Inktober day 7 Alchemy

[eller]

Still a day behind, but whatever... ^^ I actually had a lot of fun with this - I drew it this morning just before our group meeting at work, so I had to be very fast. The character is from one of my stories, she's called Mirainn (pronounced Mee-run) and she's actually an alchemist, so it was kind of obvious I'd draw her for this prompt.

I noticed something interesting: when I mix the white and the black ink, I get a cold (!) grey - I didn't expect that because it's a warm white and a warm black, but obviously, particle shapes and their interactions with light ware a complex topic. Anyway, I tried to use this to portray cold, almost blue-ish light on a warm background...

Comments

[shadaras]

I love the shading on her face, and how her eyes almost feel like they're glowing. :)

[eller]

Thank you! I think the eyes are my favorite part of this picture, too. XD

[aliax_alexandre]

*_____*

So. Beautiful! The hair! The swirls of potion! The jewelry! The eyes! The books! The everything! And did I mention the hair? (I wanna do fanart of Archeth, and I like to imagine her with hair like that, but I don't know how to draw it :( Meh.)

That thing with the cold grey is making the Physics student in me wonder what makes cold and warm colours in the first place, and how they mix and so on... But mostly, I just think the cold grey works very well indeed for this piece :D

[eller]

Curly hair is really easy to draw like this, it's basically just... squiggly loops... ;)

(Doesn't Archeth have really short hair, or something? I don't quite remember the description because I don't visualize the characters in my mind anyway.)

[aliax_alexandre]

"Squiggly loops": what a scientific description :P

No short hair for Archeth, but strictly speaking, no squiggly loops either: "Archeth's ebony head emerged upside down from the hatch, thickly braided hair in stiff disarray around her features." So, braids. And no, I don't know how to do those either :D

[eller]

Hey, "squiggly loops" is the best description for, uh, this:



So, braids, huh... Thanks for looking that up! Want me to draw braids as well? XD

[aliax_alexandre]

Huh. Well, when you put it like that... *tilts head* *saves pic* I need to practice using highlights, but at least now it seems doable, thanks :D !

And, er, yes, please? I've looked up tutorials, but somehow, I seem to be missing a step from "I can draw those geometric shapes, no problem" to "And now they look like an actual braid" :P

[eller]

Uh... I need to warn you I'm also not very good at drawing braids. But I'll try.

[yhlee]

Whoa, I love the warmth of details in this! And the wonderful curly hair and the alchemy brew.

[eller]

Thank you! :D Curly hair is fun to draw.

[amberdreams]

This is lovely. I am really enjoying your use of the black and white on the cappuccino background.

[eller]

Oh, I'm glad, because I'm definitely having fun with that toned paper. :) Thank you!

[leecetheartist]

What a great image! A wealth of details and a cool character!

[eller]

Thanks! :D This character and her eternal quest for knowledge features in several of my half-finished stories... That I'm going to write down properly at some point. Definitely. Yeah. XD

[fifty_fifty]

I love the way that the whole picture seems to just glow with the potions that are brewing. :)