Woman WIP - Flats and a Polka-Dot Skirt
- GenreChowderStudios
- Apr 2, 2018
- 3 min read
In flatting this woman, whose name I still don't know, I wanted to keep it simple. Sage green, pinks, and the yellow that would be her blonde hair. I temporarily removed her freckles to make coloring her easier.
While her bouffant hair is more associated with the 60s, that green and pink color scheme is based on the 1950s' pastel teal and coral pairing that decade was known for.
Originally, I wanted to the top to be the polka-dotted one. For whatever reason, which I feel like I say a lot, I imagined a patterned blouse and solid skirt. However, as I thought about the balance of the detail and visual elements, it occurred to me that if the skirt were polka-dotted, I could also pattern the bow on her head. It make for a strong visual continuity. It looks as if she made sure her skirt and accessory were made of the same stuff. It does not look like some person decided to fill in some blank spaces with color willy-nilly.
But how would I get her her polka-dots?
Most of the time, I'm one to try things by hand. Seeing the touch of the artist's hand not only makes art more interesting to me, it's deliberate. You have to make the decision to put down every stroke. So at first, I tried to do the dots by hand. Maybe I should say "dots" with quotes around them because they ended up looking like strange clown blobs. Nothing like the elegant and feminine pattern I envisioned. Even as I knew it was hopeless, I plunged on. Another perk of the artist's hand is that it can account for context. I could have the "dots" wrap around clothing folds or be spaced just irregularly enough to give a bit of interest. Nope. I'm not half bad at kidding myself, but there was no saving this farce. No use at all. Scrapped it. Just looked stupid.
The final flats.
You'll see that I decided to use a generated dot pattern. Yes, my first choice would have been to do it by hand. But I think I would have had to have that marked down in the penciling stage. My ability to draw drops drastically when I'm drawing digitally, as I've stated at many intervals before now. The only problem here is that, for some reason, the lineart of the bow makes the dots look further spaced than they actually are. Weird.
Still, I have seen generated patterns work just fine when done well. Somehow, the shading tricks our brains into not seeing the flatness of the plane the pattern is sitting on. Or it tricks my brain, anyway...
I really wanted to push color holds with this piece. I was really proud of how "We City Folk's" color holds turned out and even happier with the results of "Babies." These color holds are often left to the final stages of coloring (partially because it's easier to know how to incorporate them, partially for my own amusement), but I put some in early. The most obvious one is her hair. I really wanted to capture the fairness, I guess, of her blonde... ness. I'm not really sure exactly what I wanted to capture. But I think I caught it. As you can see, the accessories she's wearing also bear color holds. Makes them seem glassy or something.
I'd considered giving her a pinstripe blouse for added detail, but... Come on, that's just too many patterns.
Oh, and I put her freckles back. And made them brown.
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