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rachaelm5 β Opal Moon
Published: 2010-02-23 14:35:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 15680; Favourites: 932; Downloads: 0
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I am in love with your art style!!! Love all the dragons!
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Which Prismacolour Pencils did you use? Did you use the Mixed Media one or Softcore?
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I use the Prismacolor Premiers (the soft-lead ones) for most of what I do. Β
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Alright thanks for telling me!
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Thank you! Β It was pretty challenging to color. Β
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LOL - Glad you like it!
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Thank you for making it!Β Β
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Looks exactly like stone opal. Marvelous job!
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Thanks very much.Β
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I know I've said it before, but your dragons are gorgeous!
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Still always amazed by this one. Did you use a lot of white to burnish? I'm simply stunned at how you managed to blend so heavily and keep the colors so pale and iridescent at the same time!
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I burnished as I went along.Β Each successive layer, dark to light, is blended together.Β I'll use the white to mash the lightest areas together, but a lot of the blending and burnishing is actually done with the middle-to-light value range of color, rather than all with the white.Β On this particular piece, I used the pale greens, yellows, and blues to do most of the blending, with white only in the highest-value areas.
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Ah I see. Thanks so much!
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Wow this is so gorgeous, I love the pastels for this.
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Thank you.Β I have trouble with pastel colors as a general rule, so I was pleased about the way this piece turned out for the most part.
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Your dragons are just SO OUTSTANDING! Β Amazing, stunning work. Β 
The design is beautiful, natural looking, and intricate! Β And the colors remind me much of opal and are very beautiful. Β I love the use of metallic silver as well! Β
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Thanks very much!Β This was one of the most challenging of the Stone Dragon set, and I still feel like I have a lot to learn when it comes to capturing the effect of the colors of opals.Β There are so many varieties of them, too!
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You're welcome! Β Yes opals are difficult! Β I have an opal ring and sometimes on a sunny day I just have to stop and stare at it. Β 
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I am such a fan.Β
*spins around super fast* 'woooosssh'
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Your dragon works are always amazingly beautiful.
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Thank you; I'm glad you like them.Β
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Out of curiosity, do you do all of these on black paper? Or did you color white paper black or something? SO AWESOME
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Nope. I'm a masochist.
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I thought about using India ink in the background, but the texture wasn't right. I sighed, then rolled up my sleeves and used up a couple of black Prismacolor pencils for each one of these Stone Dragons.
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o_o
How I wish I either had a) the amount of time you have or b) your respectable patience.
Unfortunately, I can't afford to spend 60 hours on artwork right now...my AP drawing class requires 7 artworks a quarter (9 weeks) so I basically have to clock in at one work a week, meaning I can't spend a long time carefully blending and shading. It does force some creativity when coming up with ways to cover ground quickly while still looking legit, but I feel if I had more TIME...or less art requirements...I could shade some more.
Do you keep your pencil super sharp and use lots of light layers to blend? Or do you press reeeally hard onto the paper?
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I usually art-binge on the weekends, as I don't have the time or energy to tackle projects during the work week most of the time. I can knock out the average 30-hour piece in two weekends if I'm not trying to rush it. Since most of my stuff is smaller and... less intense... than Opal Moon, I can generally get a piece done each weekend - or at least make some good headway!
I do have to keep the pencil points sharp to do detail-work, and with the soft and squishy Prismacolor Premiers, that means sharpening the pencil for every square inch or so of coloring. I use the T'gaal brand sharpener. It has a dial that will change the angle of the blade so that the point is shorter and therefore less prone to break, so even though I sharpen often, I'm not wasting too much pencil lead.
The Prisma Premiers don't lend themselves to lots of light layers, at least the way I've learned to like using them. I really dig in and squish the colors together. The blending is much more a physical thing than an optical effect. This won't work on really smooth paper - copier paper, for example, doesn't have enough of a tooth to make this work. I would have to use light layers on that kind of paper. I use a medium tooth drawing paper, and also cold-pressed illustration board (cold-pressed is rougher than hot-press). Watercolor paper, though very durable, tends to have *too* much tooth for the Prismas, and has to be wetted and scrubbed down with a Brillo pad first.
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Ah, I see now! Thank you so much! I like heavy intense blending too, and I use Canson Vellum Bristol. I find that the smooth side of Mi-Tiente's pastel paper and Cold-press Watercolor paper works great too! So many artists out there swear by lots of light layers (and it works, I use that technqiue for skin tones mainly since they tend to be subtle) but sometimes I find that crushing the paper beneath my might is the only way to go
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I love that - "crushing the paper beneath my might" - that describes the technique perfectly.
I use the vellum bristol board, too; I'd forgotten to mention that. The tooth is just about perfect, and it can take watercolor pretty well, too. I haven't played with pastel paper too much, but that might be something for me to experiment upon
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This TOO *wiggles in Joy* lol I'll collect em all eventually
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LOL - Awesome. I shall now endeavour to take over Canada... Or at least Newfoundland.
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haha have fun!! My dread Lords will enjoy tha BBQ
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Thank you. This one was quite a challenge to color!
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In my opinion, my favorite out of all your Stone Dragons. Very nice job, faved. :3
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Thanks very much!
Yes, I'm trying something a little bit different with the coloring-book Stone Dragons. I will definitely continue to use this arrangement with the upcoming ones.
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