Earth Mandala

I was commissioned by a woman who owns a yoga business/studio to make a pair of mandalas, which will be printed and hung on the walls. :) I already finished the first one, which is the one below!

That one is of the sun and the moon, so naturally the next one is of the earth! This one is a work in progress.
Here is the original sketch:

Here are the lines:

I haven't finished the lines yet, but I have most of them down. I still need to draw the continents on the globe and finish the sun and moon. The moon is on the bottom, and the sun is on the top.


Edit: I finished the lines! Here they are: 

I'm still debating about colors, but I'm thinking of using some earthy tones, as well as some greens and blues. I'm not at all sure about what colors to use for the birds, though!

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any ideas for the colors, please comment!

--Liz

Works in Progress

Here are some progress shots of a picture I've been working on for awhile. It depicts a big 'ol clump of seaweed floating around underwater.
It is still a work in progress, so any critique is appreciated!
The shots here start from the very beginning of the piece and go to the end, which is where I am now. I was asked by several people on deviantart to do a little tutorial on my process, so I'll add little comments after each step. :)
(The the picture that each comment belongs to is the one directly underneath the comment)

I started out with a sketch and set the sketch layer to multiply so I can paint on a layer underneath it.

This stage was mainly choosing colors and putting them underneath the sketch layer.

Tweaked the colors a bit, began to add the base colors for the seaweed.

Also, see that little extra window there? it helps me to see what the full picture looks like while I'm working up close, and if I want to I can also edit the picture from far away using that little window. In order to get it, go to view> new window for "untitled" and it should pop right up!

I began adding an overlay layer above the base color for the seaweed in order to try to establish some colors to establish some depth. Later on I will use the colors created by the overlay layer to shade.

I think I toned down the overlay layer a bit here, and finally came to a color I liked for the shading. I finished the basic shading, which will help me to distinguish one frond of seaweed from another once I take away the sketch layer.

At this point, I felt ready to take away the sketch layer... and the picture without the sketch layer is quite frightening and intimidating! It's all blobby and weird. From this point forward I will be painting using the colors that are already here, for the most part. 

I should add that I paint with opaque colors with my layers at 100% opacity on the normal setting from here on out. For the most part I use either the 19px airbrush, or a custom brush I made that is pretty much the same thing.

Started defining the individual fronds a little more. 

I made the sketch layer visible again so I can keep with the overall image I first had of the picture. And maybe for some other reason I can't remember? I took a screencap of this, so this step must have been important somehow.

Painting without lines again! This time I'm getting a little more up-close-and-personal with the base of the seaweed clump, further defining each frond.

As you can see, there are a few different colors within the clump that I'm using. I basically just pluck a color (with the eyedropper) that's already in the picture and use it to shade. 

Also, I am working on a layer that is far above the base color at this point. All of my painting now will be on the same layer (highlights and shadows are on the same layer). Occasionally I make a new layer, just for... security reasons. 

Defining the base of the seaweed clump further, using a darker color for more variation!

More defining of the fronds...

Between here and the last picture, I defined the rocks a little bit more to add some depth, defined some more fronds, and now I'm working on that mini-clump. Apparently I got bored of the rocks, because I didn't finish defining them...

Awwwww, shoot. Apparently I lost all the work from awhile back, so all the work on the rocks and that mini-frond is gone. What I have now is below.

I swear, I rarely lose my work like that! That's probably the biggest issue with working on the computer, though-- saving. My computer was lagging a LOT at the time, so I guess it didn't save.
Well, that's all for now. I'm going to go beat myself up for not saving my work, now.

Hello!

Hello there! This is Artistic-aviary from deviantart-- also known as "Liz" elsewhere around the internet-- and I created this blog as a place to post my sketches and works in progress (as well as finished pictures) as I work on them.

Thank you for stopping by! :)