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Arttrober 2025 (Part 1 of 4)

It's October. Already. That means many things, but one particular thing it means is that it's time for me to follow the daily art prompt challenge Arttrober and start grinding out some portraits of characters from anime, comics and games. This post will collect the first eight days of the challenge, starting from October 1st.

A drawing of the character Cynthia from the Pokemon videogame franchise. Cynthia is a woman with long blonde hair with a lopsided fringe that covers one eye, silver-grey eyes, and pale skin. She's dressed in a long v-necked coat with black fur trim. She wears black tear-drop shaped decorations in her hair, two on each side of her head. In the drawing she's appears to be stepping out in front of the viewer, one arm held elbow-up with a pokeball held in her grasp as if about to issue a challenge.
01 Cynthia (Pokemon)

A character I've actually drawn before for Arttrober, four years ago. I've barely played any Pokemon, so most of the characters appearing in the games aren't familiar to me (though some of the Pokemon have become very familiar by cultural saturation. A decent start to the month, albeit with the usual concern about how I could possibly keep up the necessary time investment. Well, I've managed before.

A drawing of the character Barbie, played by Margot Robbie in the film of the same name. Barbie is a woman with long blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin. She's dressed in a check-pattern pink dress and is looking towards the viewer while sitting in a bright pink convertible. She has a pair of sunglasses with pink-tinted lenses and a white frame slid back over her head. The sky is clear and blue behind her.
02 Barbie (y'know, from... Barbie)

I've never owned a barbie doll. This is not particularly strange: I was a Transformers and He-Man kind of kid. I just thought to mention it. As for the drawing itself, I decided to draw Margot Robbie in the role of Barbie, rather than say drawing my own depiction of 'Astronaut Barbie' or 'Dentist Barbie'. Possibly in restricting myself so, I have missed a trick.

A drawing of the character Nakoruru from the videogame series Samurai Shodown. Nakoruru is a woman with long, straight dark hair, blue-grey eyes and pale skin. She's dressed in a short-sleeved white gi with red trim, with a large red ribbon tied behind her head. She's shown leaping up into the air and spinning, a kodachi sword held in reverse grip in her right hand.
03 Nakoruru (Samurai Shodown)

The first character in this prompt list who I know nothing about. Nakoruru is a fighter in various SNK fighting games, most prominently Samurai Shodown. I tried to capture her in motion as she attacks, but I may have just made her look all tangled up in herself. A lot of Nakoruru artwork includes her hawk, Mamahaha. I would have liked to include Mamahaha in the drawing, but with the limited time available to me each day, I had to make a concession to practicality (sorry Mamahaha).

A drawing of the character Kusanagi Motoko from the manga/anime series Ghost in the Shell. Motoko is a full-body cyborg with dark hair (often portrayed as purple), red eyes and pale skin; this drawing shows her in her Standalone Complex incarnation, wearing a lilac leotard and black leather jacket. She's standing glaring at the viewer with one hand on her hip.
04 Kusanagi Motoko (Ghost in the Shell)

Ghost in the Shell is an old favourite of mine—specifically the Stand Alone Complex anime. So naturally I chose that version of the Major to draw, even though the whole leotard and leather jacket combo is a little silly. Well, I suppose a full-body cyborg doesn't get cold.

A drawing of the character Velma from the cartoon series Scooby-Doo. Velma is a young woman with a brown bob haircut, square glasses and pale complexion. She wears a thick yellow sweater with a red skirt showing underneath. In the drawing she's standing side-on to the viewer with a wry smile, on hand behind her back while the other is held up with the forefinger raised, as if she's about to make an important observation.
05 Velma (Scooby-Doo)

Scooby-Doo was one of those cartoon shows that were always on during my childhood, so I'm certainly familiar with the character of Velma. Not a complicated character to draw, though I'm not certain I've quite managed to capture her look in my style.

A drawing of the character Terra Branford from the videogame Final Fantasy 6. Terra is a young woman with wild green hair tied in a ponytail behind her head, green eyes and a pale complexion. She's wears a short rose-coloured dress with detached sleeves, purple shoulder-pads and pale stockings. She has a purple sash tied across her hips. In the drawing, she's sitting on a grassy field, looking out into the distance. Her sword is embedded pommel-up in the earth beside her.
06 Terra (Final Fantasy VI)

The Final Fantasy games were among my favourites when I was younger, though my interest these days tends towards Square Enix's 'throw-back' JRPGs such as Octopath Traveler rather than the modern Final Fantasies. In any case, I'm well-acquainted with the half-Esper Terra Branford of Final Fantasy 6, and was happy enough to draw her. Thought I did have to decide whether to draw her as originally depicted by Amano Yoshitaka, or as depicted in-game (with green hair and a slightly different costume). In the end, I basically split the difference.

A drawing of the character Maetel from the manga and anime Galaxy Express 999. Maetel has the appearance of a slender woman with long blonde hair and brown eyes. She wears a long black fur-trimmed dress coat with an accompanying fur hat. In the drawing, Maetel is standing facing the viewer with a soulful sad look to her face, her long hair billowing out to one side.
07 Maetel (Galaxy Express 999)

Galaxy Express is a classic manga/anime, originally published (the manga) in 1977, about a boy travelling the stars on the eponymous train. Maetel is his travelling companion and a major character—but all this is information I retrieved from a wiki, as I'd had no contact with this series prior to drawing Maetel here.

I did notice the similarities in design between Maetel and Cynthia, being both blonde-haired woman who dress in black with fur trim.

A drawing of the Powerpuff Girls from the eponymous cartoon series. There are three girls, drawn highly stylised. At the bottom, lying on the floor with a scowl, is Buttercup: short, dark hair, green eyes and wearing a green dress. Craning over Buttercup, waving at the viewer, is Bubbles: blonde hair tied in pigtails, blue-eyes and wearing a blue dress. Leaping up from behind Buttercup and Bubbles is Blossom: long, ginger hair tied with a big red bow, red eyes and a red dress.
08 Buttercup, Bubbles and Blossom (Powerpuff Girls)

Not generally the kind of thing I usually draw, but it's nice to have some variety! I did consider reinterpreting the Powerpuff Girls in my 'house' style, but realised that it would:

  1. Require considerable extrapolation as to what the girls actually look like when not in their regular highly-stylised forms.
  2. Actually be really quite time consuming—essentially a triple effort for the day. Which would be bad.

So I didn't do that, and just kept it simple and fun.

Arttrober continues with the next post in the series.

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