Year's Dawn finished artwork

And that's 'Year's Dawn' finished, even if I didn't get it done in time to make Christmas/ Solstice cards out of at least I got it done before new year. :)

I like the colour palette for this one. I've mostly been sticking to colours that are more harmonious, everything mixed together at least a little, up until now but I'm really happy with the bit of green on her dress and the snowdrops.
I think I'll reuse that mix of an analogous colour scheme (colours next to each other on the wheel) with one colour that sits completely out of it as a focal point. I like the contrast and it feels gentler than just using complementary colours.

I like how the colours on the yew tree merge together and the leaves in the far background came out really well, though the scanner doesn't pick up the vibrancy as well as seeing it in person.

I wish I'd put more effort into her anatomy, though that's partly just trying to paint at that size, she looks rather stiff.

Year's Dawn WIP

It's been a while since I last used coloured pencil, I do like the effect of having coloured line art, it nicely sits between realistic and obviously cartoony? I guess. Using pencil rather than pen also just pushes it a little further towards realistic, it's nearly unnoticeable in the final painting but helps me keep track of where things are, also I can get a larger range of colours with pencil than pen.

I think I'll use this technique more often.

I had a lot of fun doing the leaves in the background....I completely went about this the wrong way though, in stating off on the background I added more detail than it needed.

However by starting on the lightest part of the painting I was also laying down a marker of how dark the rest of it should be...without that guide I think I would have made everything too dark.