Maidens Kiss

Well here's what I've been working on for the past several weeks. I know a lot of you have been asking when my next chapter of Soul Fire will be out, but I just had to get this little project out of the way before I went back to the fan-fic.

So this is my first attempt at doing anything like this. Each pic was drawn seperately and then combined in Photoshop. I had to learn how to do that on the fly.

This was an interesting project for me. I'm starting to develop a new style. Each frame of this little strip taught me something.

1: Curiosity.
This one was done really quickly (for me). I originally planned to make this whole thing simple and quick... Anyone who knows my work will be laughing and rolling their eyes at that statement. I drew Hinata in a matter of minutes, but then stalled when I got to "Gamanaru" I've never drawn anything like a toad before, so I had to use some references from the manga. At first I tried to draw him in Kishimoto's style, but he just didn't look right. Then I decided to try a simpler approach and he turned out just how I wanted. This pic almost looks too simple compared to the others. It's like you can see my style evolving just over the course of this one project! Oh, and I'm well aware that I didn't draw Hinata's headband and leg bandages. I left them off on purpose to keep things simple and easy.
2: Kindness.
Here's where my style started to take shape. I spent ages getting the angle and position of Hinata's legs and feet right, and I'm quite happy with how they turned out.
3: The Maidens Kiss. and 4: Poof!
These two were an interesting experiment. I wanted Hinata to be exactly the same in both frames (except for her expression of course), so after I finished the first one, I laid it over the second page and flicked back and forth between them, like an animator does. It was tricky, but I think I pulled it off quite well.
5: Surprise!
Things didn't quite go exactly how I wanted them to with this one. Hinata looks a little off to me for some reason, but I don't know why. I tried to give the impression that she fell backward in shock, but I don't know if I quite nailed it. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out though.
6: Thank you!
This is by far my favorite frame. Everything just seemed to fall into place... except Naruto's blasted right hand. Hands are a royal pain to draw! It took me about six tries to get this one looking decent. But all in all, I consider it one of the best pieces I've ever done.
7: Huh?
The final frame was difficult, due to the unusual character positions. I like to do these kind of pics. Or more specifically, I hate doing flat looking pics. I always endevour to make my work look three dimentional. In this case, I think Hinata turned out well, but Naruto looks a little off. The face was hard, because of the way he's looking down, and it was really hard to get his left arm in the right position without making it look like he was... erm... doing something inappropriate.

Well the important thing is that I had loads of fun doing this, and that I managed to upload it, so you all can (hopefully) enjoy it too. Please fav and comment. I'm happy to recieve any constructive critisism.