Illustration | On the Rail

The last few weeks I have been trying to reach outside of my box a little.  Been reading allot about visual style, and developing a visual style as an artist.

The 16-bit portrait I did earlier, and this piece have been practice in what I am reading.  and it has been fun so far.

I was just sketching when this one came out to me.  I liked the pose, and the silhouette that it makes was really strong. I decided to carry it to a finished piece.   The outfit she is wearing is really random, and for me, kind of weird. Feels a bit western. But, in the end, I think it feels good with the rest of the image, and it definitely helps the silhouette as well.  I stuck with a split-complementary color scheme to keep things simple. and wanted to focus on basic skin tones to present a warm feeling in the painting overall.

As for what I struggled with in this painting.  The background was killing me.  At first I was leaning towards a style that fit the character.  Something that fits the perspective and shaded similar the woman.  Going over this in my head, I couldn’t really think of an environment that would work with the subject to create a stronger piece.  So, in the end, I decided to do something abstract, and focus on composition and color.  Something that would strengthen the main subject, but at the same time wouldn’t be distracting.

Again, overall, it was and interesting piece to work on. Definitely not in my usually ball field, but it was good to stretch a little. Its also good to feel like shading is becoming second nature. I am doing better with drawing hands, but still have a long way to go. I struggled with the face a bit, so we’ll seem more faces in my Weekly Sketch Reviews for sure. Speaking of, one of those should pop up soon.