Miss O'Brian and Tracy Masters Art

   So after a few chapters of Miss O'Brian's Library, I figure it's about time to make some arts for it. Characters are my favorite thing to draw, because there's a whole story that goes into them. Drawing a character helps me get to know them a little better, and really forces me to think about them.

Of course, sometimes it's just fun to do, too. The "punk ballerina playing tennis" outfit was a must-draw just because of the weirdness of it. It's one of those things only a teenage girl can pull off. I foresee myself drawing a lot more, probably, because of her off-the-wall style.    This pic also gave me a chance to test out a new technique. I turned down the opacity of the paint-tool itself (in GIMP) to about 70-80% for the black lines on the first layer, then colored it in the usual way on the layer behind it.

This one is more of a general cover page. I might put it on the site as some version of a banner. The technique for this one was a new twist on one of my old tricks. When I was using Corel Painter Essentials 4, I would usually use the "felt tip pen" tool, and adjust the width and opacity to fit my needs. I would usually start with basic shapes, and erase, color over, and refine lines and shadows and such. In Corel, I had to start with the background, and work my way forward as if I was painting a picture. This is the same technique as was used in the Mermaids post In GIMP, however, I have the luxury of working with layers. I ended up drawing part of Evelynne first, then putting in Tracy on the ladder behind her. After zooming out and seeing them side-by-side, I refined the detail on Evelynne a little to bring her up to par with Tracy. I did the background next, making the cloudy colors in the very back, then drawing the bookcase on the layer on top of that. Afterward, I glowed Evelynne's ring by putting a translucent layer between her and Tracy, and added the wind and leaves effect in the foreground over it all. All in all, I used the heck out of my layers. This, however, isn't the MOST layers I've ever used. I think that record would have to go to The Birth of Aphrodite. I used a different layer for almost every color and every light-and-shadow effect. In a way, the new tricks are a way for me to get away from using so darn many layers after having done that. I'll keep experimenting, and hope to build up a handy bag of tricks that'll work for me.