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Description

I recently realized I’ve never drawn Rachel Grey, the only original member of Excalibur for which that was the case, so I decided to rectify that right away. I aimed for the same sort of presentation style I used for NightCrawler, which I describe as vaguely being a Vanity Fair-type photoshoot theme.

I like these sorts of poses because they let me find the middle ground between giving a full-body view and getting in close enough to show off the character’s eyes and such, which is what I really love to do. (I know I could just always do Busts and headshots for that, but I like to have some variety, you know?) Her hair was a real challenge – I tried six different looks in all before finally settling on this one. I’m not sure what it is about short hair, but it seems to be much harder for me to get right than long hair.

Anyway, this is what I consider “dress up casual” for Rachel, who has gone by Phoenix and Prestige and I think a few other names at various points. She’s a fantastic character, the future daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, and it’s a shame that a lot of writers have a hard time figuring out what to do with her. She really could have been put front and center with the X-Men when adult Jean and Scott were gone (in other words, dead) and carried the franchise forward in a fresh direction, but… I’m not on Marvel’s payroll, so who cares what I think.

I may do Kitty/Kate and Lockheed in this sort of set-up, too, as well as Meggan and Brian (even though I just did them recently) to round out the whole team, but I’m being pulled in several directions by a few different pieces I want to do…. Only time will tell which ones win my attention first!

Anyway, thank you for taking a look. Any comments, critiques, or tips are welcome and appreciated!

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Disclaimer: I’m red-green colorblind. Because of this, it’s difficult for me to tell similar shades/hues of different colors apart, and, therefore, I need to work with very limited palettes when I color pieces. For shading and highlights, I’ll start with a gray base and lighten or darken shades from there, and then add a color overlay (and, for some skin tones, attempt to add a blue overlay to make it less “hot”). I’ve often been told to be bolder in my highlighting and shading, and I’m trying to be so, but… sometimes it still seems pretty tame. I’m just saying this in case you mentioned I need to do that on a previous piece – I’m not ignoring you, and I appreciate the input. It’s just not very easy for me to implement confidently.

Description

I recently realized I’ve never drawn Rachel Grey, the only original member of Excalibur for which that was the case, so I decided to rectify that right away. I aimed for the same sort of presentation style I used for NightCrawler, which I describe as vaguely being a Vanity Fair-type photoshoot theme.

I like these sorts of poses because they let me find the middle ground between giving a full-body view and getting in close enough to show off the character’s eyes and such, which is what I really love to do. (I know I could just always do Busts and headshots for that, but I like to have some variety, you know?) Her hair was a real challenge – I tried six different looks in all before finally settling on this one. I’m not sure what it is about short hair, but it seems to be much harder for me to get right than long hair.

Anyway, this is what I consider “dress up casual” for Rachel, who has gone by Phoenix and Prestige and I think a few other names at various points. She’s a fantastic character, the future daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, and it’s a shame that a lot of writers have a hard time figuring out what to do with her. She really could have been put front and center with the X-Men when adult Jean and Scott were gone (in other words, dead) and carried the franchise forward in a fresh direction, but… I’m not on Marvel’s payroll, so who cares what I think.

I may do Kitty/Kate and Lockheed in this sort of set-up, too, as well as Meggan and Brian (even though I just did them recently) to round out the whole team, but I’m being pulled in several directions by a few different pieces I want to do…. Only time will tell which ones win my attention first!

Anyway, thank you for taking a look. Any comments, critiques, or tips are welcome and appreciated!

____________________________________________

Disclaimer: I’m red-green colorblind. Because of this, it’s difficult for me to tell similar shades/hues of different colors apart, and, therefore, I need to work with very limited palettes when I color pieces. For shading and highlights, I’ll start with a gray base and lighten or darken shades from there, and then add a color overlay (and, for some skin tones, attempt to add a blue overlay to make it less “hot”). I’ve often been told to be bolder in my highlighting and shading, and I’m trying to be so, but… sometimes it still seems pretty tame. I’m just saying this in case you mentioned I need to do that on a previous piece – I’m not ignoring you, and I appreciate the input. It’s just not very easy for me to implement confidently.