Where the Green Things Grow

Oh look, I'm posting twice in a twenty four hour period.

This is the other drawing I finished last week at work and wanted to paint this weekend.

I actually drew this one at least five times-- It started with a page of sketch poses as I tried to figure out how to set this one up, I picked a pose, I drew it, and I liked it, except for the fact that Suka was this itty bitty big headed doodle crammed into a four inch space on my paper. I took out a new sheet of paper, and I drew it again, but Suka looked obscenely tall; for some reason. Not one to be thwarted, I figured I'd give it another go. And another. And another.

I finally wound up with this one, and to be perfectly honest, I liked the original drawing more. Over all consensus of my co-workers, but mostly my room mate convinced me to ink and finish this one instead, so I did.

After finishing Tinette yesterday, I was looking forward to doing some more painting, but I wanted to try some things. I've always loved the contrast of a gorgeously painted background against cell shaded characters, and I've always wanted to give it a go myself- But I'm always far too lazy when it comes to making my nice, water coloured background, and then drawing the characters, and then painting the characters separately and then super imposing them together.

After Tinette, and a friend telling me that my character and my background looked like they were from different universes, it came to me. "Well, that's kinda what I want--"

So, I took my lineart, scanned it in, removed my red lines, and started painting green viney abstract things, the same way I went about painting Tinettes curtains on Friday. I originally had the vines inked, but as I worked, the constraints of my line art were frustrating me, so I just erased them. Plus, I wanted the soft looking painterly background, the lines were sort of defeating the purpose. After a couple of hours, I had my vines as finished as I wanted them, so I made a new layer and I laid down the flats of my character.

Two of my room mates pointed out that Suka had darker hair and a tan, so I'll take a second to explain; this isn't my usual Suka. I've started a new RP in a totally different world, and I brought Suka along with me. Things changed, and she's technically not even human any more. So yes, her skin is darker, her hair is darker, and she looks pretty much exactly the same as Kara with a big nose.

So there, soft painterly background, and a hard cell shaded character. This one also only took about three or four hours, unlike Tina, who took me the better part of two days.

I designed this specifically with the new RP in mind, because I wanted it for her profile picture. The only problem is, now Alan's profile picture, which is just him standing there on a white background.. is boring; and now I have to repaint it with some sort of background in mind.

Gives me something to do, eh?

Annie

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