Those of you who follow me on social media know that every year, right at the beginning of the year, I like to draw my character Azra in one way or another. What I aim to do with this drawing is to see how much I’ve improved over the past year and really push myself to make something detailed, believable, and at least semi realistic.

In 2015, I made this work:

In 2016, I did this one:

And now, in 2017, I’ve gone with this one:

The idea behind this one is uber simple. Azra is not exactly known for staying out of trouble, so it’s not surprise to anyone that he’d have been picked up by the police once, twice, or more than that. He has a long history of toiling with illegal activities, and he definitely has spent some time in federal lockup for at least one thing. So, why not explore the idea of a mugshot? Azra is super particular about being photographed, so much so that he will not allow anyone to do it, if he has any say about it. The thought crossed my mind — if he won’t go have a photo taken for an identification (say, for Agency usage), then they’ll have to dig up something elsewhere. What if they could only dig up an old mugshot of his? Last laugh, right there.

Here’s an alternative, with his short hair and his salt and pepper:

But also, if the plate is correct, the photo might be in black and white:

And then a detail shot so you can see his leucistic traits such as his colorless eyelashes, near colorless skin, and pink areas around his eyes. Plus I put a lot of detail into his face! It’d be a shame to lose it all.

Then, here’s how it looked, funny beginning to end: