No, this isn't for 30 Days of Art. This is just a very delayed upload.

I decided to try my hand at members of the Fushigi Yugi cast. I had never drawn any of them before. And since I had a New Year's goal that I'd draw characters from a series that I had never drawn before, I decided to accomplish that goal.

Having said that, this picture was a killer. It was hard to shove eight characters (nine if you include Tama the cat) into one pic. I decided that I should put all the guys into little circles like I had seen in this one picture of them. Good idea, but drawing them so tiny was a pain. Those details! And that hair! As I said, total killer.

I tried a couple new things with this one. One was using a compass. I bought one especially for this picture (which was a task in and of itself because I had to find one that wouldn't poke a hole in the paper). I also bought some correction fluid to outline Miaka's sleeves and collar. That was kind of a disaster.

I'm proud of the composition and the coloring I did. The exception is the background. By the time I got to that, I was just tired. So I scribbled in some red. Ta-da!

By the way, I'f you've seen the anime and wondered about Tamahome's and Chichiri's lack of blue hair in my drawing, it's because I'm not a fan of the blueness. So I colored their hair as it was in the manga.

Since you've read this far, I'll tell you a little, silly story. I showed this picture to my neighbor who looked at the drawing, pointed to Mitsukake, and said, "She has a kitty!" If my neighbor thought that Mitsukake was a girl, what does that say about my art style??? There was even a part in the manga where all the guys had to cross-dress and Mitsukake was the only one who couldn't pull it off. Then again, to be fair, my neighbor isn't familiar with anime and manga.

Oh, and I'm dedicating this to Yummy Suika. Cuz I can.

Tools used:
Pencil
Erasers
Sketch paper
Compass
Ink pens
Colored pencils
Correction fluid
Photoshop CS5 (for touch-ups)

You have permission to use this picture in wallpapers and cards, but don't post this picture anywhere else.