Oh, god, how do I even start talking about this one?

Well, it's another Jrock realism portrait. That's good, but I still don't have a dynamic expression or pose. Even simple expressions, with the slightest bits of error in the placements or position of the eyes and other features, get kind of suddenly drab. It takes away all the emotion or meaning from the piece; there's no affection or intimacy there, even if I tried. So I need to keep working on that.

So... it looks like them, but it's lifeless. This doesn't portray any kind of mood the way I wanted it to, and that's because it's just not dynamic enough.

What I do like is the level of detail and similarity I got. The anatomy is okay, the hair turned out very well, and I do like what I learned about drawing lips here. X3 (There's another little shadow at both ends? I didn't realize until I sat down and actually made myself draw it. Now it seems silly that I ever went without.) I like Aoi's shoulders more than any other area in the piece; they're probably the only spot that portrays an attitude. Vulnerability, I think.

To view the absolute fresh-from-the-scanner raw image, you can go here; [link] but once you see that, can you blame me for fiddling with it? I admit I tweak things digitally a little, but it's mostly for the learning experience.

Next time I draw Aoi and Uruha like this, Ill start the sketch when I'm in a better mood. They'll have actual expressions and will be doing something interesting. I almost swear, my days of flat expressions and boring poses are over. Seriously. XD.

The hand is fine, but I could have done something more interesting....

The clothing choices weren't too tricky, I just put them in some formal going-to-a-Christmas-party thing. If there is a mood in this piece, which I don't think there is, it's weariness and frustration. As in... they were dragged to the party, don't want to be there, they're having issues in their life and they just want to stand there in the corner talking to each other while everyone else is off socializing. XD. Exactly what I felt when I started working on it. Well, that's my punishment for not utilizing better judgment.

If there's a story to it... I don't know. Maybe that's up to you to decide.

References- meaning images I printed out to have near me while I sketched for visual guidance, NOT images I traced or copied, include Aoi's MusiQ photoshoot and Uruha's Leech photoshoot.

Well, have I ranted enough? I really don't know. I hid my name in a sketch, for once, (Though the mo looks a little like hirigana due to the shadows) and got over my fear of mechanical pencils and large erasers. I've got mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it's most likely the best work I've ever done. On the other, I have a long ways to go.

Overall, I'm very pleased.

Well, thank you. :3

Edit; You know, the raw eye I drew without fiddling is actually better. So I went back to it. :3