Healing

The product of days and days of work...on and off lol

I had a vision for this picture and it more or less came out how I wanted it to. I also learned a crap ton about coloring so this was a great learning experience.

The biggest thing was learning more about Clipping Groups and using them to shade the face. I swear I never thought I'd figure out how to shade flesh tones. Her face is probably one of the things I'm most proud of. I also learned how to color the hair although I'm still refining the technique. Experimenting with different brush types is something I did here. I used some to add texture to her fur, to do the clouds, and to color the blue parts on her dress. I discovered it too late for the bottom part where the folds are, which is why they suck lol

The vines were a bunch of fun. That was experimenting with the Pressure tool on the Line art layer. It gives them a whimsical look.

The fire was a pain in the butt. I spent at least a day on that alone. The water doesn't look realistic but that's hard to do. The top half of the dress isn't perfect (any of the black parts of it suck XD) But all in all I'm pleased.

See, the dress has the four elements represented on them, since Deannalee can wield all four and they are tied to her people so closely. In mine an Gem's RP Akeme makes this dress for her specifically (I say dress but it's meant to be a kimono...it's more like a hybrid the way I draw it XD) Shortly after they meet. This is a time where she's still recovering from her ordeal and awaiting the birth of her baby, which she is unaware she's got a set of twins coming.

At this time she's very soft and vulnerable, rather withdrawn. But the more time Akeme spends with her, the more she opens up, and the better she gets. Hence the title of the picture is "Healing"

I was doodling one night and did the original sketch. Somebody else got drawn over the right side of her, so I had to think of a way to cover it up. I had the idea to take the idea of the dress a step further, and surround Deannalee in sort of a garden looking area, which contained all four elements within it.

Fire is obvious; it's on the column beside her (I hate that column btw)
Water was also easy; it's in a fountain type structure running over the side of the wall. The wall provided a way to cover her side up, since it wasn't drawn in the original sketch. (I hate the wall too)
Earth is pretty obvious as well. The vines, the dark bush in the background and...a pile of grass on the left, you could call it. I was going for another bush but, I was experimenting and it came out looking like a pile of grass. Ah well.
Air was a bit tricky but, it should be rather obvious. Those flower petals look like they're just floating down but, they still represent Air, and the gentle wind.

In the end, I'm honestly happy with the piece. I think for my skill level it came out pretty damn good, and despite the many things I don't like and the fact I've still got a lot to learn, I really think this is post worthy now.

I learned how to use Clipping Groups, which helped me shade parts of the dress and most importantly, helped me learn to shade the face, which is what I'm most happy about. Learned a lot about brush textures, and experimented with the pressure tool for the line work layer. I've also started to learn more about coloring hair.

Anyway, don't really need crits because I've got people giving me advice so, I'd much rather hear good comments to encourage me XD I even signed my name using the touch pad

Deannalee Rodnara belongs to me.

~ Halo