Thursday, October 14, 2010

Here's the painted up Back Beat Betty.
This first version is straight watercolor and gouache.
























This one was manipulated a bit with Photoshop.
























I added two layers.
One filled with purple in the dark areas and set to multiply with a 70 percent opacity.
The other is a duplicate of the purple layer that I added noise to with the noise filter and then reduced the opacity to 50 percent.

It gives it a better feeling of her being in a spotlight up on stage.
I think I might have to go in and add her shadow that would be cast by the spotlight. Not sure about that though.

I also might go back in and add some more details to her to make her look more like a bobcat.
Notice she doesn't have any whiskers or any markings.
I have a good reference pick that I have been using for her so I'll go back to it and "plus" her up.

She's the first in a series that I want to do.
It's a series of Beatnic animals.
I have to get to the library and see if I can actually find any books on beatnics.
I'l also have to look up some musical phrases to be able to name the rest of the characters.
Some of the ideas for characters are a cat fish, yak, toucan, squirrel, mouse, sloth,...

7 comments:

lil kim said...

great character!

breignier said...

Wow, lovely character!
I'm not sure which I like best, have you tried an intermediate version? It seems a pity to hide the textural details of the wall...
Looking forward to seeing the other characters :)

Kathy Jurek said...

That's so cute. I'm marvelling at the wonder of Photoshop. I'm hoping someday I will understand it! For now, crop, resize, erase and the magic healing tool are about all I know and those are still iffy. :)

Linda Kay said...

great, strong image--can't wait to see the other beatniks! really good idea

Vanessa Brantley Newton said...

This is so boss! How fantastic!

Becky said...

Oh this kitty made me smile. Your work is great.

Leen Christens said...

Amazing work!!