Here we have a close up of the lady (Helena who loved Helebores) and you can see the various layers. I've chosen a heavybond watercolor layer for the background with very wet brush whilst the "The outline" on her is in digital art marker. Over her dress (in watercolor) I've a layer with more art maker to create the pattern on her dress.
This piece actually started out as a traditional sketch, as I often do:
Then it gets scanned and I heighten contrast to get the lines I wish to keep once I begin digitally.
Then begins the drawing and painting digitally.
Here you can see I am still not finished with the piece, but I wanted to share what I've done thus far. Each section a layer.
I like, in this piece, the use of the outlining marker to define the characters and really wanted a Belle Epoch "art Poster" feel, despite our lady being rather 1920's.
A Close up of the pup on her lap and a detail of the teacup.
You can see it is very illustrative with watercolor forming the base of the tones and then art marker in various width either giving detail or outlining for effect.
I love hellebores and was thinking of them when I made this paitning, so they appear in her hat, in the puppies mouth on her lap and at her faithful older dog companion at his neck.
Of course I'd not let a real life puppy have a Hellebore blossom as they are quite poisonous, but one of the joys of art is creating worlds that can exist in any way one likes, non poisonous hellebores and 1920's ladies in a 1890's poster style , and colored in a modern color sensibility.
**Obviously this piece is still not done, I've a few more layers of watercolor to build up on the characters I believe, but I really wanted to share it at this stage.
I often find if I share my work in progress, or even just leave it to set and come back to it in a few days, it get's a chance to evolve in my head as to how I'd like to finish it.
I hope you enjoyed the piece thus far and when I finish it I'll share it again in it's final stage. I will probably share the 'story' of it that I sort of create as I'm laying out a painting or a piece of artwork. I find that process of story to art piece rather fun.
I hope you find a moment in your day to indulge your own passions and if you've never tried digital art, give it a go, taking a simple sketch and scanning it digitally can be a great way to segway into using digital tools. There is so much digitally I need to learn and I basically use the tools like traditional with the added joy of layers upon layers, such a change from 'letting things dry'.
Have a lovely day and remember to stay creative.
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