Queen of Wands

[egypturnash]

Water of Earth.

This one took longer than I originally though it would; it's based on the third rough when I thought my first rough was usable, but turned out to not quite work. Originally I was going to do the background foliage based on some stuff Mutley had done (and thanks for sending me that source file to look at!), but I ended up deciding to set her in a swamp (because what do you get when you mix water and earth? Mud.) and went to Walt Kelly for background inspiration, because I discovered Pogo when I was about eight, and was blown away by the way he drew the swamp of his imagination. The silly little flowers in the nearest tree's canopy are a direct swipe from him! I drew a few trees directly from his strips, getting an idea for how he approached the problem, then just scrawled a quick rough direct in AI.

Also, her dress is several overlapping shapes with a big pattern fill on them. It was a lot easier to do it that way than to mask the camouflage pattern in.

Another one that ought to get posted on FA when they're back. Five more cards left for the show, and I'm still just one card behind schedule for getting it done at the beginning of August. Which still impresses me.

Print available on Artspots.

Comments

[stinkygoat.livejournal.com]

HORNS! :D

A girl is just more attractive with horns. }:-)

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Nothing like a girl with a nice big rack, eh?

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

I can't tell if I think that is a little red riding hood reference, or a mushroom cap. Then again, does it matter :D

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

I actually meant it to just be a bonnet, which ended up red to create a strong contrast around her head. Meaning is complicated!

[relee.livejournal.com]

FYI... I LIKE IT!

Good work. ^.^

P.S. It's not fair for the captcha to be longer than my comment!

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[kamenkyote.livejournal.com]

I can see where the time went; that dress and the hat/cap have a LOT of work in them, or at least, they feel that way. I don't get a Kelly ref from this, partially as there's no ink or lines, which is ine; you've subsumed the stuff into your world. Good for you. And here's looking forward to the last five.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

I think the most work went into the face. And into finding the right pose for her in my roughs, and researching my background. The bonnet is a handful of blends with a few lines over it, and the dress is about six paths with a big-ass pattern fill applied to them. The fill is something I scrawled out very quickly, then wrestled with for about three minutes because AI didn't want to let me drop it into the swatches palette to make the pattern for some reason.

I see a lot of Kelly in the trees; most of the linear elements are lifted directly from him and made more subtle by doing them in translucent purple. But then again I know exactly what I was swiping.

I think having her wear a bonnet also sprung from thinking "I'll swipe Kelly's swamp backgrounds!" - I started thinking about the characters in Pogo, and had just enough of a Miz Beaver vibe off of her to want to sorta swipe her headgear.