Aphrodite 💘 New illustration 💘 Process (Patreon)

Hello Patrons ! 🌞

Here's a new illustration I finished on Monday. Some of you might know that I have been thinking of painting a bust/statue lately. I didn't know who/what to represent. The first doodle I did on Procreate turned out to look like a Greek statue, and it's when I added the rose in her hand that I thought Aphrodite would definitely match the vibe.

I wanted to paint something very soft and use only muted tones - something that I never do - and add just a touch of contrast with bold colors. I knew the rose was going to be bright red when I started drawing it !

Aphrodite has many symbols, the swan was tempting but too big to fit in the little illustration. So I went with sparrows, way smaller and I thought I could draw two of them to balance the composition !

This is the first sketch that I printed out on paper. I always sketch rough ideas on my iPad with Procreate so I can play around with compositions and colors !
I then trace it on watercolor paper.

This is from the first painting session (I try to take a picture at the end of every session, which can last 1 to 2 hours).

It was oddly satisfying to paint with just one color ! 

The best part : adding bright red to this painting 🌹

Birds in progress 🌞

And here's the final painting :

I edited a bit on Procreate, her eyes were too big so I made them slightly smaller. Sometimes I like to open pictures of my illustrations on Procreate to see what I could have done differently, maybe see if there are some details I could have added (shadows, lights...).
Usually I fix my paintings afterwards, to match the edit I made on Procreate.

This piece is very different from what I usually do, but I like the overall calming vibe. I hope you'll like it too !! 🧡

Thanks again for your support on Patreon !! 💘🌸✨ 

I will answer your DMs on Patreon today, thanks again for your patience 🌼

Hugs,

Sibylline