"Keoradine"

This is actually a somewhat minor in my book Keoradine, albeit an important one. The allegorical nature of the book is basically about true enlightenment and salvation, with Keoradine representing both purity and rebirth. I couldn't actually draw the "real" Keoradine since she's layered in light so bright you can faintly make out her eyes, and her clothes are just as bad. So, I decided to draw the "pre-calamity" Keoradine, "Keora," as I tend to call her. I really can't draw women without them looking animeish, and I'm not quite sure why. I think it's simply because I'm so used to line art, and I don't like a lot of details on the girls because it makes them look old and ugly. If you go look at a lot of cartoons from the 1980s you'll know what I mean. And try to cite an example to the contrary without thinking, "If this was a new show someone would accuse it of being influenced by anime," as that's a popular and rather retarded claim a lot of otakus hurl around these days.

The actual drawing took forever, since I kept screwing up the facial features and the hand positioning. I had to redraw the hands and legs about 10 times, and I almost wore through the paper from erasing her smile into a "Hi!" expression over and over. The "post-calamity" Keoradine doesn't actually speak (she can't), and all the erasing was done before I decided to just draw the other form.

Something I've discovered in drawing dresses is that I enjoy designing them, and I'm not sure why. Yes, I'm gay, that's it. No, you idiots. I think it's because all you see women wear these days are either mini-skirts or some other horrid "expose-as-much-as-you-can" crap with glitter and neon signs all over them. When you rarely see a girl wearing a dress, it's usually blue jean or something of the like. I enjoyed drawing the little flower design around the body. It's something I'd actually like to see on a real dress one day.

It doesn't help, by the way, the whole anime thing that Keora is dressed in what you might think is a Komono. I actually like komonos (I'm sure there's a more technically accurate term for the type here some nerd is shouting at his computer right now). I tried to distance the two with little success, as I've always imagined Keoradine in this sort of outfit (flowing robes with a faintly-noticeable cloth belt) and never thought much of the similarities until I started drawing it.

You wouldn't believe how hard it is to draw someone waving.