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Description
Final Round of The theme was Halloween with specific costumes to pick from, I picked Gypsy for Suzy, specifically the Turkish Roma. This picture is painted on 11" by 14" Bristol board using a mixture of Copic markers, watercolor paints, and loose ink.

History time!
The romani people were originally from India, but got the name Gypsy after being mistaken for Egyptians. They lived all throughout Europe and the middle east, taking on elements of the cultures they live beside. In Turkey the Roma practice a style of dance called Roman Havasi, which is similar to belly dance, and is the reason people wrongly associate Gypsies with belly dance. Often the costumes preformed in for this dance are a mix of traditional roma garb and Turkish belly dance costumes. To this day the roma preform Havasi at festivals like the one being portrayed here.

So, why do I think I deserve to win this contest? Well for one I've been doing this whole competition in a more challenging medium, though digital art can be amazing traditional has one big thing that makes it difficult, unlike digital it can't be altered once on the page, so much time and effort must be made to be sure it comes out right the first time. This one in particular was hard because I painted the background in watercolor. This was also too large for my scanner, so I went and spent money to have is scanned at a copy store.
The other thing was just the sure amount of research I did on Gypsies before even starting to draw to make sure I was being kind to the culture being portrayed. Than I did even more on Turkey and it's landscape once I picked which sort I wanted to use. I tried to make the location look like a grander, sonicish version of Turkey, so no, people wouldn't put markets this close to ruins in real life, but it looks nice for background. Her outfit is also glammed up a bit more than it would be since this is a pageant, but I tried to keep things at least somewhat realistic.
I must have watched over 20 videos of dancers to get costume and pose ideas before I drew this. I drew up several costume ideas before settling on this.
This picture took me at least 24 hours to draw and color not including research time and the time I spent on failed designs.
Regardless, even if I don't win this has been a lot of fun, everyone has done amazing work and I've loved seeing all of it. I'd love to do it again at some point!

Description
Final Round of The theme was Halloween with specific costumes to pick from, I picked Gypsy for Suzy, specifically the Turkish Roma. This picture is painted on 11" by 14" Bristol board using a mixture of Copic markers, watercolor paints, and loose ink.

History time!
The romani people were originally from India, but got the name Gypsy after being mistaken for Egyptians. They lived all throughout Europe and the middle east, taking on elements of the cultures they live beside. In Turkey the Roma practice a style of dance called Roman Havasi, which is similar to belly dance, and is the reason people wrongly associate Gypsies with belly dance. Often the costumes preformed in for this dance are a mix of traditional roma garb and Turkish belly dance costumes. To this day the roma preform Havasi at festivals like the one being portrayed here.

So, why do I think I deserve to win this contest? Well for one I've been doing this whole competition in a more challenging medium, though digital art can be amazing traditional has one big thing that makes it difficult, unlike digital it can't be altered once on the page, so much time and effort must be made to be sure it comes out right the first time. This one in particular was hard because I painted the background in watercolor. This was also too large for my scanner, so I went and spent money to have is scanned at a copy store.
The other thing was just the sure amount of research I did on Gypsies before even starting to draw to make sure I was being kind to the culture being portrayed. Than I did even more on Turkey and it's landscape once I picked which sort I wanted to use. I tried to make the location look like a grander, sonicish version of Turkey, so no, people wouldn't put markets this close to ruins in real life, but it looks nice for background. Her outfit is also glammed up a bit more than it would be since this is a pageant, but I tried to keep things at least somewhat realistic.
I must have watched over 20 videos of dancers to get costume and pose ideas before I drew this. I drew up several costume ideas before settling on this.
This picture took me at least 24 hours to draw and color not including research time and the time I spent on failed designs.
Regardless, even if I don't win this has been a lot of fun, everyone has done amazing work and I've loved seeing all of it. I'd love to do it again at some point!