๐Ÿ’™E.V.๐Ÿฉต (+the power of inspiration)

Usually I shy away from fanart, or drawing characters that aren't mine. But, these very mischievous and energetic characters (left) reminded me so much of E.V.
Imagining their potential personalities, I drew them being expressive, inspiring me to create some doodles of my own! I was really surprised with all this newfound energy! I even laughed like a villain while drawing the E.V. on the top right (too much fun!)

I'm very pleased with these, hence the intense watermarking (artfight flashbacks). Got to talk about the story today, which was awesome! It helped me to expand on my ideas, too. Some perceptions of E.V. matched with how I've drawn her... which was great, but I hope that extends beyond a couple people!

E.V.'s creation itself brought me into an artistic boom, and that was just last year.. I can't even visualize how much things'll change this year. I really struggled with drawing her, despite her simple look. Looking at other creations helped me to think more about each element- her hair, eye shape, etc- which helps with construction and consistency. Engaging and identifying with similar styles from other stories/art is so valuable.

Honestly, drawing something more effectively than before feels pretty awesome. As I drew, I was literally seeing myself think about where to put certain things. (brain activity?? woaa) I know I sound goofy rn, but I never had much intentionality in my artwork, so it feels special somehow. Muscle memory was + is my friend, but you can get stuck relying only on it to draw new things. Somehow, struggling to draw other characters helped me; making lines I usually wouldn't, playing with proportions + shapes that I never tried before.

And talking with others, not even seriously, but just asking: "What do you think of this character and their story?" And leaving the interpretation up to them is really fun to do.
The unpredictability of what they'll say, and then me going like... "you know what- I can actually see that!" -is really cool to me. I thought about things I hadn't considered before.

I always had this mindset of doing everything alone, but babies don't teach themselves to walk. If you can't trust yourself to be inspired (out of fear of being a copycat or sum), then you can't trust yourself to grow.. Don't worry about being unoriginal, most in the world have brown eyes but we all have unique DNA + personalities, per God's design. There's such a beauty in artists being inspired.