Queen of Water WIP

[JessieNebulous]

Digital, made with Krita.

I love portraits, but my digital ones always end up looking very cartoonish. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not the style I want for my work. So I shied away from portraits until I started getting a better handle on the digital medium. I'm now thinking more in terms of shapes rather than lines (drawing has been the bulk of my experience, not painting, so it takes a shift in mindset) and I think I'm in a place where I can start trying portraits again.

What I wanted to focus on in this was avoiding a cartoony style and making the hair look like actual hair. I have a tendency to want to draw each individual strand even though I know I should focus more on shapes and clumps of hair. I think I was at least semi-successful here.

She's the Queen of Water because for a long time I've wanted to design a tarot deck replacing the traditional suits with elemental ones. I'm not beginning that project, as my skills aren't quite THERE yet, but this is definitely inspired by the idea. Sorry for the blocks of text, but I wanted to explain it a bit!

 

[snoball]

Hi Jesse, I hope you don't mind me messing with your work. If you will use a smudge tool after you are through with the hair, it will help it look more realistic. See below.

 

[JessieNebulous]

Hi Jesse, I hope you don't mind me messing with your work. If you will use a smudge tool after you are through with the hair, it will help it look more realistic. See below.
View attachment 14187

I certainly don't mind! I appreciate the tip. I'm still learning digital and am open to help with it. Thank you

 

[ams]

Nicely done Jessie. Another thing I have started experimenting with is using the inking tool for wisps of hair (also works well with whiskers on dogs and cats). I used a preset that tapers and smooths the line a bit. I'm not sure what it would be in your software since I have only worked in Artrage.

 

[Artyczar]

Before I read what you wrote, my first thought was how great the hair looked. This is a great rendering. You should feel very good about this. Not "cartoony" at all. Well done!