Ballroom Dance

[eller]

This dancing couple is all alone in a large ballroom – or, at least, if there are other people around, they are happily ignored. :)

I’m, again, using materials from my random art box for this ATC.



This time, the drawing involves an orange fineliner:
Staedtler pigment liner 0.3 in orange

I don’t know what to think about this product. I mean, it’s clearly an excellent orange fineliner – it’s waterproof, alcohol-marker-proof, and, according to the manufacturer, even lightfast – so if you ever need an orange fineliner, I can heartily recommend this one… If you ever need an orange fineliner, that is. Which is the main issue here, I suppose. XD



I used markers for the first skintone layer again:
Winsor&Newton promarker brush Almond
Ohuhu YR10 Brun

Yeah, blotchy. It’s definitely the paper’s fault, though: I wanted to know, so I tested the markers on other paper, and they worked fine. The reason I’m not using that paper here is that it doesn’t like water-based media… Mix-media is always a compromise. LOL Anyway: the markers are fine. Much better than they look here.



The main color work was done with water-based media this time:
Colorex White
Colorex Yellow
Apolo Arte watercolor Violeta Intenso
Arteza gouache Burnt Umber
Mont Marte gouache Lamp Black
Flysea acrylic marker white
Flysea acrylic marker yellow

I still like the Violeta Intenso a lot! :) And the acrylic markers are still awesome. Also, the yellow Colorex was a positive surprise: it’s actually liquid instead of slimy like the white I was complaining about yesterday. (Too bad it doesn’t have any pigment information and is likely not lightfast: otherwise, it’s a very nice, intense, transparent watercolor paint.) I was a bit disappointed by the gouache: I’m hardly an expert, but both these brands seem to be… student-grade, to put it politely. Very uneven pigmentation, and the black is more of a dark grey really. (I had to mix it with the purple to actually get a dark shade.) If I ever need super-granulating black or brown watercolors, they will do, though: they have pigment information (at least!), and they’re lightfast. Useable in a I-need-blotchy-earth-colors emergency, I guess.



Because I technically wanted to avoid blotchiness on the dancers’ skin, I used pencils:
Stabilo aquacolor in brown
Castle Arts Soft Touch Flesh

The Stabilo pencil was a pleasant surprise: after having used a somewhat weak dark blue from the same brand yesterday, the brown turned out to be intense, watersoluble without any problems, and the perfect warm shade for medium-brown skin. Yay! This one is super useful! Also, I’m happy that Castle Arts “Flesh” is transparent enough to also draw blush on dark skin without the result looking chalky. No fillers involved! These pencils are both awesome products!



I then used the Flysea acrylic pen in black to strengthen the outlines. More contrast was necessary…



…and, of course, the final picture needed more sparkle. I used both Colorex paints, white and yellow – not showing them again. XD

Anyway… In total, I used 13 materials from the art box.

Comments

[james]

I love seeing these progressions and all the explanations. I don't art (I used to draw with a pencil in grade school and stopped, that's all I know about it.)

But sometimes I see a finished piece of art and I'm like okay that's nice. But then I learn how it was made and all the layers and all the different tools that were involved and I'm like OH WOW.

\o/

[eller]

Thank you! :) Yeah, I learned how to draw mostly by looking at other people's step-by-step progress, so I figured I could post my own, and maybe it will end up being helpful for someone... XD

[aliax_alexandre]

Yay! More step-by-step instructions, and more pretty pictures :D !

[eller]

Yay, thanks! :D

[yuuago]

Here via network, just wanted to say WOW, that's some gorgeous art! And it was really interesting to read the process. :D

[eller]

Thank you! I'm always happy about feedback on my art posts, so, I'm glad this was interesting. :)

[yhlee]

Gorgeous!

[eller]

Wheee, thanks! :)

[mekare]

What a lovely dancing couple! I wish we could see the sparkle better. :-)