It's been exactly 5 years since I first and last drew a Catrina. During this time, I've always enjoyed recreating them with makeup, but this time I wanted to try drawing one again. I remember that back then, that drawing was very difficult to do, and I thought it looked super realistic, haha. I looked through my folders of old drawings and finally found it. I saw it and said, "Wow, that's ugly," so I wanted to do it again, better. To be honest, I still struggle with painting Catrinas. I don't know why I feel it's so difficult to create makeup that looks realistic. But despite everything, I liked this version much better, obviously, haha. Here's a comparison image of a drawing from 2020 and this new version.
Obviously, I added more details, since the 2020 version, although it finally represented a Catrina, didn't have too many decorative details.
I made the sketch and started painting the face. At first, I wanted it to be quite pale, so I used colors that were almost white. For the shadows, I used medium and dark browns. In several new layers, I began adding more colors until I gave the face the shape I wanted and finally blended them to leave a realistic result.
Then I started drawing the details. This took quite a while since I had to erase several times; some things didn't look very natural. But I managed to paint everything little by little. For the hair, I used very dark brown and black. I painted roses on both sides of the hair, and then I had quite a few problems with the background. I had chosen to make a background very similar to the 2020 drawing, but I felt it didn't match the colors I used. So I used different shades of brown and textured brushes to create a background with a stained effect. I also added more shadows and highlights to give more volume to some areas, and finally, I did a color adjustment where I decided to change the tones to a slightly less pale color. By adjusting the saturation, exposure, and contrast, I managed to make it look better this way. The colors looked a bit more vibrant, just like a Catrina.
Tools:
- Photoshop CC 2022
- XP-PEN Deco Pro
Herramientas:
- Photoshop CC 2022
- XP-PEN Deco Pro