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Fluffysminion — Out of the void
Published: 2012-04-09 08:33:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 1226; Favourites: 59; Downloads: 9
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Description
Digital art's been giving me a bit of a headache recently (quite literally) so I decided to give some traditional art a go, and as a result I have fallen in love with watercolours (and salt)I looked at a few tutorials before I began, because I was well aware after doing the lineart that out of all my characters, this one is the worst to do tradtionally. She's black, she glows, she's got transparent wings and more apendages than you can shake a stick at. But nevertheless I'm very proud of how this came out, especially those asteroids, for some reason they came out really well.
I am aware that she's white instead of black, but after doing the first two coats I realised that I'd done it too light, but I quite liked how she looked, so I kept her like that in the end. It reminds me of when I was talking to *Keberyna about errors being like mutations in character development, and it seems this time she's become an albino, she's even got pink eyes
The planet I'm not too happy with, neither am I happy with the markings or her wing membranes, but I think I have a better idea of what to do now, so next time I should be able to get it right.
I just realised I've got this far without telling you which character this is, it's Soleara, in case you couldn't tell (which isn't that implausible, given that last time I drew her she was black and in a position that covered most of herself with her wings, so it was very hard to see. Here's the last image I drew of her, if you're interested in comparing. [link]
I'm running out of things to say here, so I'll just ask for some advice on using paints in general, if anyone has any tips or knows where I've made a mistake I'd really like to know, I want to get my traditional stuff up to the level of my best digital stuff, so any advice, critique, or even just random words of wisdom would be much appreciated.
Biocras dragons (c) *DragonsFlameMagic
Soleara (c) Me
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Comments: 50
oh wow, this is great! The glowing effect looks awesome! I love the detail on her head too.
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Thank you! I wasn't sure if it was going to look like it was glowing, so I'm very glad it does look like that
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you're welcome!
I know the feeling. XD But yes, I can definitely tell its glowing!
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Yeah, sometimes it's hard to tell whether or not something's worked because you know how you did it, but it's nice to hear that I did the right thing
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O....M......G. Why Are you so talented! so awesome!!!!!!
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Thank you! 
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WOW!! This is amazing!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE SO TALENTED!!!!!! AAHHHH!!
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Thank you so much! That means so much to me, the fact that you, someone who's art I've always admired, really like something I've done is amazing.
You've just made my day, thank you!
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^///^ awe wow! Your so nice!!! LOL! Thanks for the lovely comment!!! XD (((HUGS)))
I have always loved your art!!!
I added you to my Bestys list on my front page btw! XD
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No problem, I was only responding to an equally lovely one
Really? I had no idea XD
Aw, thank you!
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awe really?! XD YAY!!! Thanks!!! (((HUGS)))
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Eee fluffy this looks so awesome! I love how you id the background, and your colours in all of these are so pastelly, however do you get them like that? I love how the white came out. You could maybe have made the grey areas a little more black to make her seem darker, but then again I know har HARD glow is to do having painted her myself, so I can't actually crit you much there. She looks awesome white though.
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Thank you! I think the pastel-ness is partly the paints I use, but I don't use much paint and I use a lot of water which I'd imagine is also a factor.
Yeah, when I started painting her I was there thinking "how on Earth did she manage it?" XD
Thanks again
BTW can I just say that I'm having an amazingly strange day, both you and another artist who's watercolour art I admire have both asked me how I painted this, it's the oddest feeling, but really good at the same time.
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Yeah, it must be the paints then, because you have no idea how much water I add to my works XD I practically paint WITH the water instead of the paint XD
Oh really? Well thats because they're really good and really interesting
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Ok, it's probably the paints then. I have an amazing watercolour set. 
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That is all kinds of amazing! Very well done indeed!
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Wow, thank you!
I had so much fun with that background... I think I used about a lidful of salt on it, which might have been overdoing it XD
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You're most welcome!
Its all good!
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Ahh Soleara! This is really well done Fluff! And for some odd reason, I'm really attracted to the part where her bottom jaw connects to her neck.
Anywho, I always picture her green, I guess it's cuz of the other picture, but I think I'm liking the white a lot better. It will definitely make her stand out in a black environment (space). I think the planet is fine. I could definitely tell it's a planet, if you were wondering. XD
You should be proud of this. I really think watercolor is one way to go for you. Keep it up!
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Thanks! And oddly that bit was almost a disaster, I had too much paint on my brush when I started it so it almost completely obscured the lineart, but I managed to save it.
Yeah, I think I prefer her white (she's certainly easier to draw) I might ask the species owner's permission to make the change permanent, because I'm pretty sure it goes against the idea of the species, her being white. Oh well, I'll just have to see how I feel next time I draw her. I can always change her species if it's not allowed.
That's good, I think my main issue with it is the fact that it's a bit too even-toned, I didn't leave any paler bits as highlights.
Thank you! I'm really pleased with it, and I think I'll be doing more in future, for sure.
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Yes, at this point, this message is a fossil. I don't even...Murder me now.
Yes! And I guess that's what makes it so successful. CUZ YOU SUCCEEDED. SEE?
Oh that's right. I forgot she wasn't completely your species. I hope the owner wouldn't mind. I think it's a nice touch. Worst case scenario, she can make an exception for you. c: If not. Soleara can have a case of albinism. Or that other thing where dark attributes are acceptable. Agh, the name was on my mind just a few seconds ago. Grrr.
Either that, or the background is a bit light, which doesn't make the character stand out as much? Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a great piece!
No probs! And again, sorry for the super late reply. :c
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That's fine, I'm sure I've got some even older ones lurking in the depths of my inbox.
I do
Yeah, that's the frustrating thing about not owning the species, if she was all mine I could just change her and there'd be no issue. Anyway, I still haven't asked the owner of the species so I don't know if she'll be staying black or not. Was leucism the word you were looking for?
Probably a bit of both, to be honest XD Still, I haven't made that mistake again.
That's fine! I've been letting my messages build up so I understand your situation.
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Thank you
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WOW This looks sooooooo COOL! Nice Spacescape! I love it!!
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Thank you! I'm thrilled you like it so much!
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This looks amazing.
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Thank you! I'm really glad you can see them, last time I drew her most of the details were impossible to see.
Yes I did! That's how I did the background, I put salt on the paper while the paints were still wet, to get all those patterns. I really like the result
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No problem.
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Wow she came out amazingly and I do see that her wings look transparent, i think if she glows then maybe her glow is so bright that it hides her black? I don't think it'd look as clean or neat if you had completed her black and the glow would have been a pain to do! But wow your watercolour use is really really nice...why the salt?
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Thank you
Yeah, I suppose so, with loads of glowing markings it would be hard for her to glow and still appear black. That was one of the reasons I left her white, I wasn't sure I could successfully make her glow anyway, let alone if she was dark as well.
Thanks again!
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You're welcome! 
Watercolours are forgiving like that, you can go wild with them and add loads of twists and mixing colours in things like the sky also is easily done with them (unlike pencils!)
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Yeah, it's a lot easier if she's all white to start with.
Yes, backgrounds are so much easier with watercolours, just splashing them on a page makes a pretty enough background, you don't have to work as hard as with other mediums.
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Heheh yeah they do most of the work on their own, they're considerate like that
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Although they can be a bit strange to work with when you've been working digitally for ages, and you're used to doing everything at once, I find with watercolours you get a few moments of frenzied activity trying to get all of that section done before the paint stops being blendable, then you get long waits while you wait for it to dry.
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Do you ever get the urge to just hit the "Undo" button only to remember that you're working traditionally and there is no undo button? I get that and it's awful!
I hate waiting for it to dry, sometimes if I'm in a real hurry I get my hairdryer out and blast it from afar
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All the time, it's really iritating. I also keep wanting to erase bits (especially the lineart) and it's hard sometimes to remember that I can't add highlights at the end (which is what I normally do in photoshop)
That's a good idea actually, although it's quite good for getting things done, I tend to do all the things I'd normally forget while waiting for it to dry, just because anything's better than just staring at the paint. I keep wanting to poke it to see if it's dry, even when I know it's not.
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If you buy yourself a white gel pen you can add the highlights 
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I do want a white gel pen, I've been using white acrylic paint at the moment but it doesn't really create the kind of effect I'd like, it's really good for blending things in the background, but I'll really need a gel pen for the highlights.
Yeah, and then to cover it up you've got to put even more paint on it, which takes even longer to dry.
That's happened to me a few times, but luckily it's only been in the background, which was meant to be all random patterns anyway, so it wasn't that bad. I found it really annoying with my more recent one though, because I tried to fix it by tilting the paper the other way, but because I had several pools of colour whichever way I tilted it, I made a different one worse. I just gave up in the end.
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I only got my pens about a year ago, but I'm glad I did, they really are pretty good (although sometimes they don't show up as well as you'd like)
Exactly, and then your paper starts to get those grainy bits of loose fibre you get when you know it's over-saturated and it's going to rip at any moment.
That's what happens when the paper starts to crinkle, you know even watercolour paper crinkles so I don't know what the point of it is!
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