Taylor mostly off of a photo I found on Google but I put pieces of me into him as well. Although on Gaia I said it was a self portrait, that's not entirely true...*laughs* I can look like that at times, but not normally. Not now, at least.
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I'm not exactly sure what happened to his ear...I was trying to follow a diagram but it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted. And although I was trying to draw this on a middle ground between anime and realistic, I feel I could have drawn the eye a little smaller. But I'm very pleased with the end result. I'm very happy about the clothes as well.
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Drawn April 29, '07.
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Pen.
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Picture and Character (C) Alice Falling; Alex (C) Krys

Nate

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Joe
Not my work.
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I used to roleplay constantly with a friend of mine, and during that time we decided that we wanted to have characters that really meant something to us (or at least, that's what I wanted) instead of impulsive character making. I spent much of my time bringing a young twelve-year-old boy into existence while my friend created his older brother, Joe. I never knew how much of an impact my little Nathan would have, but he has been (and still is) my favorite character and has one hell of a history. He's grown up now, but I still love roleplaying him regardless of what age I choose him to be. In a nutshell, Nate and Joe's mother died when they were kids. Joe and their father never got along well with one another, so shortly after their mother passed away Joe left home. Nate's father remarried a woman who did not care for Nate. During his time with his father, Nate was miserable and treated very poorly. Joe managed to obtain custody of his brother, and Nate lived with him until he was old enough to move out. Eventually, the two brothers married, Nate moved back in with Joe, and their families now live in the same house together. The story is much deeper than that with much more angst, but I'll give you the sunny side of the tale. *laughs*
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Once again experimenting with colored pencil shading. I spent large amounts of time trying to draw this to the best of my abilities at my current level, and I feel that I succeeded reasonably. I'm not quite sure what happened to the cat...*laughs* It was something I added on a whim, so I didn't spend much time on the body structure. Nate's hand is still strange looking even when I tried to fix it. I like the shading of the clothes since it was the first time I tried to shade wrinkles other than the ones I inked, although I used the wrong color for the darker portions of his jeans. His hair was fun to color as well since I wanted to color it in a more anime style compared to what I normally do. So this is my little sweetheart. *hugs* I'm so proud of him. He's grown up so fast... *laughs*
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Drawn March 4, '07.
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Colored pencil and pen.
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Picture and Character (C) Alice Falling; Joe (C) Krys

Edward Elric

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Reference
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Yet another picture I printed out to draw in class after I finished Pride!Ed. I never finished this one though. I think I finally realized I really needed to pay attention so I abandoned this piece. I came across the reference in Fullmetal Alchemist Profiles, an in-depth book for lovers of the series who want to find out more than they need to know about it *laughs*. There was a section where Arakawa, the artist, described what she did in her daily life and put the picture in as an added extra.
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Again, I apologize for the notebook lines. This is the last one I drew on lined paper. If you look closely, you can see the arrows I scribbled in to mark places I needed to white-out. A lot of the Japanese symbols are larger than they're suppose to be or are slightly off when compared to the original, but by themselves they look fine. Although I'll probably never finish this, I thought it's very close to my reference. I love the little Al charm hanging off the umbrella. *laughs*
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Drawn sometime after September 14, '06.
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Mechanical pencil and pen.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Character (C) Hiromu Arakawa

Pride!Ed

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Reference
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I apologize for my poor editing skills when it comes to removing the notebook lines. *laughs* It distorts portions of the picture when I try to do it. While searching for Fullmetal artwork on deviantART, I came across a piece similar to the reference picture. At first, I thought it was someone's creative remake of Edward, but I later discovered it was from a fan-made game developed by a group of Chinese college students. The game was called Blue Bird's Illusion and acts as an epilogue for the series. I did some further research and managed to get my hands on the game thanks to one of my friends. Unfortunately the game was taken off the market because certain copyright laws were violated so those of you who are interested will have the devil's time trying to find your own copy. In one of the endings that you can reach in the game, Ed becomes a Homonculus and looks somewhat similar to the reference picture with a slight alteration (he doesn't have leather pants but an outfit similar to Envy's).
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To pass the time in class because I have such a short attention span when it comes to lectures *laughs*, I printed out a copy and drew it in my notebook. It kept me occupied for about a week. I remember having a lot of trouble with his face for some reason, and I had a horrible time with the wrinkles in the pants. The arm might have been a little too long for the rest of his body, though I can't really notice it now. I like the cross he's holding and the sketchy lines I decided to add to the outline.
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Drawn September 14, '06.
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Pen and colored pencil.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Character (C) the creators of Blue Birds' Illusion

Breathe No More

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I was going through a rough time in my life, and I was in a state of despair when I drew this. I'm not the type of person to carry through with suicide, but I desperately wanted to do something to make an impression on both me and everyone else. So I chose to do so through my art, and I definitely made my point across with the people who had affected me. In a way, I describe this as my committing suicide and it helped to relieve me in a strange way. The lyrics and title are from the song Breathe No More by Evanescence. I found the lyrics very powerful in this instance and used it as my inspiration to draw this. The first of its kind that I have drawn in the macabre genre.
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I have never been good at drawing blood *laughs*, but I did spend most of my time looking up some rather gruesome pictures to help with reference. I think, in the end I made it flow realistically enough to be convincing. I don't like how I inked the outline of the blood though. It might have looked better if I had only used the colored pencil and made it more subtle. I really like the blood on her shirt however. The glass could have been worked on a little more too...and the wrinkles in the clothes don't set well with me. But I wasn't concerned about those issues when I drew this, but I'm pleased with the overall result. It was very emotional and shocking, which is what I was aiming for.
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Drawn September 2, '06.
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Graphite pencil, colored pencil, and pen.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Lyrics (C) Evanescence

Chibi Alice Avi

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Reference
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The first avi I created (when I still had the gender set as female) when I rejoined Gaia on my current account. I used this as my shop advertisement in my signature and the welcome picture in my profile. I had another picture I drew of the same avatar, but I drew it a little more realistically. You can find that here if you're interested. I hadn't drawn chibis before except for doodles, so I had fun coming up with the head ratio (yes, I finally had an epiphany and discovered what proportioning was *laughs*). I was experimenting with a new shading and coloring technique with my colored pencils and used this as an opportunity to practice that. I tried to rescan this to make it bigger, but I couldn't get the colors to work as well as the original, so I left it alone.
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I'm very pleased with the overall result, though I don't quite know what happened to the blue in the tail...*laughs*. It went tye-dye on me. The shoes are boxy and very plain, but I think during that time I didn't feel like drawing laces. The wings need a little more blue but I really like the rest.
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Drawn May 31, '06.
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Colored pencil and pen.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling

Smog

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T-shirt
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Poster
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When I was still at my private school in junior high, my English teacher decided we were going to preform The Hobbit as the school play. There was a little mini contest of coming up with the T-shirt design. Last year's was too simplistic and everyone wanted something awesome since it was The Hobbit after all. It was something in the back of my mind that I wanted to do but I didn't have the time until I finished my homework earlier than I expected on a Sunday afternoon. I busted out my pencil and found a ball-point pen (which I never use) and scribbled out the dragon who guards the Lonely Mountain. It was an instant hit at the school. I think I was the first person to turn in something, actually. *laughs* Everyone wanted the design hands down so I felt proud seeing it printed on anything and everything that had to do with the play.
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I initially came up with this by accident. I started browsing dragon pictures and found several promising ones that I combined into my final sketch. I could have put much more detail into it, but I didn't have the patience or ambition to do something like that, and I suspected that it would be more difficult to print something finely detailed on a shirt. So I kept it simple. I wouldn't have used a ball-point pen either if I had the choice because I have a set of special felt tipped pens, but I had accidentally left those at home. The mountain was an added extra and I wish now that I'd left it out or replaced it with something else.
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Drawn sometime during April, '06.
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Mechanical pencil and ball-point pen.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Character (C) J.R.R. Tolkien

Ichigo

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Reference
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I still wonder why I bothered to post this up. The scanning quality is horrible because I drew the picture too lightly and my pencil was really grainy and smeared between the pages of my folder. I guess it's just because I was impressed with how well this turned out for not using proportioning at a young age. Ichigo Momomiya is the #1 main character in the first manga series I ever collected: Tokyo Mew Mew. I made the mistake of buying a volume in the middle of the series. And then the agony of learning how to read it in the backward format, but I adapted quickly. It's not the type of genre I generally like, but it was a good starter. I remember I spent many weeks and went through a large stack of paper in my sad, vain attempt to draw the cover picture of Ichigo on volume one. I think I might have ended up drawing a fairly decent piece, but it's long gone in the trash by this point. *sighs* Then I went through a maid phase and happened across the reference picture and attempted it instead.
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I think halfway through the preliminary sketch, I gave up trying to follow the reference exactly and started improvising. That occurred mainly on the face...which I, for some reason, always have trouble with. That and her hair. I suppose it's because I hadn't developed a distinguishable style yet and this wasn't anywhere close to what I wanted to do, but I still wanted to mimic it that time around. Once I started doing my own thing, it turned out fantastic (for my age at that time). No, I take that back. I still think it turned out fantastic regardless of my age. I only wish I'd shaded it darker. I added the bell on her tail because it was a favorite accessory of mine that she had with her costume and I really wanted to include it. So I'm overall pleased with it. Lots of improvisation...
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Drawn April 30, '06.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Character (C) Mia Ikumi

Haruko

Yes, I return from Jersey alive and well. Nothing horrible happened except for almost missing my flight, but I won't go into that. *laughs* I'm going to practice something I rarely do: diligence. I plan on posting one or two pictures every day until I've gone through the whittled-down stack of my old work and have reached my most recent pictures. I had close to sixty some art pieces I was going to post up, but I chose my best/favorites and cut the pile in half, thank goodness. Most of the ones I left out can be found in my old journal gallery on Gaia (check first post).
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Click to view.
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Reference
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This is an extremely old picture...well, maybe it's not as old as I may think if I sit down and consider it. Only a few years...but anyway, during that time I wasn't able to draw anything apart from doodles on the margins of my notes. Final exams and finishing projects and the like took up all of my free time so I wasn't able to draw anything proper for about four or five months. Therefore, I took advantage of the first few days of Christmas break and drew Haruhara Haruko, my favorite character from FLCL (Fooly Cooly or Furi Kuri). Manga or anime, I love both. I think the original drawing is on one of the DVD covers.
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I was about 13 when I drew this, and looking at it now, I'm impressed I did so well when I didn't know how to use correct proportioning yet, let alone what proportioning was at all. I purposely left out the amp because I didn't feel up to the challenge of trying to draw it. And I haven't noticed until now that I also left out the stickers on the bass and the design on her shirt. *laughs* I guess I wasn't up to the challenge of drawing those either. The bass itself is completely out-of-whack. I never would have thought about using a ruler. *laughs* The body and neck of the instrument are stretched and warped, but I thought Haruko herself turned out quite well, apart from very subtle differences.
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Drawn December 8, '05.
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Mechanical pencil.
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Picture (C) Alice Falling; Character (C) Hajime Ueda