if you've chosen to look at my archives of older works from years ago, you may notice that approximately nothing in those archives resembles what i make now (at least in my opinion). although it's not often that i really feel like my art style is changing and, dare i say it, evolving, it definitely becomes apparent looking at my really old stuff. a lot of my older works used to place a lot of emphasis on characters with huge heads, bulging eyes and simplistic bodies with tiny stick limbs, but through means i'm not entirely certain of this kind of just evolved into what i'm doing now.
i would say my current art style is still meant to have a kind of cute appeal to it, and i still draw characters with oversized eyes and big heads, but not to as much of an extreme degree. i've also tried to do a bit more than just make all of my characters have the same round heads and small bodies and instead give them more distinguishable shapes and silhouettes. this is still something i am struggling to accomplish, especially with my NSFW art. beyond this, i think it becomes a bit harder to define certain attributes that are consistent across my more recent works, because i'm still constantly trying new things, and most times when i'm drawing a character i've drawn before i try to approach it from the perspective of thinking about what i can do differently so that i'm not just doing the exact same stuff over and over again.
it is with much regret that i say that i'm still using photoshop to draw stuff, mainly because i automatically get a subscription to it from my school, and because it's what i've been using since i started doing digital art. at this point i'm kind of afraid of the notion of switching to a different program because i feel like i'd have to learn everything again so my art would go back to sucking complete ass for at least a little bit.
i've used the exact same drawing tablet i've had since i was 13 when i got it as a birthday present. it's really cheap and not well put together, the stickers i put on it are starting to wear out and there's a noticeable mass of scribbles embedded in the center of the tablet from using it so much, but it still works. i once wanted to get a tablet that would actually allow me to draw on the screen itself like an actually talented artist would have but by now i think it'd be too disorienting for me to work like that. this might also have something to do with the fact that i suck at drawing traditionally now.
i would say i'm pretty strict about having an organized process whenever i make something new. all of my files are dated and have some kind of descriptive title, i name nearly all of my layers based on what's in them, and i divide all of my drawings into multiple layers based on color and purpose, which you may be able to tell in the screenshot above. as far as i'm concerned, if i didn't work like this, i'd probably lose my mind.
most of my drawings start with a really basic sketch. my sketches are usually just kind of rough outlines, so they generally don't end up being all too messy.
what i do next can depend on what i'm drawing. for instance, a drawing of a character like parasomnia will probably proceed with doing the outline next, but a character like blu usually starts with flat colors and then outlines, because her design relies less on closed outlines.
after doing the outlines, the coloring and shading and adding any extra stuff is pretty straightforward.
backgrounds are something i'm still trying to figure out, as i don't really feel like i've ever been good with them. lately i've been trying to do more simple, abstract backgrounds with light colors and simple shapes, sometimes with some kind of texture (usually paper) overlaid.
all of the textures i use in my more recent works are from a folder i have full of close-up photos i've taken of all kinds of materials. as mentioned prior, i mostly use paper textures, but i also sometimes use stuff like fabric or wood or wet paint.