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Description

This is the improved and so far final version of “Roses and Peonies” (until a redraw in a decade maybe). Even if I’d want to try it again, I am simply exhausted from all the times I lined this piece but at least I feel much better now.

If you want to see my first attempt, visit here the patreon exclusive.
I improved so many details and to start off, I flipped the piece. This made it easier to correct the anatomy. Not that it’s perfect now, but at least better… like a lot of things about this here. Another basic but huge change: I scaled it a bit down to fit all the line art on the sheet. On my first try I wanted to avoid emptiness around the motif by cropping it but in the end, it felt just crowded. I am not sure how much I prefer the loose watercolour around it now but it suits me better.
The most important change were the colours. I decided to use watercolours this time and really didn’t regret it. Although I wanted to keep the palette simple, I kept adding and adding new pans to my repertoire until I worked with a red, two pinks, thee blues and violet. The most important one was “Pottery Pink”, a granulating watercolour that added this beautiful texture to the skin.
The Flowers were a whole new problem this time! Although I figured out how I could implement a better gradient (by starting with a gradient wash and shade it afterwards) I erased too much of the line art so it hardly shone through. I struggled a lot with figuring out where the petals were by keeping the original lines nearby. This mistake also happened with other details like the hand. I think the gradient wash for the flowers cut the shape of the fingers short so that especially the thumb looks worse off. Somehow, I prefer the look of the bud she’s holding in the first piece more.
The same gradient wash technique I used with the hair and I feel like it worked this time so well in comparison to the old one. I also managed to keep it more flowy and curvier. The hair missed some length which improved the whole composition
Lastly, I lined the piece again in white but to avoid an amateurish silk painting effect I kept them mostly thin and light.
I still need a lot of improvement. The composition, anatomy, expression and colour composition could be way better but “Roses and Peonies” I & II shows how much can be improved in a week it one sets one’s mind to it.

Description

This is the improved and so far final version of “Roses and Peonies” (until a redraw in a decade maybe). Even if I’d want to try it again, I am simply exhausted from all the times I lined this piece but at least I feel much better now.

If you want to see my first attempt, visit here the patreon exclusive.
I improved so many details and to start off, I flipped the piece. This made it easier to correct the anatomy. Not that it’s perfect now, but at least better… like a lot of things about this here. Another basic but huge change: I scaled it a bit down to fit all the line art on the sheet. On my first try I wanted to avoid emptiness around the motif by cropping it but in the end, it felt just crowded. I am not sure how much I prefer the loose watercolour around it now but it suits me better.
The most important change were the colours. I decided to use watercolours this time and really didn’t regret it. Although I wanted to keep the palette simple, I kept adding and adding new pans to my repertoire until I worked with a red, two pinks, thee blues and violet. The most important one was “Pottery Pink”, a granulating watercolour that added this beautiful texture to the skin.
The Flowers were a whole new problem this time! Although I figured out how I could implement a better gradient (by starting with a gradient wash and shade it afterwards) I erased too much of the line art so it hardly shone through. I struggled a lot with figuring out where the petals were by keeping the original lines nearby. This mistake also happened with other details like the hand. I think the gradient wash for the flowers cut the shape of the fingers short so that especially the thumb looks worse off. Somehow, I prefer the look of the bud she’s holding in the first piece more.
The same gradient wash technique I used with the hair and I feel like it worked this time so well in comparison to the old one. I also managed to keep it more flowy and curvier. The hair missed some length which improved the whole composition
Lastly, I lined the piece again in white but to avoid an amateurish silk painting effect I kept them mostly thin and light.
I still need a lot of improvement. The composition, anatomy, expression and colour composition could be way better but “Roses and Peonies” I & II shows how much can be improved in a week it one sets one’s mind to it.