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Description

The year is 1912, and a brand-new ship is setting sail on her maiden voyage. Her freshly-painted hull gleams in the sunlight, drawing attention to her sleek, stately form, and inside the rich and famous of the day are finding their way to their cabins, passing through rooms and corridors filled with intricate wood paneling and crystalline light fixtures and ornate stained-glass windows. The ship’s great engines start up with a low rumble, slowly at first and then faster, and with a swish her mooring lines fall away. The tugboats begin to guide her away from her dock, nudging the fledgling liner out toward the ocean so she can spread her wings and take flight. She quivers with excitement, dreaming of the endless sea, of the glittering skyscrapers and waving crowds her sister described on the other side, and as she glides toward the blue horizon she has no way to know of the danger that lies ahead.

The year is 2022, and a young woman is walking along a nearly-empty beach. She is alone, dressed in a glittering black gown that seems far too formal for the seaside, and her velvet-red hair flutters in the cool evening breeze. The orange sunset glow sets her dark eyes alight, casts her deathly-pale skin in a warmer hue, catches the beads on the front of her dress and makes her look like starlight given human form. You’d never know, if you saw how proudly she carries herself, how horrific her past is, how her dreams are haunted by ice and darkness, how her very name is synonymous with failure and heartache. She keeps her pain hidden, for she cannot bear to dwell on her own failings, especially not now that she’s been given a second chance. All anyone can ever see is a stately young woman around whom lingers an air of eternal opulence.

At long last, here’s Titanic in the full color she deserves! This piece was, in all honesty, a terrible pain to draw, but I’m really happy with how it turned out! The translucent bits were ridiculously tough to color, let alone the shadows on her skirt, and what should be beading on the front panel of her bodice looks like regular lines (I decided to leave well enough alone with those, as I was already quite pleased with how it looked and didn’t want to mess anything up), but overall I’m really pleased! Here are a few details:

-The beads on her necklace are actually Morse code! They spell out “CQD DE MGY CQD DE” - the phrase and a half commonly agreed to be her final cries for help before she broke in half and sank.

-I used my White Star Buff references (mainly the “Marschall color”) for her waist wrap thing and some of the design on her dress! The belt thing in particular was super fun to shade.

-Speaking of the design, that’s based on her grand staircase dome! I wasn’t sure what to do at first, and then I had an ephiphany and did that.

-The lace on the edge of her petticoat matches the trim on Nomadic’s dress, so keep that in mind when I post Nomadic and Traffic!

-The background is a recreation of one of Titanic’s first-class staterooms, blurred to oblivion and back. The recreation is from the Pigeon Forge Titanic museum; the image of the room is available on the museum’s website (assuming it decides to work!) for anyone who wants to see the unedited version.

Update 9/10/2022: Adjusted her hair color to match the red shade in my Olympic piece. Straightened her jawline. Smoothed out hair and arm shadows and cleaned up a couple imperfect lines. Adjusted the shadow under her feet as well.

The bigger the star, the sooner it dies. Like a fast-burning star, Titanic's life was brief yet intense, and when she sank she took nearly 1,500 people with her. Here is more information on the ship, her legacy, and those whose lights were extinguished alongside her own.

A summary of Titanic and her story
Encyclopedia Titanica's complete list of Titanic victims
Chronology of Titanic's maiden voyage

Description

The year is 1912, and a brand-new ship is setting sail on her maiden voyage. Her freshly-painted hull gleams in the sunlight, drawing attention to her sleek, stately form, and inside the rich and famous of the day are finding their way to their cabins, passing through rooms and corridors filled with intricate wood paneling and crystalline light fixtures and ornate stained-glass windows. The ship’s great engines start up with a low rumble, slowly at first and then faster, and with a swish her mooring lines fall away. The tugboats begin to guide her away from her dock, nudging the fledgling liner out toward the ocean so she can spread her wings and take flight. She quivers with excitement, dreaming of the endless sea, of the glittering skyscrapers and waving crowds her sister described on the other side, and as she glides toward the blue horizon she has no way to know of the danger that lies ahead.

The year is 2022, and a young woman is walking along a nearly-empty beach. She is alone, dressed in a glittering black gown that seems far too formal for the seaside, and her velvet-red hair flutters in the cool evening breeze. The orange sunset glow sets her dark eyes alight, casts her deathly-pale skin in a warmer hue, catches the beads on the front of her dress and makes her look like starlight given human form. You’d never know, if you saw how proudly she carries herself, how horrific her past is, how her dreams are haunted by ice and darkness, how her very name is synonymous with failure and heartache. She keeps her pain hidden, for she cannot bear to dwell on her own failings, especially not now that she’s been given a second chance. All anyone can ever see is a stately young woman around whom lingers an air of eternal opulence.

At long last, here’s Titanic in the full color she deserves! This piece was, in all honesty, a terrible pain to draw, but I’m really happy with how it turned out! The translucent bits were ridiculously tough to color, let alone the shadows on her skirt, and what should be beading on the front panel of her bodice looks like regular lines (I decided to leave well enough alone with those, as I was already quite pleased with how it looked and didn’t want to mess anything up), but overall I’m really pleased! Here are a few details:

-The beads on her necklace are actually Morse code! They spell out “CQD DE MGY CQD DE” - the phrase and a half commonly agreed to be her final cries for help before she broke in half and sank.

-I used my White Star Buff references (mainly the “Marschall color”) for her waist wrap thing and some of the design on her dress! The belt thing in particular was super fun to shade.

-Speaking of the design, that’s based on her grand staircase dome! I wasn’t sure what to do at first, and then I had an ephiphany and did that.

-The lace on the edge of her petticoat matches the trim on Nomadic’s dress, so keep that in mind when I post Nomadic and Traffic!

-The background is a recreation of one of Titanic’s first-class staterooms, blurred to oblivion and back. The recreation is from the Pigeon Forge Titanic museum; the image of the room is available on the museum’s website (assuming it decides to work!) for anyone who wants to see the unedited version.

Update 9/10/2022: Adjusted her hair color to match the red shade in my Olympic piece. Straightened her jawline. Smoothed out hair and arm shadows and cleaned up a couple imperfect lines. Adjusted the shadow under her feet as well.

The bigger the star, the sooner it dies. Like a fast-burning star, Titanic's life was brief yet intense, and when she sank she took nearly 1,500 people with her. Here is more information on the ship, her legacy, and those whose lights were extinguished alongside her own.

A summary of Titanic and her story
Encyclopedia Titanica's complete list of Titanic victims
Chronology of Titanic's maiden voyage