anime is frikkin hard
Drinking game by ~auriond on deviantART
What I consider my most successful anime pic to date.
I've wanted to do this for the longest time - a realistic background and cel-shaded characters. I wasn't really sure how to pull it off, despite numerous references to that gorgeous movie, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.
I have discovered, in the process, that cel shading is a MILLION BILLION ZILLION times harder than photorealistic shading (at least for me). How people can decide where a shadow goes is quite beyond me. At least with realism you can fudge a bit here and there.
Still, overall quite pleased with this piece.