All-American Rejects video

I love this music video. I love everything about it. I love the music. I love the lyrics. I love the PostSecrets. I love that the money they paid to use the secrets was donated to a suicide hotline. I love the lead singer's eyes. I love the bag over the one guy's head. This video just all-around rocks my world.

I cannot believe I made that.

I am not an artist. I've drawn a few things, but nothing I'm really proud of. I don't draw often, and I don't draw particularly well.

I am astounded at this.

It's not perfect. I know that. The eyes aren't exactly right, I pretty much copied the neck muscles off a Metanoia sketch, and I really haven't a clue how to shade. But... this is, I think, the first time I've used Photoshop to make something totally from scratch, and I honestly am proud of it.

That doesn't mean you can't tear it apart. kat_nano already gave me some suggestions, and I'm totally welcome to others, particularly anatomy- and shading-related ones. I would seriously like to get better at this.

By the way, that's Michael, a character from the book I'll be writing for sweaty_nano. I've tried drawing a few of my characters on paper, but they've never turned out anything like how I picture them. This picture looks almost exactly like the Michael in my head. Maybe his hair is a bit thinner, but that's all. I am very pleased with myself.