Dorian Pavus- La Petite Morte (and bonus Patreon exclusive character study)

Hi everyone!!! This is the final piece for this month's mini print for the print club.

I painted this piece using almost entirely Rebelle 7 which what an interesting change of pace. I keep going back and forth on whether I like it or not, there are some features that I don't love about it. One thing it does do is simulate real world color mixing, which is very interesting. Overall I still find the program unwieldy somehow, though it allows me to do some more experimental stuff. I find that using a completely new software is akin to switching mediums entirely. That Minthara piece I did a little bit back was also with the program, which was interesting.

I've been going through artblock lately and really had to spend more time than usual working this piece out. The Iron Bull piece was a piece of cake compared to this, somehow! I started this piece here below, but it turned into a bit more of an unfinished character study in the end. Something about it just didn't seem cool or interesting enough on its own. But Dorian's abs are of course a sight to behold so I thought I'd share for you all here on Patreon only, lol. I was calling it "Poise."

 I think I started to lose steam on this piece after I mostly finished up his hand and face, overall I felt the lighting was a little uninteresting though I do love the warm tones. I tend to prefer to have some kind of stark lighting/opposing color going on, or I tend to get a little bored. I really love that shadow on his left shoulder and I wish I'd gone more that direction with the lighting overall, but this piece was at a point where I would essentially have to redo the entire thing to do such a drastic lighting change. (I really try to avoid using multiply layers to add shadow, I don't like how they either oversaturate or muddy the layers beneath)

Lots of rambling from me, sorry! I tend to really go into analysis mode when I find myself lacking motivation. Overall I'm really happy with the direction I took the new piece- more drama and a little inspired by my Astarion piece, "Rogue" for more of a stylized look.

I hope you all are doing well!! Remember, next month's print club theme are the D&D Drow gods, Vhaeraun and Eilistraee!

~Lily