Last late October, I thought about what kind of series I should try next. I contemplated about trying out a mix between royalty and fantasy, and then I thought about crowns. I Googled some crown pictures and I thought, "Nah, I couldn't possibly paint something like those."
At some point, I ended up trying anyway. So I started painting it, adding another thing that would challenge me into the picture: crystals. I still couldn't fully imagine how it should go, so I went on until I had to paint the crown next.
There is something beautiful about the intellect, wit, and confidence of a queen. She bears her own heavy crown and still manages to carry the world on her shoulders. And yet, even with the crown that glorifies her, she calls you beautiful, too.
This work is minted on Rarible.com in 3 editions.
I did mention that I started working on this late October. I had to patiently paint the crystals -- man, that wasn't easy! -- and then the chains -- which took a long while -- before I had to cross the queen, then the crown part.
Suffice to say, I lost interest the moment I started painting the gold embellishment on her head.
Like, I know! Erang, how could you? I was nearly the finish line. I just had to crawl my way through it. It just didn't work out.
I think by now, everyone knows I love painting people. Sometimes, I would paint everything else in my work before the actual person because I lose interest if I start with the human subject. I should have done the same here, if only to make sure I manage to finish this piece.
When I finished painting the subject -- which, by the way, is based off a reference picture -- I ended up considering removing the crown part altogether. But doing that would be like throwing away the concept I thought of, so I had to persevere, I guess.
In the end, I think I made it. Not the best crown painting, but at the very least something. Haha. After completing the initial painting, I head over to Photoshop and did some adjustments.
One of the major adjustments I did was the background. I thought it looked better with a darker background, glowing-ish crystals. The purple bits in the background were actually snow in bokeh. It's a stock photo from Unsplash.
Finally, I did some adjustments to the curves, brightness, and saturation. Overall, the editing part was really fun. I wanted to try many things, but I decided to stick with this final piece.
That's it. Again, I took another break from drawing. I've been pretty preoccupied lately, and it felt like I needed to put everything else on hold. Anyway, how have you been? What are you planning to cook for Christmas? (I'm all for food.)
