wow, it really took a bit for me to get the difference between felicitate and facilitate. i know they're totally different but they just sound so flippin similar that the rusty gears in my head were havin a tough time processing it. =}
i've been listening to a lot of Rihanna lately and i suggest u guys do it up the same way. =) her latest album is really quite entertaining - if u like that "chick power" sort of thing. it really gets me in the mood to draw these sexy badass ladies lately.
anyway, first off, i wanna share what's going on with my art table today. this is just a bit of proof that i may actually have a slight addiction to starbucks (or maybe coffee in general cuz i cleared off 3 of my coffee mugs yesterday). i think either yesterday or thursday i was fortunate enough to get 2 cups! wooohooo!! anyway, either i'm addicted or i just need to be more dilligent about throwing out my cups once i'm done.
now off to today's post. this is another one from my holiday sale. this was commissioned by a repeat client. the ones i've done for him in the past were those 4-armed ladies. this is his character Amy Thatchen. the model that inspired this piece (and for a few other pieces as of late) is the lovely PlastikStars on deviantart. i really like her face which lends itself well to stuff that i draw. not to say that i'm good enough that i'm able to capture her likeness. just that she inspires me. my muse, if u will, currently.
this is my first real attempt at digitally painting water. (and i use the term "painting" very loosely here cuz i don't really have any educational clues on how to really paint.) i certainly have a long way to go when i look at others that know what they're doing but i do think it's a decent attempt. u know how sometimes u avoid drawing something in fear that u won't do it right? well, water's one (of many) of those things for me. hopefully now that i've done it, it only gets better from here. the client didn't ask for the water, that's just something i decided to drop because i was feeling inspired. why would a chick with, what appears to be, a lightning gauntlet be doing in water?? no idea. sounds dangerous though.shot 1 - line art
shot 2 - i put on the flat colors. this time i decided to drop the water and skyline (and sun) early on. usually that's one of the final steps which is probably a mistake on my part. but this helped set the mood. as u can see in the next shot, i turn that sun to more of a sunset color to match the purple/pink water
shot 3 - this is where i add on the shadows to the figure. i used darker shadows than usual for her shirt to try to show it's wet. (not sure if i succeeded in that task but again, i'm trying to get better.) since i've established in my flats that her bra is a dark red, i used a dark red color for the shadows on her shirt to try to show that u can see through the wet shirt a little. in retrospect, i really should've put actual water on her to make it even more obvious that she's wet. but nothing i can do about it now. =P i also put in the clouds as well and colored the sky to keep the proper mood going.
shot 4 - i put the highlights on her and start to build up on the water. i start with dark spots on the water, followed by lighter spots. i add the extreme highlights on her skin and get that lightning effect on her gauntlet (which took a few layers of Linear Dodges and Color Dodging outer glows).
final shot - added some blue color to her skin. put on more light colors on the water, especially where the water breaks and touches her legs. i put the bright reflection of the guantlet on her and the water. throw a light layer of orange and pink gradients on top of everything for proper lighting and it's done!
