Speck Woman - (mostly) finished!
And so it is that bit by bit, leaf by leaf, computed breakdown by computer breakdown (because the file became so damn HUGE), I sort of finished the illustration of the Speck woman from Robin Hobb's Shaman's Crossing.
What began as an entry for a contest ended as just a try to use Painter some more, and give justice to Hobb's wonderful character. I'm afraid I'm still not completely able to balance the complexity and level of detail of such a pic with its overall legibility, but heh. This has been an interesting try! Though I'm REALLY preferring the physical sensations (mmmh) of natural media!
Anyway, constructive criticism VERY welcome. After all, this isn't watercolours and can be amended - though it feels that I've worked so long that I'm completely blind to it! Argh, leaves.
Here's again the excerpt from the novel, so that you can make yourself and idea. The markings on the skin and the flowers - and nearly everything, I think - are canon.
She was no guardian warrior! (...) She was very old and very fat. She was someone's old granny, save tat I had never before seen a woman so corpulent. Her bright eyes were hooded with flesh and wrinkles. Dewara wanted me to battle with this?
(...) Her flesh girdled her arms and doubled her chin. (...) Her fallen bosom was enormous and rested on the rolling swell of her belly. Her hair, long and streaky grey as a horse's mane, hung like a cloak over her shoulders and down her back. The persisten breeze toyed with its uneven ends. Hr robe looked as if it had been woven from greygreen lichen. It hung nearly to the ground, tenting her immense girth, and her thick ankles and plump feet showed beneath it.
(...)
My approach had become the cautious creep of the fascinated cat rather than the wary stalking of a warrior. Her face was still, her expression both serene and dignified. Now she seemed, not old, but ageless. Her face was lined but there were the kindly lines of a woman who smiled often and enjoyed life. In a woman of my own kind, I would have found her bulging flesh repulsive, but because she was a Speck, it seemed just another difference between us.
(...)
She seemed singularly unimpressed with my sabre. She leaned closer, and as she did so, I perceived that her loose hair was snagged on the tree's trunk, as if binding her to it.
Robin Hobb, Shaman's Crossing, p. 92-94 hardback edition
Preview:
Hope you'll like :)
ETA: Yay! Just posted it to Robin Hobb's newsgroup. She saw it, and asked me if she could save it on her computer and put it on her site! *bounce and throws confetti*
What began as an entry for a contest ended as just a try to use Painter some more, and give justice to Hobb's wonderful character. I'm afraid I'm still not completely able to balance the complexity and level of detail of such a pic with its overall legibility, but heh. This has been an interesting try! Though I'm REALLY preferring the physical sensations (mmmh) of natural media!
Anyway, constructive criticism VERY welcome. After all, this isn't watercolours and can be amended - though it feels that I've worked so long that I'm completely blind to it! Argh, leaves.
Here's again the excerpt from the novel, so that you can make yourself and idea. The markings on the skin and the flowers - and nearly everything, I think - are canon.
She was no guardian warrior! (...) She was very old and very fat. She was someone's old granny, save tat I had never before seen a woman so corpulent. Her bright eyes were hooded with flesh and wrinkles. Dewara wanted me to battle with this?
(...) Her flesh girdled her arms and doubled her chin. (...) Her fallen bosom was enormous and rested on the rolling swell of her belly. Her hair, long and streaky grey as a horse's mane, hung like a cloak over her shoulders and down her back. The persisten breeze toyed with its uneven ends. Hr robe looked as if it had been woven from greygreen lichen. It hung nearly to the ground, tenting her immense girth, and her thick ankles and plump feet showed beneath it.
(...)
My approach had become the cautious creep of the fascinated cat rather than the wary stalking of a warrior. Her face was still, her expression both serene and dignified. Now she seemed, not old, but ageless. Her face was lined but there were the kindly lines of a woman who smiled often and enjoyed life. In a woman of my own kind, I would have found her bulging flesh repulsive, but because she was a Speck, it seemed just another difference between us.
(...)
She seemed singularly unimpressed with my sabre. She leaned closer, and as she did so, I perceived that her loose hair was snagged on the tree's trunk, as if binding her to it.
Robin Hobb, Shaman's Crossing, p. 92-94 hardback edition
Preview:
Hope you'll like :)
ETA: Yay! Just posted it to Robin Hobb's newsgroup. She saw it, and asked me if she could save it on her computer and put it on her site! *bounce and throws confetti*