Drawing Selene & Titus.
Welcome to my first blog.
Are people still visiting blog sites?
Let’s find out? As an indie author, you learn early on not to be scared to try an idea that might not succeed.
Why am I making a blog? It’s simple and frustrating. I love IG, but I can’t post longer format videos on it, so I post on TikTok, BUT TikTok flags every single post I share.
EVERY POST!!!
Do I still have hair on my head, or have I pulled it all out? It’s driving me more to ‘clinically insane’ levels (ask my husband, and he will tell you I passed normal insane long ago. I blame it on being an artist, which allows me to embrace my eccentricities, like my Christmas tree that is entirely filled with poodle ornaments, yes, poodles.)
I have no idea why, but every time I post my video, it is flagged or paused. I have to appeal, which always passes, but it’s beyond frustrating. I have to be on TikTok because a lot of my readers are there, but as an artist and author, I just want to post and not have to appeal everything.
Welcome to the freedom of my own website, hahaha.
(For the reader who posted the review and stated she hated “Nova’s line in Ashes to Ashes, “insert evil laugh here.” I hope you're not reading this because that haha was meant to sound like Nova’s villain laugh.
Just for old time’s sake let’s say it again, “Insert evil laugh here!”
So why not YouTube?
I’m always honest with my readers, and my YouTube page, although growing, is slow. I’m talking evolution slow, as in maybe it needs millions of years to grow an audience. I studied anthropology for 2 years, so when I think of my YouTube page, I envision a Trilobite preserved in pyrite. Should that be my YouTube page logo?
Did I mention I’m a little eccentric, lol.
Today, I wanted to shed some light on an art piece for Kingdoms of Silent Sorrows and offer you a behind-the-scenes look at my creative process.
Although I can't yet reveal where it will be featured (I seriously can not wait to show you where this art will be printed. Yes, that’s a hint!) I can introduce the artwork here and share its meaning with you.
Here is the piece. Tada!
So what is happening here?
You have Selene and Titus both taking an arrow to the heart.
What?! Oh no!
Don't worry, this is not a spoiler; this is symbolic.
I want you to look at their positions. Selene is taking the arrow head on. She could see it coming, and instead of running, she stood firm. That’s my alpha-female-warrior-fae-queen after all. (Is that too many -’s? Maybe I should hire an editor for this post, as I do for my books. But hey, I’m human, not AI, so I make errors sometimes. I think it needs that many, so I’m leaving it.)
Running? Only into battle, silly. Queens don’t run away.
Look at her arms and facial expression; she’s accepting it. (Just as I have long accepted my addiction to Sephora. Too many lipsticks is a term my brain can't compute, so I keep buying more.)
What is the arrow she is coming to terms with? I can't tell you that, or I’d ruin the book.
Now look at Titus.
Did I have fun drawing those muscles? Yes! Seriously, I did. Long story short, when I was in university, we had models come to our drawing class (nude models, hey, this is art, and as artists we needed to learn anatomy. It’s not what you think. The models we had were not walking runways.) The vast majority were elderly people. Put yourself in my shoes, I’m a shy introvert and all of a sudden an older male was shedding his clothing and baring it all. My cheeks are still stained red and not in a trendy influencer blush lover kind of way. I saw things, shapes and curves of the body I had never seen before. I saw the beauty and reality of aging (as I mentioned most models were over the age of 70). This is reality, we all age, no matter what the ingredients on our skincare bottles tell us. Get ready to wrinkle people. It’s okay.
Jokes aside, I was appreciative of the models, because if people didn’t do this, how would artists learn anatomy? We have to study all types, from youth to the splendor of aging, which we all must endure. Embrace those wrinkles; it’s a treasure, a trophy of surviving that not everyone gets to have.
However, at the time, I wanted to draw like Michelangelo. I wanted muscles, to practice the curves and lines, to see the anatomy of a male in the romance books I was reading. Welcome to reality, books are fiction, lol.
Shocker! I didn't get to draw muscles. But I appreciated learning to draw sagging skin and wrinkles. Honestly, I did because under that skin was the muscle, not sculpted, but it was there, and it was my job to draw it. But now I get to draw what I want, and I want to give my readers those alpha males they love. Move aside, 6 pack, Titus is a warrior after all.
Okay, back to Titus.
His arrow is coming from behind. A betrayal? A shock?
Sorry, I can't spoil it either. You have to read the book to find out.
Look at his hands, he’s not opening up accepting it like Selene. He’s grabbing the arrow, ready to pull it out. He’s ready to fight.
Their positions to each other are also symbolic, and by the end of the book, you’ll better understand this, too.
Also, his dagger is symbolic of a line in the book, “Brother, a knife cannot become a needle that mends you.” So I wanted the dagger to portray that eye of the needle at the top. Wait?! Did you see the second hidden detail in the dagger? Hint: Look for the reflection.
How I made the art.
I drew this in Procreate (honestly, it’s the best app for drawing in). For the artist out there familiar with Procreate, I made this the largest canvas I had ever drawn, which presents a lot of challenges. It was 6000px x 8000px, which meant I could only have 12 layers! I know your eyes must be wide. 12 layers were a constant issue. I had to compress everything and commit to every pen stroke. My main goal was to make sure I could just keep the character separate from the background so I had options in the end. But working with so few layers is a huge learning curve.
So why would I draw like this? It’s simple. The details. I have a passion for hyperrealism art, and this has allowed me to practice. I could zoom in and draw pores and veins. If you look at her wrist, you can see the veins. I wanted my characters to be living and breathing. Watch out, Mary Shelley, “She’s alive! She’s alive!” Selene was my Frankenstein. I drew her first, so she was more experimental with this canvas size compared to Titus.
Writing this book was a journey of pushing my plot and characters, and so is the art of the story. Like all art, there is a story and purpose behind it.
If you have questions and want them answered, please message me below in the comments. I will try to include them in a future blog post.
