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Description
EDIT: This is a revised version of "The Choice." The original can be viewed here: [link]

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This is a fanart from the book, "A Great and Terrible Beauty" by Libba Bray. This book is about a girl living in the 1800's and attending a mysterious school called Spence Academy. In this scene, the main character is in art class:

At the end of the hour, Miss Moore examines our paintings, murmuring both praise and correction. When she comes to my painting, a large, misshapen apple taking up up the whole of the canvas, she purses her lips for what seems a long time. "How very modern, Miss Doyle."

Cecily lets out a sharp laugh when she sees it. "Is that supposed to be an apple?"

I'm not satisfied. "It needs more light on the front to make it shiny. I keep adding white and yellow, but that only washes everything out."

"You need to add a bit of shadow back here." Miss Moore dips a brush in sepia and paints a curve along the outside edge of my apple. Immediately, the shine on the apple is apparent and it looks much better. "The Italians call this chiaroscuro. It means the play of light and dark within a picture."

"Why couldn't Gemma simply add the white to make the apple shine?" Pippa asks.

"Because you don't notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light. You have to play with it till you get it exactly right."

"What do you propose to call that?" Cecily's tone drips disdain.

"The Choice," I blurt out, surprising myself.

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I drew this today during my advisory class, which is basically a mandatory free period. I was rereading this book and when I came to this part, I was inspired to draw my own version of Gemma's painting. Of course, mine is done in ballpoint pen, not paints, but you get the point!

EDIT: The old version looked plain, so I added an old paper texture to this new one. The texture was made by wojtar-stock: [link]

"A Great and Terrible Beauty" copyright Libba Bray.

Art copyright me.

Description
EDIT: This is a revised version of "The Choice." The original can be viewed here: [link]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a fanart from the book, "A Great and Terrible Beauty" by Libba Bray. This book is about a girl living in the 1800's and attending a mysterious school called Spence Academy. In this scene, the main character is in art class:

At the end of the hour, Miss Moore examines our paintings, murmuring both praise and correction. When she comes to my painting, a large, misshapen apple taking up up the whole of the canvas, she purses her lips for what seems a long time. "How very modern, Miss Doyle."

Cecily lets out a sharp laugh when she sees it. "Is that supposed to be an apple?"

I'm not satisfied. "It needs more light on the front to make it shiny. I keep adding white and yellow, but that only washes everything out."

"You need to add a bit of shadow back here." Miss Moore dips a brush in sepia and paints a curve along the outside edge of my apple. Immediately, the shine on the apple is apparent and it looks much better. "The Italians call this chiaroscuro. It means the play of light and dark within a picture."

"Why couldn't Gemma simply add the white to make the apple shine?" Pippa asks.

"Because you don't notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light. You have to play with it till you get it exactly right."

"What do you propose to call that?" Cecily's tone drips disdain.

"The Choice," I blurt out, surprising myself.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I drew this today during my advisory class, which is basically a mandatory free period. I was rereading this book and when I came to this part, I was inspired to draw my own version of Gemma's painting. Of course, mine is done in ballpoint pen, not paints, but you get the point!

EDIT: The old version looked plain, so I added an old paper texture to this new one. The texture was made by wojtar-stock: [link]

"A Great and Terrible Beauty" copyright Libba Bray.

Art copyright me.