WK Fanart - Welcome to the Circus

[lauand.livejournal.com]

      Fandom: Weiß Kreuz
      Rating: G
      Characters: Crawford. You'll have to take my word on it.
      A/N: Hopefully the first of many. We'll see, because this shit took me the whole evening. I only had a little lamp to take the pic and cardboard reflects like crazy, so the lighting is fixed with Photoshop because the lamp destroyed it, so the texture and colour have suffered from it. I'll probably take another pic tomorrow with diffused natural light.

 

Comments

[nuraya.livejournal.com]

HOW??? This is amazing, honestly. I agree with what has been said above of this being amazingly evocative. Just beautiful! And that Crawford there, OMG. I'm asking, HOW??? How do you manage all this upon cardboard. There's so much atmosphere in this, so much. I can BREATHE that arena. I just can't stop staring at this, it's absolutely gorgeous.

And I do hope it is first of many!!! Just, wow.

[lauand.livejournal.com]

I'd say that upon cardboard this was much easier to achieve than on any other surface! The base colour was already done!

I'm flabbergasted at all your positive comments, I really didn't expect people to like this pic so much. I was half laughing when I finished it thinking "I'm shabby or what?". But you know I don't mind being shabby, so I posted it anyway.

I'm actually looking forward to the next one! (Well, I think I'll draw it next, even if it will take more effort than other one I have also planned out) Hopefully next weekend!

[nuraya.livejournal.com]

Actually, with cardboard, I meant the drawing, but then I saw what you told oracle_dreams up there, so yeah, I can kind of see how water technique would make it an okay material to work with. Still, though! OMG.

You know I need to try that sometime. We've got plenty of cardboard lying around due to the gerbils, after all. ;) Not sure how that'd work out though, since I'm not very comfortable with water techniques as yet.

YAY next one!! I'm excited! ^___^ I'm hoping lots of inspiration for next weekend for you! :)

[lauand.livejournal.com]

Ah, I didn't worry too much about the drawing. It was just a blur of guidelines. I used a thick sketch graphite lead, so Crawford ended up being a black silhouette, I did the detail with the nib once I had the balance and general pose covered. Then I thought that the nib clashed with the rest of the brush made lines and applied the brush on him, too. Being intentionally shabby from the very beginning gives you a lot of freedom, so I didn't really care for the drawing except as a help in the composition and general "where are things".

Water techniques are incredibly fun, I recommend them. It's frustrating how easily you fuck up in a definitive manner (not so much with oils and acrilics, when you can paint over the fuck-up, but watercolours and ink are crazy!). Fool around a bit, without expectations, and you'll get hooked.

I suspect this week is not going to be a good one, but I'll do what I can!

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

I've been eavesdroping on your convo - hope you don't mind!

I have a technique from school I absolutely love. The way you are talking about technique I think it may be a fun medium for you to try. It's a fluid technique that has a feel like nothing else.

Charcoal, oil paint and turpentine (or whatever oil thinner you have). I use a single color - usually an umber or sienna to give an 'antiqued' feel. Charcoal spreads like a paint when you touch it with thinner but resembles nothing else when used this way. It can make for a very dense velvety black or subtle shading. A very thin oil color, when used in the shading, just produces this great effect. I should dig up a pic of the end result... I really think you'd enjoy it and I think it would take to cardboard beautifully.

I know you have no idea what everyone sees in this but the texture and warmth of the cardboard is really lending quite a bit to picture. There is this lovely section just above Brad's head - the background of the tent that just has this glow to it. That is probably a bit of the reflectivness working... no matter. Your unconventional surface choices lend quite a bit to your work. They are unusual effects that most people aren't used to seeing - especially now that so much is digital (not that there is anything wrong with that!). You are knee deep in 'happy accidents' which, I think, is a huge part of the artistic process that is being lost in the digital age. I think that may be a bit of what people are responding to - besides the awesome concepts and execution.

Sorry for the soapbox - I don't often get a chance to wax poetic about the nitty gritty of art. Forgive me my repressed enthusiasm wriggling free...

[lauand.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... sounds like something I would like. Unfortunately, I don't have turpentine here, it will have to wait till I go back to Cuenca (where I study, that's where all my materials are). And yes, I think it would take to cardboard really well. I have to try it some time.

Oh, thank you for the explanation! Not that I don't like the pic, I do, but I wouldn't have responded to enthusiastically to it as most of you have. I didn't see it so special, really.

If it's to praise me, you can wax poetic to your heart's content! XD!!