FanArt: I am not an artist.

[burning_card]

I like this one a lot. The style is very interesting, and seems morel ike a mix of realism meets a manga theme, like the old school lady death comics. You're slamming your work a little too much though, Meira...this isn't bad at all. You put details in for the fur effect of her neck peice, and your proportions aren't bad at all! Nice job.

Now as far as people saying Anime is bad, i used the style to progress from the start. I still think Anime is the best way to learn to draw, period (my own opinion)
The proportions in anime are too extreme for me, but if you learn basic proportions (seven to eight head lengths, not the ten to eleven head lengths of anime) you can get a perfect style going to mold. The facial structure is fun and easy to draw, but the biggest thing about anime is that it teaches you to draw lineart that's easily colored. Also, if you look at basic color shades on anime work, it's a great way to learn dynamic lighting for beginners.

Once you get the basic style down you get to play with other styles, make your own, and eventually mold it into something you can call your own. I hated my art teacher i had three years ago because he didn't allow the students to draw anime (this was my senior year highschool teacher) and i thought it wasn't very cool of him. One, Anime is still art, and a lot of people in the class had an appreciation for it (especially since we were all teens) and it just drove me nuts because we had to learn how HE drew and painted, and he never let us grow our own style, since we got a failing grade if we didn't mimmic his style to his likes...i never passed art class lol.

And that's why i really started to practice, to show him that i could attain a skill that he told me i couldn't get...and i did it by teaching myself damnit!

[VanDarkmind]

Whew. I can imagine how it was meant to be drawn in the end. Some of the facial parts are showing tzhe kind of face it was meant to be, even if the composition... Okay, I stop right here. I'm not familiar with drawing real human-shaped characters. I exactly began with the Anime style because it's - indeed - easy to learn.
But to be honest: I'm learning this in education on arts (or however it's called in English) and even learned it in greece last year where this theme had been a large point on our checklist of to-do-so's: I know, you're not an artist but a little advice. Most times, the more you're planning, the more you are standing in your own way. You stop yourself by thinking too mouch how you WANT it to be. I think this is only possible by practising very hard. When I started practising, I was drawing two or three pics a day.
My method right now is, that I'm starting with just a touch of concept (Mostly, WHO the heck I just want to draw. I've got images in my Head as well ) and let my hand do the rest. Not thinking, doing!
That's the message we got during the time in Greece. Let yourself got and let it happen.
Of course, reference material is very helpful. I found myself sometimes just reading a Manga or a Comic or even just a book and then I started to draw like a berserk.
It's just practising at all. A bit of knowlege, maybe sometimes a bit of talent but most important of all: Practising!

Well you already said, that you're NOT an artist. The more better you are in writing stories. And the way you're doing it shows your real talents. Nice work at all.

[Banish]

Heh, you aren't an artist, but you've done a good job.