First I take an ACEO blank that has part of a mermaid's tail sketched out on it. I drew this one's tail past her own lines to make sure I had the proportion correctly. And I'm not one to waste anything, even sketches. :):)
For this one, I started with a brown pencil sketch. And what's unusual for me, this time I did the background first. I did some heavy "burnishing," pressing really hard with the pencil to get the smooth, vivid color.
Finishing off her hair for the most part; at this point she has one green eye. :):) Notice I'm starting to clean up her right jawline--to viewer's left--because it was off balance.
And I fill in the eyes. At this point, it's just brown and a touch of green on plain paper, no white. And I think to myself, "She must be wearing loads of waterproof mascara." :):) Right now she looks a bit scary, too, like a pale sea harpy, rather than a lovely mermaid. :):)
Now, after saying some prayers, I begin laying in skin tone. :):) I start with plain pink as a base. That looks pretty decent to me at the time, but I push myself to go a bit further, and cover that with a deep tan. I roll in some rose for the cheeks (swirling strokes) and darken the tan for contour shading. Have to have a light touch, because the pencil gets touchy after a few layers--it wants to turn muddy.
Lord help me! The first part of burnishing the face!! I use a pale peachy white color rather than plain white. I press very hard, and hope that the shaded areas blend well--this is where it gets no-holds-barred, and can turn greyish and muddy. Notice how I stay away from the features for as long as I possibly can! heehee! I'm so afraid I'm going to mess them up. :):) Funny, isn't it, how she looks a little surly without her lipstick? Don't we all, sometimes? :);)
Got my gumption up, and burnished the rest of her face and around the eyes. :):) Notice how her gaze shifted slightly. This is why I'm always afraid to mess it up at the last--one little tweak creates an entirely different drawing. I was having some luck with the pencils layering well, so I VERY CAREFULLY gave a touch of white to her eyes and to the bubbles. I originally intended to use white watercolor for this, but the fact that I can make this an all-pencil piece is da bomb diggity.
That said, I must mention that I added the mousie as the last thing, in INK, because I forgot to incorporate him in the drawing. :):)
And lipstick DOES make a difference. :):)
Spray it with a touch of fixative, trim the edges, and voila.
And just becasue he IS so darn hard to see in the scan, here's my little guy:
