Calligraphy Fun #2: Okami Amaterasu

  Whew! Took me about three days to get this puppy finished! (Pun intended. ) And I did! I did! I made something! I broke through that bloody art block barrier and made something.  And you know what? I'm proud of it!

  It had to be done.  I can't believe it didn't come to me sooner.  I recently started playing Okami again after a several year hiatus from it during this winter break.  It wasn't until Wednesday this week that something dawned on me... a picture of Okami fan art would make an excellent Calligraphy Fun pic.  Originally, the reflector was going to be more of a highlight, if maybe even the center of attention. I was looking forward to using the technique I used on the flames in my first Calligraphy Fun pic, and while I did, more than just the reflector ended up showing through.  After vigorous sketching and "inking", if you will (which is why this did take me as long as it did), I finally ended up with the picture you see right now.  I honestly had no idea how the cloud furs and tail brush would end up looking, but I am definitely happy with the result, and while it isn't perfect as I didn't reference anything, but concept and fan art for Amaterasu's and her reflectors design, I'm very pleased with how the anatomy came out.  I didn't reference any actually wolf pics and the pose is something made entirely off my head with a mixture of guesswork and a little bit of referencing from concept and fan art posing, though mainly the former.  I wanted to sort of make it look like Ammy was skidding to a halt in order to show off the reflector more.  Can't say the pose really looks like skidding, but I do think it looks cool. The white glow around Ammy is not necessarily because she is the sun goddess, but rather to make the black outlines visible.  I think the tail and claws gave me the most trouble.  And well... let's be real the tail... eh... it could probably be a lot better proportioned... I was trying to go for perspective and the bottom swirl thing kind of ruined the curve and thickness... but oh well...  it's staying as is as I don't think it's that detrimental to the picture and I don't feel like making any corrections . Anyway, as for the reflector, hope it's not too big and that goes for the disc and the flames.  I originally considered using Solar Flare instead of Divine Retribution, but when I say Solar Flare, I was like "LOL no" as I wanted something relatively simple to get out rather quickly seeing as how it's been forever since my last upload.  As you may or may not be able to see, I did use the same technique on the flames as I used on the first Calligraphy Fun pic.  It may not be as apparent as the colors aren't as bold and bright as the other flames colors, but either way, I think the effect was quite lovely.  And yes, it has a signature! I finally created a signature to mark my works! Ended up being a lot more simple than I originally intended, but I'm okay with that.  Came up with it quickly whilst working on this picture.  I originally intended it to be on the reflector as one of the squiggle marks but I couldn't get it to fit well and still be legible enough to be recognized as a signature.  I also originally had the signature placed at the bottom and not slightly slanted, but it just looked so much better in its finally destination that I just had to keep it.  Yes, it is my deviantArt username as opposed to my real name.  That is partially due to the fact that I'm not sure how to make a fancy yet simple sig with my name and partially due to the fact that DancingDragoness just hooked together so well with the cursive g and D.  I don't want to give away my last name like crazy and my name, Amanda, is a common name and I wanted it to be unique to me.  I also originally intended on including my dragosona, Amanda, in the signature/logo, and even thought about making that massive squiggle line a dragon tail, but it was too much work to in corporate her and the squiggle line as tail thing would've probably looked too weird. Regardless, I like how it came out as well.  I plan on using it in my future works, maybe even updating it to my real name one day, and I also think I may start using GIMP's calligraphy brush for sketching in other pictures more often.  Not really as line art outside of pictures like this one though, as other than my Calligraphy fun pictures, my main style, which I really do need to and, dare I say, still have yet to showcase more, is lineless.  The brush should make a great sketch tool as the lines' thickness is relatively easy to work with and can easily make and show both the strong and subtle parts of a unit's structure.  I also discovered a new way of filling in line work or at least its generally shape for smoothing and masking, without having to erase a leaking color outline as I call it or having to filling the edge between line art and the colors at all or not very much, which I used in this picture.  On a side note, I have also figured out how to effectively utilize and color grayscale so I hope to display that sometime soon.  And, of course I'm still working on the art trades.  I'm so sorry they are taking so long.  I'm redoing the poses to something simpler so hopefully once that's all sketched out, it's much smoother sailing than it was before.  Anyway, I hope you guys had a Christmas and hopefully I can start busting out artwork like I've been wanting to do since forever! Any sorry for the massive description and I hope you guys have a wonderful day.  Also, this image is also up on Tumblr, making it the first of my images, minus my avatar if that counts, to be on there so yay!

Note: Yes, I am aware that Calligraphy means decorative handwriting usually done with a calligraphy brush and I think that drawing or painting with a calligraphy brush is technically referred to as sumi-e, or ink wash painting, but I still call it Calligraphy Fun as the strokes were made using GIMP's calligraphy brush.  I am in no way saying that this is actual calligraphy.  This quickie style of mine originated when I was just playing around making random strokes with GIMP's calligraphy brush for the hell of it, hence the name Calligraphy Fun,  and something actually came out of it, this picture being the result. fav.me/d70lj81 It was well-received much to my surprise and excitement so I decided to run with the idea for quickie, or maybe not so quickie, art and to help break any art blocks.  Again, it isn't my main style, it's just a rather nice side style. Just thought I'd clarify that.
 
Made with: GIMP 2.8.6 (or point something else Idk XD it's hard to keep up), Wacom Bamboo Create Pen & Touch Tablet

Okami Amaterasu © Capcom and Clover Studios