Princess of Light - From Start to Finish -

After graduating from Art college I fell into a bit of an art block... It probably had something to do with going from a mindset where you being told to do 5-6 different projects simultaneously with dates that they need to be finished by to having all the time in the world to create your own art.  I began doubting myself, my abilities and worst of all my ability to create works of art that i was happy with.
Ever artist in every medium at some point (or multiple points) goes through this and no matter what it sucks... but you have to push through it.. which is hard but if you lovewhat you do then you don't really have a choice.

anyways the way i tend to push through things is trying new things... be it listening to different music, writing random little stories that will never see the light of day, or just drawing new art style or trying to pull inspiration from art i like. Normally only one of these things ends up being the catalyst but in this case it was a bit of everything. I listened to more orchestral versions of JDK music, I came up with a few origin stories for characters that didn't feel like their motivation was good enough and my friend Inslee (who is very talented and you should go check her out) has been drawing a lot of Art Nouveau inspired pieces which led to me doing a but more research into the style.... and while i wont say that this piece if art nouveau i will say it was he jumping off point for me

It all started with a simple sketch in my moleskin, at that point i was just doodling so when it started turning into something i liked i was so happy i decided to paint it, however due to the ratio of the moleskin i had to go to my 12 x 18 cold pressed watercolour paper pad because i felt 14 x 20 would just be too large and i'm more comfortable working in a smaller scale.

(hey look i remembered to take a progress photo before i added colour : D )
anyways i then inked it with one brush and some india ink, after my experimentation with coloured ink i realized that
a) i really like the look of black lines... always have... i just love how graphic it makes the piece feel
b) coloured lines have their place but they would probably work better after the entire piece is done

so yeah... black lines it is~

and finally colour, i knew i wanted yellow trim and a pink main skirt but i was very conflicted on whether i should go a brown for the top, a blue or a black to match her normal outfit. I decided to go blue because i prefer watercolour paintings to be colourful and brown or black may have weighed it down too much. I tried to make the shawls that come off her sleeves transparent with a slight shine to it via metallic paint... may as well show you an image with the flash...

and trust me it looks much better in person then i could ever show in a photograph... such is the problem when paint is used to try and add another element of dimension.
anyways in the end i'm pretty happy with it... may do a series with it that tells a story of how at first one looks up to the fate that has been even by them... then eventually begins to curse it and finally ending off with breaking free from it...
unfortunately this may take a long time to work on because i have started a new job that has 12 hour days and once filming starts i will probably end up working weekends as well (hopefully not till September but that's being REALLY hopeful) which is great cause it means i'll have lots of money to travel when the job is done but not much time for art... still it wont stop me... just slow me down.
so yeah thats pretty much all i have to say.... i may darken the BG a little later but for now i'm happy with the result.

Want to see more random sketches and perhaps some things that will never get past my sketchbook? http://katire.tumblr.com/
 and of course my Deviant art page
This is also for sale on Red Bubble