Character Sketch: Europa Astarte from Striker (Valespian Pact #2)

I noticed I haven't posted anything in a week, so I'm making it up to you with an early picture. I started with a character introduced in Striker, Europa Astarte. I wasn't going to show her off until she was finished, but I thought, maybe, I would post a series of pictures to show the progress as they were completed. I, of course, had this novel idea after I had made a good deal of progress on Europa. The others will have better progression posts. Promise. I haven't decided how many I'll do. I think it'll depend heavily on the spare time I'll have to put into this project. If any of them really suck big, hairy toes, I might not have the courage to post them. But I'll post "meh" to "mediocre". Something to note: I'm not an real artist.

Until last year, I hadn't attempted to draw anything since I was 19-20. So we are talking 20 years, roughly. I have found that if you don't work the 'art' part of you brain you forget what you once knew. I drew a lot when I was a teenager. Loved to duplicate the covers to my mother's romance novel. Do you remember in the back of the magazines, where they had the ads. You could usually find the one for the contest that involved drawing the turtle or the pirate. I drew both and never sent them in. I didn't take any classes other than a general craft's class where they did a bunch of different things like ceramics, weaving, and candles. (That was a fun class even though I had to go the principal's office for flipping Scott the bird when he called my mom fat.)

My best work used to be done with pencil and charcoal. I've been wishing for a set of charcoals this last week or so. There is so much I've forgotten how to do. How to shadow. How to add depth. I know Europa's head is a bit warped. I'm trying to fix that. 

Just be a dear, and don't expect amazing, because, like I said, it will be mediocre at best. The upside--you get a glimpse of what I see, who I see when I write.

Europa Astarte - progress picture #1