Sheesh - I didn't realize this went over a year and a half without an update.

Which is especially silly because 2012 was a fantastic art year for me in which I made some incredible progress. Turns out my Photoshop setup was terrible for what I'd been trying to do. I switched to Manga Studio, which supports a wide range of natural-feeling ink widths out of the box, and pored over pro artwork to get some sense of the nuance I was missing from my own drawings. Sadly I intimidated myself from getting back in the saddle again after a few months off from drawing, but I'll be kicking myself in the rear end soon enough.
The following are my best general audience pieces. Go to
my deviantArt for the rest, including partly nude fan service. I maintain that it all has value as anatomy practice.
Shoot That Poison Arrow - Lu Meng and Xiahou Yuan portraits in their DW7 fairy tale downloadable costumes. I imagined they'd have a friendly rivalry over the merits of bullets vs. bows. I gave Yuan's costume more detail and texture for me to work with. This piece helped me push my line range and learn how to use thick lines to enhance form instead of squishing it flat.
Just a Dance (
lines,
colored) - Cai Wenji and Cao Ren. I am a rank n00b at this coloring business because it's so different from the traditional media I learned in high school, but this was a good enough start for now.
The Scars of War - Cao Ren portrait, which doubled as a study of Andrew Loomis-style face construction. These are the best lines I've ever done.