Ballerina Babe

I think referring to this piece as a Baby is appropriate.  She sure demanded a lot of me.  She’s over six months old now and just starting to gain some independence and show some of her own personality.  Thank Goodness! 



Roughed in the ballerina with a watercolor wash.  Things look pretty chunky here.



I stuck with watercolor and w/c pencils for the shoes.



I had to tone down the ladies orangey-ness.  (It seems she likes carrots!! Haha)



I didn’t touch this piece throughout February and most of March.  I finally realized I couldn’t avoid the hair any longer if I wanted this finished.  Studied up a bit on hair rendering.  Apparently, I need to pick at least 4 colors, one highlight, one low-light and the rest in between.  I am to make each strand go in the direction that it lays.  With the highlight areas, I just left the white alone.



Don’t judge me too hard, I still have lots to learn.  But at least it’s passable.  Meaning…..you know that it’s hair.



As is my habit, I brought in my fine-point microns to finish the job. When I go over the colored pencil, the tip of the markers take up some of that wax……time is spent squiggling that wax off as seen here.



With my skill level…this is as good as it’s going to get.  So I deemed her done.  Off to the frame shop. 


Couldn’t capture the same light cuz I wasn’t up early enough. (Pic on left from Dec, Pic on right from Today)



Lessons learned:

• Be careful with the amount of water used for the paper type.  I’ve since found some other sturdier w/c illustration board that I want to try next.
• It’s ok to pop your colors….I preferred the ballet slippers brighter, but realistically the first color was more accurate.  Yea, for creative license!!
• Bring in the colored pencils after the watercolor work is done. No one wants to go over colored pencils with watercolor…trust me!
• Don’t expect perfection.
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And the image that started this….found her on instagram.…check out user @infinitylove231