[Art] Au Naturale - complete!

[moonvoice]

FINISHED! Phew!






01. Composition





02. Large spirals, wrens, fleshing out hair.





03. Pencil is done, ready for inking.





04. Linework with 0.5 Artline Drawing System pigment ink pen.





05. Blacking in solid lines.





06. Spirals.





07. More fleshing out, cross-hatching.





08. Right now I'm happy where the inking is at, finished the gun, the hair, a bit more of the face and background, and the wrens. At this point my camera starts to crap itself at all the detail and goes HO SHIT NO.





09. Watercolour pencils, pre-water.





10. Watercolour pencils, water!





11.





FINAL - without flash.





FINAL - with flash.









If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! :)

Comments

[dibeartach.livejournal.com]

Whaw, it's so cheerfully coloured for such a dark-themed piece. What was the thinking behind the colour choice? It almost welcomes a sick sense of humour - like mine ;-)
They also say that you can tell the skill of an artist by the fine work of drawing (or painting, sculpting, whatever medium) hands. The hand was the bit that stood out for some reason.

xoxox

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

The colour scheme is Autumnal to draw a seasonal parallel - Autumn to Winter, or dying to death.

It has a dual meaning, suicide obviously, but also a young tree dropping its leaves in Autumn, sacrificing itself in order to be reborn.

I always knew it was going to be in these darkers. It's actually slightly darker than I originally thought it would turn out. Weird huh? :)

[deathofone.livejournal.com]

I love it so very very incredibly much, Pia. You and your art are utterly beautiful. :)

Heh. And I like how all the wrens seem to be looking at the gun, thinking whatcha doin'?

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah, I like the wrens looking at the gun too.

[vyxen.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh
(slightly inherbrated, but still serious)
This is my favorite of your latest series.
The aspect of the LAYERS is waht draws my attention the most.
Gorgeous.
No snail I see? :) That is good.
Hopefully this comment was not insulting, but I had to say something as soon as I saw it.
*applauds*

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!! And not insulting at all.
No snail, because it's not a self-portrait like the others are.

[paleo.livejournal.com]

Just...magnificent.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

*blush, thank you*

[aleia-kali.livejournal.com]

This is quite amazing, thank you for sharing your journey doing this piece.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you for witnessing it!

[linstar.livejournal.com]

This was incredible to see hon. It was so very soul baring and I'm very glad I got to see it in progress.

You are so very incredibly talented and I am so lucky to be able to count you as one of my shining stars.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Thank you.

[sotepetsenu.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, it's amazing. I love the wrens, and the subtle emotion on the womans face... Not just the frowny brows but the line under her eye making her look all tired.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

*nods* Yeah she is tired, and yay for wrens!

[starla80.livejournal.com]

I love this. You have those watercolour pencils DOWN! Good job.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you! :D

[bewylderbeast.livejournal.com]

This is beautiful. x

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

[x-raeya-x.livejournal.com]

Ooooh this is gorgeous! And such a beautiful counterpoint to Self Portrait in Snail. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the WIP shots... I loved it when you did it with the Vilturj Love Story and I love it now. I like to see the layers build atop each other into the finished product. Beautiful.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

This one isn't actually a self-portrait - symbolic or otherwise (or in the series) which is why there's no snail. But thank you! :)

[witchchild]

I really love the shading on this one.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_graywolf_/]

wow....

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[crowebasalt.livejournal.com]

that is gorgeous... and so eerie. very well done.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much.

[amorvincitnos.livejournal.com]

Some really beautiful warm colours in this one. I love that you showed us the whole process of this piece. I had no idea what watercolour pencils were/how they worked until I read your steps in progress. And I think you really got across a fall to winter feeling, as the picture from top left to bottom right seems to kind of "cool" off.

Thanks so much for sharing!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. :)

[shioneh.livejournal.com]

Sorry I haven't been commenting on the last few in progress posts, but I've really enjoyed seeing this come together and seeing your technique, I was wondering about it for a long time, so thank you! I really like how you do this in layers and I'm really interested to try some watercolor pencils now. I had some a long time ago but I never got into them properly, I think I wasn't using them quite right, hmm.

I love how it turned out! I'm surprised but enchanted by the colour scheme :-) ♥ the expression coupled with the active red and autumn colours really does feel like sacrifice. The wrens and the see-through of the leaves are such delicate and pretty details.

*cheers you*

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Watercolour pencils are a lot of fun, and you can always go back over them with regular pencils if you want to smooth anything over or create different textures. :)

[anrui-ichido.livejournal.com]

You inspire me so, SO much.


Thank you. <3

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *bounces*

[somniferum.livejournal.com]

it looks morbid at first glance, but it doesn't feel that way while looking at it. the colors make it very autumnal and warm. the symbolism is fascinating to me...like how the leaves are hollow, but the real color is coming from inside her. and the little birds also have red spots on their heads.

[lupabitch.livejournal.com]

Wow. I have nothing else to add. Just wow.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[ariestess]

Wow! The color really makes this pack a punch now. I like the cream and orangey/yellowy tones to the background. Really brings the red out.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :D

[sidheblessed.livejournal.com]

I have really enjoyed watching this one come together. It makes me appreciate the final product all the more.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you.

Layers Upon Layers

[perzephone.livejournal.com]

I like how it almost looks like you've taken paper cut-outs of the wrens & treebranches & stacked them on the 'painted' parts like the background & the girl. It looks like a collage because it's got so much depth and shadowing. My hand issue has also resolved itself now that it has depth...

I really, really want some watercolor pencils now, not that I'd know what to do w/them once I got them, but they'd look awesome in some of my coloring books!

Re: Layers Upon Layers

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I also lengthened out her shoulder a bit (though it was always going to be wider, the linework of the hair makes it look like a really narrow shoulder in the earlier pictures), and I think that helped too. *fingers crossed it did anyway*

Watercolour pencils are heaps of fun!

[maewyn]

HOLY WOW that is a lot of work. :O Amazing!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks! And yeah, my process is pretty time consuming, but it's mine and I like it.

[arnajade.livejournal.com]

Ooooh I like it. I cant wait to see it in real life!!!!!

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

It's awesome in real life :D

[azhure.livejournal.com]

This is just amazing. I love the step-by-step photos so much.

And I cannot believe how quickly you complete such an intricate piece.

[mirrorred-star.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting all the steps, I really enjoy seeing how you get to where you're going. Its odd that the watercolours look so different, so much brighter, after you've watered them.