Monday, June 04, 2007

Oddly Done

Glad you came back, dear reader. Sorry about the late post but I spent the morning in the ridiculously under-staffed Emergency Room at the hospital. I’ll spare you the really gory details but it involved me waking up at 2:30 in the morning and then *ahem* tossing my cookies non-stop. Fun, and delightful, I know. Suffice to say I seem to be better now and after having a nap feel up to doing some art. So, let’s get down to it, shall we?:


As you can see I’ve gone and, as is my habit, darkened my darks and added in more “filler” in Bronze. For those that are interested I used Black Raspberry and Indigo to punch up my darks.
In the eye I’ve added in some highlights and also done some shading do give it the round appearance that eyeballs tend to have.
I’ve also emphasized some of my edges and decided to play with some colour by putting some Raspberry on the edges of some of his markings and going over the Bronze areas with touches of Moss Green. Sounds woodsy, doesn’t it?
At this point I'm looking at it and seeing some potential problem areas when I go and add the background, the main area causing me some concern is the tip of his nose and muzzle area. That said, I don't like going in and buggering around with things until I really know what I'm dealing with so for now I'll leave it.


Above is the final product. I wound up altering the area that I was concerned about by making it darker using Clay Rose and a teeny weeny bit of French Grey 50%. Again, I went over his markings with Black and Black Raspberry and I also added in some Burnt Ochre to his coat overall to give it a warmer feel. On his nose and around his eye closest to the viewer I added in some Henna and Pumpkin Orange just because I was feeling cheeky.
I went with a lighter, cooler background which is basically what it was in the original reference.I pulled out a few of the lighter colours from the subject and put them sparingly in the background as well to try and give it some cohesion. The lighter background also works well for me because Bill himself in the picture is quite dark so it really makes him pop out more.

I’m still a bit groggy from my adventures this morning so I’m sure that there’s something I’ve left out (nothing editing can’t fix tho) or if there’s something you’d like to know about this one, dear reader, just drop me a line and hopefully I can answer your question. This ACEO will be up for auction on my eBay tonight so if you’d like Bill in your eye just head on over to eBay and bid away. Back on Wednesday!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeesh, sorry you had to go to the ER! I'm glad you're feeling better, though. Get lots of rest!

This has a lovely perspective. You did a great job with the colors. The blue in the background is great, and I love the green eyes. What's that little spot on his nose?

Rita said...

Thanks for the condolences Meg, I've been resting as much as I can.

Ah yes, the spot on his nose. That is a scar he got courtesy of our "real" barn cat, Sushi, who upon seeing Bill for the first time beat the snot out of him. I think the sympathy I had for him after that happened (when he was a kitten) had something to do with him weaseling his way into the house. ;)