What I Do As An Artist & What I Want To Do In The Future

This is a report of what I do as an artist and what I want to do as an artist later in life.

I feel like I need to start from the beginning. I've been drawing characters since I can remember. They weren't actually mine--I drew characters from the video games I had grown up with, like Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy 8, and Okage. Those weren't the only ones, but those were the main three on my mind. I wish I had some of those pictures, because for a little kid I wasn't that bad at drawing.

In any case, I grew up with this and continued to draw characters mainly for online role-playing (yes, I was that kid), and ended up with two characters I would routinely come back to. These were bad-ass female characters my friend Misse and I had created: Neki and Reni. I drew those two over and over again with different outfits. Here is the most recent drawing from 2010:

If you must know, Misse and I were extreme Kingdom Hearts fans. These were our fan-made characters. Neki and Reni are the two blondes on the left. It's a little hard to explain the other two without explaining all of Kingdom Hearts, so let's just say that Neki and Reni are very, very acquainted with Kixen and Xinre.

And to clear the air, we're still fans, but not quite as intensely as we were back then. We were borderline weaboo.

Even though this most recent character drawing is from 2010, it was out of the blue. I really stopped character creation in 2008 when I was 13-14. I then focused primarily on female fashion creation.

2011

2012

I apologize for the poor photo quality.

Besides fashion, between 2009-2012 I developed my skills as a fine artist.

Senior Art Booth 2012

I won 1st place and a $1000 scholarship.

The girl who got 2nd was pissed and wouldn't talk to me.

It was funny.

Watercolor Landscape

Oil Painting

Since entering college, I've increased my drawing skills.

Me Posing with my White Charcoal on Black Paper Still Life

I also worked a little concept art for the 2013 Project Runaway competition.

My team ended up winning the Cultural Commentary category.

Ooh la la I'm a model

I'm not sure if it counts, but I am also a cosplayer. I used to sew my entire outfits, but now I focus on making the props for my friends and I. I love prop-making--there's something extremely cathartic about it. Here are some of my best costumes (no one will ever see my first abysmal attempts at cosplay in 2008-2010).

FFX Rikku sewn by me in 2011

FFXIII Fang and Lightning 2013

Fang is and was sewn entirely by my best friend Perla Vivanco.

I am Lightning. I bought the costume, but modified it and fitted it.

I created both my sword (not visible) and Perla's spear.

I'm sort of a Final Fantasy junkie

That's what kind of artist I am. Now, here is the artist I want to be:

I want to expand my abilities beyond female fashion creation. I want to work on making my own landscapes, interiors, fully fleshed out characters, monsters & creatures, and mecha. I do not want to be that quintessential girl who draws only female fashions.

I also want to become more acquainted with digital drawing and painting, and become proficient in 3D computer modeling.

At the end, I want to be a video game concept artist who can do all types of designs. I want to be a step above the rest, and I know I am no where near there yet.

So that is the artist I am now, and the artist I want to be in the future.