Ice Within

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Winter is leaving the valleys, dragging its fraying mantle behind, lingering on the ridges for a last glance back into the brightness of summer...

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EDIT: Repainted head, neck and hair.

Thanks to helpful comments by *Amazonofexeter and *sombrefeline about the face and neck. Took another three hours (faces are so fiddly... ), total time on this piece 15 hours.


I used this in my ArtRage Tutorial

Portrait Version


Wishlist prize for =Inqy's Wishlist event-thing.
If you were curious, here is the WIP

(top right one). I don't think I have WIPs, really. I have omg-must-finish-go-away-I'm-not-sleeping-today pictures, and pictures I start that end up being test runs.

Yes. This is my excuse for ease-of-distraction
If I get a better idea and don't finish, it was 'only practice'.
(...my 'sketches that could be interesting' folder has three times the number of pictures that my 'finished' folder does )


The birds are based on sparrowhawks (I changed the colouring, obviously).
The cat is a whim.

Entry for =keelerleah's Within the Element's Contest

All the Important and Boring Bits
"And remember, this is for posterity, so... be honest"

Painted in ArtRage 2.5 with tablet.
Tablet getting very pathetic and scratched, pen nib is getting very worn...

Took - about twelve hours. The first three on the dress, which became a cloak.
The last three were mostly 'paint something' 'wait for computer to unfreeze' 'merge a layer' 'wait ten minutes while it merges' try and paint again'


This is 4000x2500 pixels.
I *started* at about a quarter of that, with just the lady... she was going to be dramatic, against a black background, somewhat like Spider Guide Me.


Yeaaah.
That changed.
I was down to four layers at the end - earth, sky, figure and some overlaying mist.

Used techniques from two 'could be very nice' unfinished paintings - an ice dragon one, for the ice and snow, and this one for the under dress/embroidery (yes, there's embroidery, the edge of her gown is ragged and trailing broken threads...)

I really like the sky - it's not the crazily colourful gorgeous sunset type that is always popular but I think I got it about right for a bright and sunny winter day. There's a bit of mist in the lower part of the mountain...

The birds are going out of the picture because I want the feel of them having flown down form the heights/the mountain peaks being remote and all the life being on the lower slopes (nothing to hunt up there, really!)

Details are Here!

Remember how big this is? Trust me, there's no way you're seeing any detail without going and looking at that picture-collage thing.

And you damn-betcha I want feedback.

Entered in =xgnyc's Winter Contest