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kikuneko β€” The High Priestess: Himeko

Published: 2006-07-23 05:16:13 +0000 UTC; Views: 1603; Favourites: 31; Downloads: 27
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Description A brand new piece. I was going to wait to post this one until I'm closer to finishing something else, but I wanted to share it with everyone and make it a print, so here it is.

A few months ago my sister was looking at Tarot card decks and shared some links with me so I could see the beautiful artwork. We looked at the Eatpoo Tarot Car Project [link] links together and admired the awesome art, and I was inspired to try a card of my own. So here is my character Himeko as the High Priestess. I was in a mood for blues when I colored it, so it went fairly quickly. And isn't her tail the fluffiest ever? It was so fun to work on

I looked at the attributes information on this card at the Eatpoo Tarot Card Project [link] as I sketched this, and I really appreciate them putting such a beautiful set together. I chose to draw Himeko, my Birman cat princess from another world, because she is very innocent and is the holder of powerful knowledge that is secret even to herself. Her blue eyes and white hair were also perfect for the color scheme I'm keeping my pledge with myself to work in higher contrast and include more dark tones, so she isn't too washed out even against the white.

I used Pigma Micron 005 for the inked outlines and Prismacolor colored pencils for the color, on white memory book paper. The white actually worked all right for this one, and not _too_ many of subtleties were lost in scanning. I scan the drawings into my computer, so that makes the colors a little smoother than they really are. It might be a tad over-amped in the contrast, but it looks fine on my monitor, so I'm not sure... I had to curve it after the scanner got a hold of it.
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Comments: 38

ekimflow [2013-06-23 15:06:34 +0000 UTC]

Glad To Have Found You And Your Wonderful Artwork Again,Haven't Seen You Since Anthrocon Was In Philadelphia Many Years Ago

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ReaperasinGrimm [2011-01-12 00:40:06 +0000 UTC]

I love the way the cloth in her hands moves so smoothly

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DarkDelusion [2007-01-20 20:34:50 +0000 UTC]

This is a a stunning piece

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kikuneko In reply to DarkDelusion [2007-01-23 06:50:06 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. I'm really happy with this piece. The colors and the motion fit together so well that it surprised me

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bicozikan [2006-08-11 07:39:56 +0000 UTC]

Stunning, soulful and beautifully rendered. She looks rather forlorn actually
I'm particularly mesmerised by the folds and creases in the fabric o.o

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kikuneko In reply to bicozikan [2006-08-13 03:26:26 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. I meant her to look a bit more thoughtful than forlorn, but perhaps she is having a sad revelation. I loved working on the fabric here. Many of my recent pieces have had tighter fitting clothing and I haven't been able to indulge my love of free-flowing fabric.

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kitton [2006-07-28 17:51:08 +0000 UTC]

I love the flowyness of this and the blues :3 I love the flow of her hair and her design... very lovely work!

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kikuneko In reply to kitton [2006-07-28 22:57:39 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. I'm really pleased with the motion of this piece. Himeko is one of my favorite characters to draw, but it's difficult to make her stand out from the background. The blues really helped.

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Tabby-chan [2006-07-26 19:32:54 +0000 UTC]

Wow,this is cool! I love the motion in this! great work! But I think, the hands seem to be a bit too small... But really lovely!

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kikuneko In reply to Tabby-chan [2006-07-27 04:50:36 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. I'm happy with the motion as well, it has a kind of graceful energy to it. *peers at the hands* They could be too small, maybe... I have a bad habit of focusing on one area at a time when I draw, so my proportions can be a little bit off.

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Tabby-chan In reply to kikuneko [2006-07-31 17:20:32 +0000 UTC]

Proportions are very difficult. But when I see something like that, I say it. I hope, this is allright for you. Another person here on DA got nuts because I told him something....

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kikuneko In reply to Tabby-chan [2006-08-01 22:25:07 +0000 UTC]

I don't mind at all. I appreciate you mentioning anything that stands out to you. I promise I won't go nuts I know the head to body proportions on my drawings were off for years, and if I'm not careful I made the same old mistakes.

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fantasydreamer06 [2006-07-24 02:23:39 +0000 UTC]

Amazing!!!! I love the use of blue and the flow of the fabric! Great job!

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kikuneko In reply to fantasydreamer06 [2006-07-24 03:32:27 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. I haven't indulged in blue in a while, so this was a real treat. I especially love the look of the blue-violet fabric.

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Nyght-Driscol [2006-07-24 02:13:02 +0000 UTC]

Oh my gosh. This is absolutely beautiful. The cool colors in this area amazing. You did such a fantastic job on this. Maaan. I do love that outfit, and I really love the pose.

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kikuneko In reply to Nyght-Driscol [2006-07-24 04:26:06 +0000 UTC]

Thank you I'm really happy with the pose as well. I wanted a nice sense of flow, and it worked surprisingly well. I don't think I've done any outfit quite like this before. The way the skirt gathers was at first just an accident of the crease lines, but I really like how I decided to color it. And little moons are fun to color!

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Stars-Trinity [2006-07-23 16:33:15 +0000 UTC]

I love your colors~! The sash thing is really cool too!

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kikuneko In reply to Stars-Trinity [2006-07-24 01:55:56 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. I had a lot of fun with the colors and the fabric in this one. I haven't gotten to indulge in blue in a while, and it was relaxing to work with that palette again.

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AJAngelique [2006-07-23 16:00:56 +0000 UTC]

woah...breath taking....

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kikuneko In reply to AJAngelique [2006-07-24 01:54:35 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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AJAngelique In reply to kikuneko [2006-07-24 04:59:59 +0000 UTC]

yw!

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kireinabara [2006-07-23 15:33:09 +0000 UTC]

The color-combination is stunning as usual but this one is like....uber-beautiful.

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kikuneko In reply to kireinabara [2006-07-24 04:12:24 +0000 UTC]

Thank you Blue is my favorite color and I think that shows in the way I handle it. And blue with French gray is almost sinfully easy to make look good

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kireinabara In reply to kikuneko [2006-07-24 23:38:25 +0000 UTC]

Haha, still you make it look great. ^^

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knight-owl [2006-07-23 07:04:12 +0000 UTC]

Wow! This is really gorgeous I love your style, and this piece is amazing. Both the smooth colouring on the fabrics and the fur texture look so good, and the folds on the fabric are even better! I will most definately have to give you a watch!

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kikuneko In reply to knight-owl [2006-07-24 04:09:09 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. I had so much fun making her tail look pet-able. For a few days she was just colored fur and eyes, and then I was a fabric mood and finished the rest of the piece. Thank you for the watch! I’ll try to be watch-worthy

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ladyChanta [2006-07-23 05:24:59 +0000 UTC]

i love it it's beautiful. i have a feeling you're going to be hearing that alot from me but i really enjoy your art.

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kikuneko In reply to ladyChanta [2006-07-23 05:31:07 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. I like hearing from you, don't worry Comments are encouraging to me and I really enjoy sharing my art with people.

I really like your first quote, by the way. That's why I'm going to Library Science instead of Law, because I don't love law enough get the through the rough times, but I love my library work. And if I hadn't discovered I could love art and library work at the same time, I would have tried to tough it out as a fine artist *content*

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ladyChanta In reply to kikuneko [2006-07-23 05:35:05 +0000 UTC]

thank you and i'm glad you like hearing from me. i really like your art. i can't draw like that but i can dream and wish. poetry is my form of art. and if i had a large enough canvas and enough paint i'd paint till my heart's content but i can't afford those kind of materials right now.

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kikuneko In reply to ladyChanta [2006-07-24 04:54:02 +0000 UTC]

Poetry is a wonderful form of art. I'm glad that you have that avenue to express yourself. I'm really inept at poetry, so I admire your skills. I understand about the expense of paints and canvas. Being an artist or artist student isn't cheap. Hum... maybe you could find someone who wanted a mural on their house or wall and paint that...

My mom and I meet a really nice man who had his M.F.A in art and did store window painting, like Easter Bunnies and sales signs and such. He used poster paint from our local teachers' supply store, and said it was cheap and of good enough quality for what he did. He loved his job, and I really admire him for finding something he loved and sticking to it. Maybe you could do painting like that someday, or at least play around with poster paint and cardboard or posterboard…

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ladyChanta In reply to kikuneko [2006-07-24 05:03:45 +0000 UTC]

i've done a mural before. and i got paid deciently well. it was a monet style painting, of this guys backyard. which was HUGE! and like a fairy tale garden. it took up the whole yard. it was neat. i got 500$ for that. but that money went to moving and art supplies. my dad has offered to buy the things i need to stretch a canvas, then he wants me to paint a religous thing for his church. i'm a little excited about it.

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kikuneko In reply to ladyChanta [2006-07-27 04:48:29 +0000 UTC]

That's awesome! Good for you, doing murals I made a good guess, then. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much and that it paid well, even if you couldn't revel in the money I hope you do get to work on the church project, that sounds like so much fun. Good luck stretching the canvas. I'm too weak in the arms to do it alone.

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ladyChanta In reply to kikuneko [2006-07-27 04:57:10 +0000 UTC]

I'm pretty strong in my arms. but its pretty easy for me to stretch canvases.

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kikuneko In reply to ladyChanta [2006-07-28 23:07:44 +0000 UTC]

Good for you I'm glad it's easier for you, because stretching canvas is so much cheaper than buying pre-made. You'll save a lot of money in the long run.

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ladyChanta In reply to kikuneko [2006-07-29 01:31:35 +0000 UTC]

Also when you stretch you own if you don't get it tight enough thats your fault, but if you buy one thats not tight enough you just wasted like 4-5 $

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kikuneko In reply to ladyChanta [2006-08-02 00:32:54 +0000 UTC]

You've right about the wasted money, that's just frustrating. I haven't stretched one tight enough yet But I've only done three, because I hate doing it so much. I'd actually rather work on panel. It's cheaper for me. I've also been using lots of palette knife techniques and I'm afraid I'd cut through a canvas.

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ladyChanta In reply to kikuneko [2006-08-02 18:43:06 +0000 UTC]

i use palette knives all the time on canvas. the fabric is strong and the jesso strengthens the canvas so it doesn't cut though ^_^ i was afraid of that too when i first started painting with them.

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kikuneko In reply to ladyChanta [2006-08-09 23:47:24 +0000 UTC]

I wasn't too worried about using palette knives with canvas when I started, but towards the end of the project I was using wood carving tools with a lot of pressure So it was good I was using panel then

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