Scarily good Teto doodle

I had bookmarked a sketch by Himari (which is unnecessarily marked as NSFW for some reason) some time ago for later analysis, since it has appeal while lacking color, shading and other distractions.

That ended up being my reference for this doodle… that turned out shockingly good?? It really makes me look far more skilled than I really am.

Funnily enough, now I shifted from wanting to study Himari’s drawing to wanting to study my own. After all, now it’s pretty clear artstyle isn’t where that appeal was coming from.

My wild guesses at what makes this doodle work so well are:

• Clean-ish lineart that doesn’t lack in weight variation;
• Good proportions;
• The eyes have a slight “depth” effect, by sinking the iris a bit into the head and slightly covering it by the eyelash (best demonstrated here by Teto’s left eye);
• The mouth being broken up in a long line and a smaller dot (something you might see a lot in anime and illustrations by more skilled artists);
• Pose… more like “camera” angle;
• The head shape has some kind of very good balance of slimness, roundness and slight sharpness;
• Direct eye contact.
• The eyes “pop” a lot by being the brighest features in the drawing, together with a couple other highlights, which probably also play a role in making the drawing feel very “balanced”.

Well, I can only hope I’ll crack the secret behind this doodle soon enough so I can begin consistently drawing like this without waiting for a few more years of experience!