When it comes to Temorii, there’s one image I really wanted to try to capture and that’s the famous (infamous?) dress and dance that ultimately breaks through our prissy Khyel’s reserve, and is the source of so much … misinformation. It’s made of lace literally grown out of the ley, which means it sparkles and iridesces (is that a word?) with color. (Stevie’s sparklie-loving soul loves it.) But it’s fundamentally blues and greens.
I didn’t layer enough to show the process, but basically I formed the folds of the dress with splotches of blue, green, purple and yellow, smudged them all together then went over the top with squiggly lines for the lace, making them denser where I wanted highlights, less dense in the folds.
I wanted TnT to be sort of ley-ghostly in the background, hence the ley-green base tone. Their hair is “ley-touched” meaning it’s been “bleached” by living with the ley. It’s basically very dark brown but fades to a rainbowed fawn color on the ends. To get the rainbow, I just “painted” hair with a rainbow gradient.
(BTW…I realized I was screwing up the slide show with my long captions, hence the greater explanation in the body of the post. Using the controls on either side of the captions, you can now view the slide shows full screen (the little square with arrows) and control the speed of the transitions. (the side arrows) )
All images are copyright © 2009 Jane S. Fancher. Thank you for respecting that copyright.
Or is she? While putting together the explanation, I realized my thinking was still “old school” and came up with what I think is an interesting addition to the lace, but that’s for tomorrow.
Ja ne!
Beautiful!
Outstanding! Waaaannnt…
I so hope it stands up to printing! Haven’t dared try yet. But she’ll certainly work on our mugs!
I think she’s lovely – the dress is outstanding! Something bothers me about the head – that highlight and deep shadow beside the chin and under the ear – almost looks like a projecting dewlap or something. Plus the pose makes me expect her to be looking more upward somehow.
Different ideas for the lace? Do tell! (or, umm, show)
She’s designed to be really small, and that helped to clarify her tiny profile, but I’m not sure it’s worth it, especially if we’re talking (erg) posters! :D If she goes that large, I’ll definitely fix it.
*echoes OSG*
The subtle colorations on her skin are my favorite part… she iridesces just like her dress, and the sense of movement is incredibly vivid! Hmm, iridesce does not seem to be a word… well, if we use it enough, maybe it will become one! Meanwhile, coruscate serves :)
We’ve got a fighting chance now that we’ve escaped New York and the Chicago Book of Style!!!! Let’s hear it for a living, EVOLVING language!
She’s beautiful. How can she not be the most striking part of your illustration? **Kato-ji rubs hands together in anticipation**
And now I see what you mean about the slide show comments. It is much nicer that they just run along the bottom without a mouse over.
I also like the fact that you can now watch it full screen. Wheeee. I’ve gone back and changed some of the others. Over time, I’ll get them all. The frustrating thing is, the utility that makes the slideshow puts no limit on the length of the caption. I didn’t even think about it, just tried to keep it brief enough to fit in the allotted window. Sigh…never stop learning, do we? :D
She was actually designed to be very small, but I wanted to have something that would be cool all on it’s own.
She’s lovely. makes me want to go see some dancing! not to mention rereading the book(s).
Yay!
And the new season of So You Think You Can Dance starts tonight!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAAY
I think maybe I’ve aseked this before, but anyway — does the slideshow let you increase the font-size of the caption? It’s like, 8-point or something on my screen. I have to lean in close to read it, then lean back out to view the picture. But the whole slideshow concept, the way you’re using it, is very cool indeed.
I wish I could, but it’s not a variable given to me, and I’m not really anxious to mess with the swf file. The plugin uses the JW Image Rotator, an adobe flash program, and installs all the “keys” into the WordPress folders for you.
I just know if I got into it, I’d open a can of worms I really don’t need. I’m trying to put most of the information into the body of the post now, so hopefully that’ll help.
Soooooorrry.
I can cope. Better you “draw” and “paint” than get involved with worms, ugh! This cover looks to be outstanding, if you can fit it all in. You must be getting quite practiced at the techniques, the covers seem to be coming along in a really fast stream.
Oh, so beautiful! The colors in her dress make me think of Hubble images.
Thank you for the full-screen view!
She’s lovely. I really like your slideshows. I liked the perils of the fishies serial, but seeing the artwork grow like this is something special.
I’m not an artist so I hardly dare comment, but very belatedly: I’m happy you went with the medium-sized image of the boys on the Harmonies cover, as I was a bit worried about the Wesser sitting in the middle of the black hole he’s supposed to be dragging Steven out of. In the medium image he’s got his foot on the edge of the ring, which is much more consistent with that action.
Don’t have to be an artist to have a visceral reaction! Those are useful. And I hadn’t even thought about the placement of the foot! Whew! Narrow escape.
You’re welcome! And, yeah, I love those images, too! Can’t say they don’t influence my instincts. I started out my life as an Astronomy/physics major!