valentines rosemary process writeup

(originally posted to Patreon on Apr 5 2021)

hi there! thought i would try to figure out how i wanted to format these sorts of posts, since this is a new thing i wanted to offer. so i figure i might as well just try it out with something i've already finished! in this case, it's this piece from valentines 2021:

i am the kind of person who has to meticulously plan every last little detail - i'm not really good at making things up on the fly, and i genuinely enjoy researching and gathering references. fun fact- i'm actually really, really bad at visualizing things in my head. so generally, every single drawing i do has... almost like a moodboard, i guess? it helps me get a clearer sense of what direction i want to go in, what kind of pose to use, what sort of vibes or colors i want... etc. for this drawing, my references looked kind of like this:

evidently i have a fondness for early 20th century photography and art nouveau. oh, incidentally, the lingerie from this drawing is from Uye Surana's valentines collection. i was genuinely very tempted to buy that floral babydoll, but i opted to draw Rosemary in it instead- it... unfortunately was not in my budget to buy a $65 tits out dress at the time. (it is now sold out. part of me regrets passing it up, but such is life.)

for color schemes, usually i look around for photos with colors i find interesting. this time around i ended up using paintings, which... uhh... i'm really regretting not writing down the sources for those. i'm usually meticulous about that- forgive me!!!!!

running a quick mosaic filter over images helps me break down the colors. easier to for my brain to process if it's just abstract squares. but in this case, i was drawn towards the muted rose tones combined with the more vivid and warm pinks. i wanted something soft and warm, comforting but also making you blush at the same time.

then i usually i do some thumbnails to work out what kind of pose i want to do, how the colors would roughly look, etc. thinking about color usage and shapes is crucial to how i approach composition, and it's generally easiest for me to just scribble some things down real quick as a test run.

i, uh, i think i did this with a mouse instead of getting out my tablet. this happens a lot, actually. sometimes i will be stuck on how to approach a drawing, unable to visualize anything for days... and then suddenly get an idea at 2am and rush to my computer to scrawl down some colors before i forget. i don't quite remember if that was the case here, but considering that's how half of my drawings go, i wouldn't be surprised.

here's what my sketch/lines looked like. sort of! i hadn't drawn her lingerie yet. but generally, i try to clean up sketches as i go, and then just use that as my lineart. honestly, doing separate lineart always looks so stiff and awkward whenever i do it... i think i lose a lot of the fluidity of my lines if i just trace on top, and for whatever reason it just doesn't click with me at all.

more cleanup, plus the lingerie. yes i stubbornly draw lace by hand. you can't stop me

looking through my folders.... unfortunately, i don't have other progress shots from this drawing, so i'll probably go more in depth on my coloring/painting process another time. until then, i hope you enjoyed reading my process!