Hey everyone, some people asked me about my ever-changing styles and character studies, and how and why I go for some looks and why I design characters the way they are...
So I figured I may say something about it...I may rant a little about some stuff, but its strictly opinion...

Okay...here goes...

Style is always changing for me...I like to try new things until I find a niche that I'm comfortable with...I used to be a cartoonist for a paper a while back, and my Editor and Chief wanted me to pump out 5 comics every day and pick the best one...comics are very tough, I always look back on Garfield for good 3 cell quips or Gary Larson's The Far Side for inspiration on quick one cell comedy...though I don't do comedy in my work, but its still a good place to start...

When I did the comics...I had to draw them out with pencil on paper...and I give it to a guy to ink and scan...seems rather awkward for another guy to ink my work...but the truth is, I'm very..very..bad at inking...to the point where I don't touch marker anymore...but for the drawings, there will be days where I don't have my comics done..so I rush through drawing them to get them finished in time...in which I can draw out a 5 cell comic in less than 10 minutes and still look like it took me an hour...it was hell.
But it gave me some skills on quick drawing...though my proportions and perspectives look off in many cases...
When it comes down to style...I'm well practiced on mimicking styles, and I pick the best parts of every style and put them together to make my own...

Detail is a big thing for pictures...I only want to emphasize on detail in the places where its needed, otherwise, there will be too much to look at, then the picture becomes cramped and becomes very distracting to look at...
One detail I MUST put into my macro pics where 80% of artists don't is people and bystanders...you can argue that micro people are difficult to draw...to be honest, they are not...if you can draw a 100ft tall macro rampaging in a city, surly you can draw a stick man running away beside his paws...Micro people give the macro a more broader and clear sense of scale, not to mention, its more realistic...I'm not saying that all macro pics should involve people...but when they don't, its makes it look like that the macro waited for the city to evacuate and then decided to have fun...which...seems rather odd...yet too generous...

Squishies or Crush People is a must for me...though people do make good points on that they like their pics to be clean of violence, hence why I do variations on my pics to give my fellow fans and the audience the option to pick the one they prefer.
But still, squishies are a must for me...you cannot have a macro going on a rampage and not step on someone...though I would accept it if the macro took ballet at some point of his/her life...
Like I said, many people prefer their pics to be free of violence..and I respect that, hence why the variations...

Now, for my characters...
Yes, before I say anything about how I design my characters...they all like feet, I'm a feet person... :-P so I must incorporate that into their design...

Character design is a very long process for me...If i want a character who is Snooty, a Princess....boastful...etc...I design the character to those personality traits...When I designed Blythe, he took forever...I had to draw many versions of his hair and face to get the look I wanted...many of my friends look at Malodora and see her as very dominant...I try my best to make her looks and expressions reflect traits such as that...

One thing i try to avoid is really buff and hyper macros...Somehow it doesn't click with me...I always design my characters as "Average Joes" who find the power to grow, shrink or such. It makes more sense that a geeky guy, invents a shrink ray and goes on a shrinking spree rather than a guy who is incredibly built with muscles doing the same...The odds of a really super-strong guy finding the power to grow...is very remote...unless they are gods in some fashion...another reason is that I cant draw muscles for sh--.

Aliens macros is one thing I like to use...mainly because its very plausible in reality...in the future, we could come across a sentient race of intelligent beings who are 1 inch to 500 feet tall compared to us...there is no defined law on how tall life can be...look at dinosaurs...heck, 3 mile tall aliens could come to Earth to colonize and wipe us out with bug spray...its grim to think about, but it is possible.

Another thing with characters is the type of species...Foxes, Wolves and Dragons are by far the most common macro species artists use...in the past, I had to resort to mainly foxes due to the Krystal model in my earlier DAZ works...but now, I try my best to give the audience different and unique species of macros...Malodora is technically the first macro Poodle on FA...there may have been a pic or character I missed, I don't doubt it...

I like macro rabbits, though they are very common as macros in many respects, my character Oliveri is a gay bunny with a shrink ray, those aspects gives the character a unique spin which makes him stand out among the many macro rabbits...
So, what I'm trying to say is, Its ok to have a common species...he/she just needs to unique in some regard.
Right now I'm deciding whether to have a macro Pig herm character...

So, I like to make characters based off of unique species or characters from cartoons and such...which leads to Gadget Hackwrench from Rescue Rangers.
Goddess Liikra is me and General Macrophilus's version of a Macro Tribal Gadget Goddess. I don't want to tick off Disney and pump out a slew of macro pics of their character, so me and the General created a new character based off her face design...sure, she looks like Gadget, but she is not. But I still credit Disney for their inspiration...

How I draw and such...
I use Paint Tool SAI to do my current drawings, I used to use OpenCanvas4, but the pictures turned out rather messy and was hard to color with...I sometimes use gestures to help out with proportions...though, since that I prefer to draw POV shots rather than traditional "sitcom-eye level" shots, I use DAZ Studio to plan out my drawings to get the proportions correct and use the models as guides to draw, its very efficient for unique shots which are tricky to do normally...
My Tablet is a Wacom Intuos3...which is very slippery and difficult to use..(I lost the tips) My strategy in using a tablet for precise control is these two things...if you want a paper and pencil feel...put a sheet of typing paper on the tablet and draw on it with the tablet pen...it gives it a feel that your drawing with pencil...
For extra and the most precise control...place a mouse-pad on the tablet and draw on it...the firm cushioned surface offers better pen control like no other...
I have the two thumb buttons on the grip of the pen set to (Bottom Button: Move Canvas, Top Button: Undo) and I have the mouse's right click set to color picker...It rather easy having the controls like this...though you maybe more comfortable with your own...

Back when I was using DAZ, every picture I did, I try my best to top my last pic in some fashion, whether it be pose, design or style...I still use that method today...I'm not trying to be better than everyone else...I'm trying to be better than myself...if you try your best on outperforming yourself, you may notice a positive change in your style...hence, your getting better than you once were...
You may notice since the switch to Paint Tool SAI, my quality in pictures have decreased....I was going for realism back when I was using OC4...But Paint Tool SAI is a whole new program...it will take me a while to get back where I once was with OC4...heck, It may look better when I do...

So that's my style in a nutshell...I'm probably not the best person to take advice on art though...I'm not an art teacher or Leonardo DaVinci, I'm just a schmo with a tablet who like to draw macros stomping people...but I do take my art seriously...I draw only what I'm motivated to do so...But hopefully, this gives you some idea on what I do when I create characters or design new ones...

Thanks.

BTW about the paper I used to work for...
Eventually, the paper took up new management, my page was merged and I was let go. Now, I'm unemployed and looking for a new job...and living with my parents, I never did move out, I was planning to this year, until I lost my job...Now I'm taking some college classes to get in the door to some better jobs...I cannot tell you what paper I worked for...I will get in trouble...