Inktober 2019 Retrospective | Day 9: Angel

I'm almost certain she was supposed to have a staff or something in her hand. She's supposed to be moving her cape aside with a clenched hand, but it kinda looks like she's prepping a fist bump or making a bro hand...

But enough about that because HAHA! For once, I create precisely what I'd envisioned.

Angel is the eldest in a quintet of sisters, and her personality can be summed up as "cold, regal, arrogant, and not to be crossed." All those things come across, I feel. The lines on her face are thin and sharp, which makes her face severe, but the lines around her are thick, heavy. She seems as though she has some solidness. I especially like the shading on the front of her cape beneath her raised arm and to the right (her left) of her brooch. And that's probably one of the best hands I've ever drawn.

That weird quasi-obsession with ribbons I had with MerMay 2018 is starting to pay its dividends. Dramatic hair and flopping ribbon shapes are now solidified in my repertoire, after having drawn them (or failed to) so much, which helps translate to things like fabric folds. I used to think that creating folds was mostly in the lineart, but no, the shading does most of the heavy lifting, at least the way I'm doing it. Shadows and highlights on the right sides almost makes you feel the grooves in her cape with your fingers. I've said it before and I'll say it again: shadows push into the background, lighting pulls into the foreground. I mentioned feeling grooves. I think good lighting and shading should make you able to feel the absence of light's warmth or the shade's coolness. Or something like that.

Angel's color scheme is white, pale grey, and maybe some black. That really does not come through at all here, but I decided early on that this piece was far more about creating volumes with the mid-tone paper here. Should I do a digital piece, you'd see what her actual color scheme looks like.

Oddly enough, as much as I love this picture for its lighting, I don't have that much to say about it. Except that I'm surprised I managed to take a decent picture of this.

Thanks for reading~

#ink #inktober #lighting #shading #pencilshading