Or rather, I realized this a few days ago but only remembered to make a post about it now.
(Apologies in advance, this turned into a long art rant complete with angsty backstory.)
I just realized that I have reached my nirvana. My nirvana, contrary to popular belief, is not the perfect blend of cream and sugar in my coffee, but rather, it's the fact that I've reached a goal I set for myself years ago. I have reached a point where I can draw how I naturally draw and not be told it's too "anime".
This is hard to explain if you don't know what I'm getting at. BACKSTORY! I obviously come from a background of drawing anime. I mean, I've been drawing as far back as I can remember, but I remember one day, I sat down with one of my Digimon picture books with the sole purpose of studying the style. It took me a few hours, but that was the first actual anime picture I remember drawing.
I also remember showing it to my dad and he just went "uh huh" and back to painting my room. :V
Going through grade and middle school wasn't too bad, drawing how I did (terribly) and trying to get better. I could never copy styles, so I just drew bits of pieces from different people and real life observations. But upon entering high school, I get barked at from my main teacher that anime is basically poop and worthless (and I also plagiarized? I remember writing an article on it five years ago).
From then on out, I had to hide it. I stuck hardcore to my reference images and didn't present any anime to my teacher for a grade (excepts chibis, they all love my chibis, I don't know why). I kept getting better, but it was always, at least to me, anime. And anime is, basically, worthless. So I hid it.
But I set a goal. Someday, I wanted to reach a point where I didn't have to hide what I do. Someday, I wanted to just draw - have references when I needed them - but draw the way I naturally do it.
I never thought I would, despite people telling me I have. I really can't emphasize enough how much the "anime is plagiarism/crap/worthless" angle was driven at me in high school. It's that notion that made me never believe any of you guys when you told me otherwise.
And then, just a few days ago, I realized...I drew Dreamline like I would draw any other "for fun" picture. Upon getting it back from my prof, there wasn't any comments on the style. Not a word was said during critique. Nothing.
So...I've done it.
