Golden Eyes

this is a small part of a much larger piece I am currently working on, but I just loved the framing of this (and its pretty much the only bit of the piece thats 100% finished right now) so I guess its a w.i.p really.

Having gained confidence in my abilities in digital painting, and having explored a fair few mediums that inspire me, I thought i'd try something a little more traditional. As always with new work its an excuse to try new techniques and I've long been in love with the feel of some peoples painted art achieved with custom digital brushes. So having made a few trial runs and then picked a subject, in this case a photograph of my youngest persian when she was still an 'ickle kitten, I ploughed into it. Most of the technique I used on this was a slight modification of the style I use to create my clouds. Basically, slap on the main colour, then roughly layer in highs and lows and use the smudge tool in a kind of zig-zag motion to pull out the fur. Then using the brush and the dodge/burn tool add fine detail and then back-smudge the hairs to blend into the main colour. Works ok I guess.

All will become clear on the full submission though, hopefully.

Thanks to ~w00zle for pointing out that this 'looks like the sort of thing that would appear on a chocolae box'....

/confidence crushed