Chapter 5 sketch

[ladybug_archive]

Click to make bigger.

I quite love how this piece turned out, with the symbolism and all. The fire looks better than my past attempts, though it still needs work. And Seph's hair.... **strokes.**

Comments

[rose-of-pollux.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yes, the symbolism makes it very powerful-- all those flames... the flames turned out really well. I really like how her eyes turned out; they look slightly sunken, as if to underscore her madness.

Ah, yes, that long, silvery hair... X3

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Thanks! ^^ I'm happy with how it turned out. Her eyes looking sunken wasn't intentional, but that's neat that the effect adds to it anyway!

[amanechan.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yeah, I love his hair. >3 Very nice. And the fire does look pretty darn good!

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks. ^^ I hope the flames will turn out just as good in color. I'm worried about Seph's hair losing some volume in color, too, but I don't want this to be the only one in the series that isn't colored. XD

[cskazaam.livejournal.com]

Oooh, this turned out great! ^^ The fire came out really well.... It even seems to have a bit of a 3-D effect! And I really love how Seph came out. His expression is perfect, and oooh, his hair.... **pets.** The lines in the hair make it look so smooth, and the bottom edges look so feathery and soft! ^^ Kala-Ansa turned out great, too, and all the symbolism is just awesome. ^^

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Thanks! ^^ That's awesome that the fire looks a bit 3-Dish. X3

I was really happy with Seph's expression. ^^ It doesn't often come out right on the first try.

**pets hair too.** Yay feathery softness!

[ladyamberjo.livejournal.com]

I was going to comment over on Side7, but didn't see it up, so I'll just here what I would've said there:

The fire definitely looks better than some of your earlier attempts...it looks very flamey. ^_^ It might add a little depth (and increase the firey appearance) to add a few little flickery bits here and there...just little matchflame-like bits rising above the base flames, upwards-drifting, free-flying bits...it might give it more of a blazing look, though it looks very nice now.

When you color it, you might get a really neat effect if you don't ink the flames, and just color them really bold and solid with a sharp pencil (to get a good crisp outline on the outermost edges of each row of flame)...besides looking especially firey, it might contrast nicely with the softer coloring you do on the rest of the picture. ^.^

I like the idea of the woman being wrapped in the hair to symbolize her obsession (as well as Sephiroth's expression XD), but I was a little confused at first over their, er, positions in the picture...at first I thought the woman was really tiny, and then realized Sephiroth was a background figure. I'm thinking it's because of the way the hair is draped. The hair looks awesome and soft, don't get me wrong, but I think it might better establish that she's in the foreground and he's in the background if the hair wasn't all one solid mass...like maybe if you had a stray tress or two not wrapped around her, but blowing in the same direction that it seems to be aiming as it wraps around her, maybe make it shorter, or have some of the fire coming in front of it. Just a suggestion, though. ^_^;;

...apologies if that was too rambly. >_>;;;

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

XD Yeah, I was considering posting on Side7, but then I wasn't sure, since I haven't been posting the sketch versions of these pics there.

Thanks! I'm very happy with the fire. I was thinking about the stray bits leaping up, so I might try some of that before inking and coloring. I like the idea of not using ink on the flames, too. I'll have to try and see how that works.

XD I actually do have a lock or two of hair that isn't wrapped around her, but I guess it's not showing up well in the sketch. I'll have to make sure it comes out more clear. ^^

[garowyn.livejournal.com]

Very nice!

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

Neat icon. ^^