Alaina Rose

Alaina Rose, a.k.a. ObliviousAlly, shares the evolutions of some of her unique characters. You can find more of her work at her website, art blog, LiveJournal, deviantART page, or pretty much anywhere else under the handle “obliviousally.” Thanks for sharing, Alaina!

Medium/Genre/Style: Primarily digital, though I work traditionally with sketches and inks about 90% of the time. But I lack an undo button in real life so my traditional work isn’t where I’d like it to be. I mostly draw anthropomorphic/furry critters, though making my way back into the comic fandom is inspiring me to branch out and try new things.

I’ve been drawing seriously and doodling for the better part of the last fifteen years. My initial foray into the internet brought me upon what used to be Yerf! (then known as rat.org, followed by the SCFA). I also discovered anime around this time and, in retrospect, I think it was truly my downfall. I haven’t broken myself of a lot of the anime style and I think that hurts more than helps me.

I’m primarily self-taught. I took art classes in school, but they were more “draw this still life” all day long and didn’t encourage much creativity. And, at 16-17, you don’t want to draw icicles and apples.

I’ve gone through a lot of learning over the years I’ve been drawing. From learning how to use underskeletons to getting the hang of a tablet to learning that just having a tablet doesn’t make you a better artist. I’ve overcome long limbs and hiding feet underneath baggy pants, tried a dozen different facial styles and learned that developing a character a bit helps immensely with drawing it. But art, for me, is a constant learning experience. I’ve never really had the issue where I’ve become discouraged by artists who are better than myself. I’ve simply gone “wow, I wonder how they did that?” and then tried to learn. Believe me, you’re much better off with this mindset in the long run. I promise.

This was drawn, surprisingly, eleven years ago to the day I’m submitting this. It’s also the earliest artwork I have on my hard drive, though I had sketchbooks prior to being able to scan art up. Obviously, hands were not my forté. And they still aren’t.	I don’t do group images often, but when I do, they tend to be halfway decent. There’s a lot of love put into this one in particular.
One of about a million characters I have inhabiting my head. Poe started out as a generic gothy catgirl until…	I redesigned her years later and overhauled most of her character in general. She’s still a gothy catgirl, but now she has depth and development.
I don’t even know where to begin with this. We can see, however, I went through a stage where I greatly exaggerated limbs.	Dynamic poses are still difficult for me unless I’m in the right frame of mind. But they’re certainly more fun than people standing around looking pretty all the time!
I got a tablet around this time. Obviously, the knowledge of line weight and such did not come along with it.	Even when I (kind of) know what I’m doing, I still make glaring mistakes. Her arm is shockingly small and I’m pretty sure that’s not healthy.
I’ve never drawn a lot of human art. When I got into drawing anthro critters, they were much more fun and versatile than plain human beings. This was a self portrait. I swear my appendages aren’t that weird looking.	Now that I’m taking the time to draw things without ears and tails and cute little triangle noses, it’s like relearning some things. But it’s a fun experience!

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