Hi! I'm Julius Sta. Ana, 17 year old from Antipolo City, Philippines

I'm Julius Sta. Ana, 17 year old and I am a portrait artist from Antipolo City, Philippines.

My nick name is Hulyus by the way.

In this blog, I would like to tell you my story from being an anime artist to being a portrait artist. Everything paid off when I studied making artworks, ofcourse in my first artworks I am not that good. But practice makes perfect.

I started making anime characters when I was 14 years old, here's a sample of my drawing:

I stopped making drawing when I became 15 years old because I have to focus on my studies, but I am always missing ART, and when I became 16 years old way back December 2016, I was inspired by a Graphite artist, she is making realistic portraits usin only a single pencil. I was really shocked at her drawig because it was so great.

I tried to chat the artist through messenger and asked her for some advices, she did gave me an advice that I should put some shadows on my drawings to make it look realistic.

My first drawing after asking the artist: I used the gridline method in this artwork

After making thia portrait, I found out that I am not that compatible in using the gridline method so I fpcuaed on enhancing my skills in FREEHAND portraiture.

I am really determined to become a great artist like her, but I have a long way to go.
After 4 months of practicing aince I was inspired, I tried accepting commissioned artworks so that my skills will be challenged, and is really effective because in just making 4 commissioned artworks, my skills are greatly improved.

Here are some of my Commissions way back April 2017: (FREEHAND)

ALL MY HARDWORK PAID OFF!
I became the person that I wan to be, Art became my bestfriend.

After a year of practicing I tried to remake the artwork that I've done a year ago, to see my improvements, and this shocked me.

I HAVE IMPROVED A LOT, THANKS TO MY LOVE FOR ART AND TO MY FRIENDS THAT SUPPORTS ME!

Here are some of my artworks in the present, I USED GRAPHITE AND COLOR PENCILS:

I HOPE I CAN INSPIRE OTHER ASPIRING ARTISTS OUT THERE, JUST PURSUE WHAT YOU WANT AND DO NOT LIMIT YOURSELF THEN YOU WILL ACHIEVE SUCCESS!

THANK YOUUU! ❤