This is what happens when you want to draw a casual Blake Belladonna but wind up catching her in the middle of a cheesy rawr – Yang just kind of shows up out of nowhere to cast shade on Blake’s attempt at ferocity.

But seriously, this was supposed to put Blake and her new look in the spotlight and I really didn’t intend on drawing Yang in this one. She just sort of forced her way in as a foil to Blake, but I like how it turned out. It gave me a great chance to play around with more extreme expressions than I usually do (I think), as well as get in some good hand practice with Blake’s gesture. (You’ll note the distinct lack of Yang doing anything with her hands – her simple pose was my concession to actually wanting to finish this before Christmas.) Blake’s hair gave me a little bit of trouble—I wanted to keep the wild waviness her long hair had, but that can be hard to convey in a short bob – but hopefully it looks okay.

If you’re a fan of the show, I’m interested in hearing what you think of portrayals of the RWBY girls outside an anime-type style. I find myself revisiting them a lot because of their diverse personalities, which really gives an artist a lot to play with.

Anyhow, let me know what you think – any comments, tips, or critiques are welcome and appreciated!



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Disclaimer: I’m red-green colorblind. Because of this, it’s difficult for me to tell similar shades/hues of different colors apart, and, therefore, I need to work with very limited palettes when I color pieces. For shading and highlights, I’ll start with a gray base and lighten or darken shades from there, and then add a color overlay (and, for some skin tones, attempt to add a blue overlay to make it less “hot”). I’ve often been told to be bolder in my highlighting and shading, and I’m trying to be so, but… sometimes it still seems pretty tame. I’m just saying this in case you mentioned I need to do that on a previous piece – I’m not ignoring you, and I appreciate the input. It’s just not very easy for me to implement confidently.