Illo: Yoga Girls for Yani

Sometime before Christmas last year, Yani asked me to draw her and yoga friends. I wanted to do a scene with the characters scattered around but interacting with each other, plus some props here and there. But this week she mentioned trying the Metro mag cover pose, and I thought that was hilarious and clever that I went with it.

I only got to sit down and finish this (personal) project this week because I won the flu lottery during the holidays. I was useless for a month, and up until this moment I still haven't fully recovered. It took a lot of willpower to finish this in time for their friendship anniversary, which happens today. :))

The quick sketch I sent her vs. the cleaned-up line art:

Initially, I wanted to render everything digitally but the line work would take forever. (I only use my laptop's trackpad to draw lmaaaooo.) So instead, I drew the line art by hand and filled the colors  in digitally.

Yani gave me photos for reference (including a pretty good take on that magazine cover). I couldn't really stalk them online as their Instagrams were mostly private, which I guess helped me from getting overwhelmed with what "personality" I should give their illustrations. I ended up getting cues from their hair, accessories, clothes, and favorite colors (as relayed by Yani).

I'm no expert on faces, that much I admit. But I'd like to think this captured the essence of their friendship and individuality in a cute way.