Challenge #51: Butterfly Soul

[yhlee]

Title: Butterfly Soul
Artist: yhlee
Rating: G
Fandom: original work
Characters/Pairings: another lady with a tiara :3
Content Notes: An experiment in traditional media - new-to-me coloring pencils (Prismacolor Premier) and new-to-me Kuretake gold mica paste (applied with a paintbrush). The photo really doesn't do the mica paste justice! So shiny. :3

Preview:



Full image behind cut.

Comments

[goss]

Oooh, cool effect using the gold paste for the butterfly tiara! ^__^

[yhlee]

:D This stuff is fun, although I have to say I think it would look better against flat blacks (e.g. ink). (Also, coloring pencils make me nervous so I was not pressing very hard, so the blacks here are very very mushy and weak.) Now I know why Lydia Fenwick (Lyfe Illustration, examples here) uses her gold leaf and gold ink on black ink. :p I may try that next??

[goss]

Lydia Fenwick (Lyfe Illustration

Wow, pretty! Thanks for linking. You are so right - it totally *POPS* against the stark black/white.

Hey, you know what I was thinking? Those watercolour pencils you've been sketching with... I noticed that when I first used a black one, even though it was mostly grey when dry, it gave such a deep tone as soon as I applied a wet paintbrush to it. Maybe you could play around with that for a dark value against your gold.

[yhlee]

Yessssss, I will try that! I'd picked up a Derwent Inktense in black but have never used this brand before. Also, I'm thinking that it might give more control/nuance than a brush pen (although I do like the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen) and be less spill-prone than, well, a bottle of ink and a brush (for when I'm traveling).

[minoanmiss]

This reminds me of the Minoan use of butterflies for symbolism of the soul. Also I love her eyeshadow echoing the butterfly colors!

[yhlee]

:D Thank you!

[mekare]

Aaah I know this only too well - photographing shiny paints is an exercise in futility. I can see see the shine here a bit though!

[yhlee]

:D Yeah, I discovered that working with mica/shimmer watercolors a few years back! Ahahahaha.

[adafrog]

Pretty.

[yhlee]

Thank you!

[scintilla10]

This is lovely!

[yhlee]

Thank you!

[facethestrange]

♡♡♡! Saw it on your blog earlier today, still love her face and the sparkles. :D

[yhlee]

Thank you!

There are...probably cheaper ways to achieve sparkles - St. Louis Art Supply charges $12.50 (USD) for the Kuretake gold mica paste, vs. (say) $3 for a pan of Kuretake Gansai Tambi shimmer watercolors (which also come in a range of hues) or ~$4 for a pan of Finetec gold watercolor or, I guess, $9 for Winsor & Newton gold ink. And for lettering/dip pen applications, the watercolors or gold inks are probably the better choice! But I like the ooziness of the gold paste. XD

[facethestrange]

What works for you is the most important, if it's also something you can afford, so I don't see a problem here. :D I only did traditional art until very early 2000s so before most of this stuff was even a thing (I mean, some of it probably was a thing somewhere else in the world), so now I just go "woah, SHINY" when you or someone else talks about art supplies, but I don't actually know how they feel or work. xD

[anerea]

Ooh! Beautiful! (Both the character and the technique)

[yhlee]

Thank you!