After completing my first stream on VIMM, I was feeling so reinvigorated about art! So I decided to complete this piece and take progress shots of my doodle along the way! Let's go ahead and dive into the art and see how it turned out!
Circles!🔵 This is where we begin! Seems very boring right now. But let's give this process a little bit of time.
Time to start putting some shape to this circle.
Whoah, gas mask! Throwing down a rough shape for this drawing, I had to take a moment to appreciate the accidental form that was coming to shape. Maybe this could be a fun future drawing. But alas, let us not get distracted! We carry on!
At this stage, things are taking shape with the addition of more rough lines and shading to help keep me on track for lighting and shape.
Boom! We have antlers and some reshaping of the skull. You will notice throughout the entire process that the reshaping never ends. I constantly realign or tweak the shape even after the painting stages begin.
I need to admit something. I had no clue about what was going to be tied in with the skull. After some trial and error sketching and toying with the idea of a mandala, I eventually settled on what you see before you (at this point in the process).
Some intentionally asymmetrical flowers with bits of moss hanging from the antlers felt like a good fit. I think moss is very beautiful. The idea of incorporating it as additional foliage seemed like a fun choice.
Anywho, let us start painting!
I love painting leaves and using beautiful greens so that is where the painting started. I knew the skull was going to be a more grey color so I wanted vibrant and bright flowers. This was also intentional forced usage of colors I am not comfortable with, reds and yellows.
The shading begins. This is the scary part. Here is where I have to practice restraint by letting the white of the paper do some of the work for me. If I go too heavy-handed, I could end up with a less than ideal result.
Sidenote
I will say. That no matter how much editing I do - the photos do not truly capture the actual shading that is on the page. The camera makes all the shading look about 2 times lighter (this may depend on your monitor) than it is. I will attempt to provide a better final image so you can see the painting in its truest form. I am fairly certain it is 100% my lighting situation.
| Petals | Shell Spiral |
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Done with the shading, so I decided to ditch the circle. I don't know why. I just didn't like it anymore. I played with a few things like the idea of floating yellow petals or this shell-shaped spiral, but ultimately decided to go with more leaves! (Who could have guessed? Haha). I felt like this promoted the asymmetry I was trying to have without being the focus of your eye.
Happy with my choice, I decided to go for it. Adding the paint to the page. The simpler leaves for the right half were the best route. I did end up returning to these leaves later and adding a little bit more depth to them as they felt too simple. This was also the start of the shading of the antlers.
Time to celebrate the completion of the antlers. I made this process a bit more frustrating for myself than it needed to be by not having a plan of attack. As time progressed, I ended up with less and less "natural white" left to work with. So, I decided to commit to full grey. Using a darker grey for my shading in all the nooks and crannies. I think overall it worked out. Allowed the skull to remain the centerpiece.
| DSLR | Phone Camera |
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All that is left is a few details around the moss area. Cleaning up some of the leaves on the right side and the inking of the triangle. Above are the final results! Overall, I am super happy with the final piece. I do wish I had taken a bit more time to account for my bad lighting. I get it sorted one of these days.
Check out my friends and fellow collaborators on HIVE!
🌟Huzzah🌟 
