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Description
The first custom manip I have done in years, this day-and-night themed piece was created for Sprowtato of an adoptable she purchased from me, now named Selune ! The thought behind it is a daytime sky with the sun featured behind the horse, whereas the water reflects a nighttime sky with the horse standing in the reflection of the moon. The water is blasting away from the horse in a torrent of wind and power, yet remains calm and still where she stands, and it swirls the sky in all directions and flows through her hair. It isn't meant to be realistic. It is meant to portray emotion, strength, and tons of movement, utilizing symbolism and fantasy.

This was, without a single doubt, the hardest hair I've ever done in my life. Not just the intricate hair texture, not just the length, but having it flying in the air on top of it all... I never expected the challenge or time-consumption it would amount to! It took multiple morning-to-night days to accomplish, easily reaching 40 hours on just the hair (I ran it past my roommate to come up with what we both felt was an approximate guess on the timeline, since I always forget to time myself). No, I am not exaggerating, and yes, I am an extremely, abnormally slow artist xD
I figured I would show some of the steps taken in the hair -- I plan to (hopefully) later create a GIF of the process, but for now here are some screenshots:

Original sketch:

6 layers:

Beginning depth detail:

More depth detail:

The horse itself is 100% hand-painted, it is not a manip, only the background is. The background is comprised of so many images, I could never compile all of the stock. I started with just 2 solid colors and then layered countless little fragments all over to get what I wanted from there, rather than starting with any single stock image. Unfortunately, I can never decide if I should categorize my artwork as a digital painting because of the horse or a photomanipulation because of the background.... Anyway, here is the standalone horse greyscale I painted prior to any customization:

Horse Reference: RQS Arab Derivative #78

Random stock bits that I managed to keep track of:
Directed Energy Beam Stock
HG Water Stock.
Nebula Brushes V2
STOCK Coolangatta Beach 149
Calm Water strwberrystk
STOCK Coolangatta Beach 144
Stars sky
Smoke Figures - Stock
Alternate Sunset Dimensions
There were many, many more, tiny bits of fractals, ocean sprays, specks, clouds, and stars but they were all such small details and so many layers, that I never managed to keep them all straight. Many were not on DeviantArt, either.

Original adoptable design:

Description
The first custom manip I have done in years, this day-and-night themed piece was created for Sprowtato of an adoptable she purchased from me, now named Selune ! The thought behind it is a daytime sky with the sun featured behind the horse, whereas the water reflects a nighttime sky with the horse standing in the reflection of the moon. The water is blasting away from the horse in a torrent of wind and power, yet remains calm and still where she stands, and it swirls the sky in all directions and flows through her hair. It isn't meant to be realistic. It is meant to portray emotion, strength, and tons of movement, utilizing symbolism and fantasy.

This was, without a single doubt, the hardest hair I've ever done in my life. Not just the intricate hair texture, not just the length, but having it flying in the air on top of it all... I never expected the challenge or time-consumption it would amount to! It took multiple morning-to-night days to accomplish, easily reaching 40 hours on just the hair (I ran it past my roommate to come up with what we both felt was an approximate guess on the timeline, since I always forget to time myself). No, I am not exaggerating, and yes, I am an extremely, abnormally slow artist xD
I figured I would show some of the steps taken in the hair -- I plan to (hopefully) later create a GIF of the process, but for now here are some screenshots:

Original sketch:

6 layers:

Beginning depth detail:

More depth detail:

The horse itself is 100% hand-painted, it is not a manip, only the background is. The background is comprised of so many images, I could never compile all of the stock. I started with just 2 solid colors and then layered countless little fragments all over to get what I wanted from there, rather than starting with any single stock image. Unfortunately, I can never decide if I should categorize my artwork as a digital painting because of the horse or a photomanipulation because of the background.... Anyway, here is the standalone horse greyscale I painted prior to any customization:

Horse Reference: RQS Arab Derivative #78

Random stock bits that I managed to keep track of:
Directed Energy Beam Stock
HG Water Stock.
Nebula Brushes V2
STOCK Coolangatta Beach 149
Calm Water strwberrystk
STOCK Coolangatta Beach 144
Stars sky
Smoke Figures - Stock
Alternate Sunset Dimensions
There were many, many more, tiny bits of fractals, ocean sprays, specks, clouds, and stars but they were all such small details and so many layers, that I never managed to keep them all straight. Many were not on DeviantArt, either.

Original adoptable design: