Manga Style Meme

I found and started this meme, created by ~simsim2212 [link] in February 2010. I thought I would give it a go, and over a few months managed to get just over half of the drawings completed. And then...then I stopped, and this meme was left by the wayside.

Then last night I really wanted to draw (in lieu of working on my assignment - yay for procrastination!), thought about this meme, and completed the rest of the drawings in one night. I finished going over them in pen and compiling them today.

Looking at the two sets of drawings, I think there is actually some improvement in their execution, which is actually pretty cool. There is also, amazingly, a bit of improvement evident in regards to my Photoshop skills when it came to the cleanup, though I no doubt still have a tonne of things to learn (I really don't use digital tools all that much when it comes to drawing, beyond scanning and cleanup). I also think I did capture each manga's style for the most part, though I can't help but feel they have some of my own take within them...I guess I just can't mimic their styles completely. What was interesting though was the small struggle I had drawing my own 'style' after drawing so many others!

What do you think? Regardless of how good (or not so good) this turned out, it was still a good challenge, and did stretch my creative muscles a bit. I'm glad I finally followed through and finished it...even if it did take a couple of years!

Tools of the trade: mechanical pencil, black ballpoint pen, Photoshop for cleanup.