May MOTM: Adagio & Allegro - painting process video // nsfw

attached below is the process video for the may MOTM painting, of two ladies named adagio & allegro!

the composition and pose sprung out of three scattered notions: 1) with adagio being a mermaid and allegro a faun, i immediately pictured them next to a pool, so adagio could remain in the water while her girlfriend sits on some mossy rocks; 2) as we have seen before (here and here) i love drawing the long tails of naga and similar monsters partially submerged in water, since it creates such a cool visual, so i wanted to do something similar with adagio's fish tail; and 3) it was about time i drew some lesbian fingering. thus the setting became a shallow pond, with allegro laying back on the soft moss to enjoy adagio's attentions.

refining the sketch was harder than usual. most months i design one monster and draw them with a human who -- in comparison to their mythological lover -- has a relatively simple and straightforward appearance. but this time i basically did double the work, having designed two monsters and needing to make sure i drew both of them correctly. having the concept sketches at hand, for my own reference, was more instrumental than ever.

certain parts of the posing and anatomy caused me some issues. for example, i re-drew adagio's tail a bunch of times. it looks pretty stiff and "fish-like" on the concept sketch, but sometimes you see mermaid tails that seem more serpentine, curling about themselves and bending in ways that a fish's tail wouldn't. i thought that it would suit her, so in the painting i went for a more snaking look. and then i re-drew the tail fin about as many times, in search of the shape and "flow" that would be most aesthetically pleasing. it also took a few attempts to get adagio's hand right -- to make it look like her fingers are actually slipping inside her partner rather than like they're cut off at the knuckles. the angle of her arm didn't help, but eventually i figured it out.

after having established the basic shapes of their bodies, i started adding the various details of their designs, like the lily pads dotting adagio's tail and all of allegro's fluff. i always talk about refining my sketches layer by layer, using smaller and smaller brushes and i think this particular process video gives a very clear idea of exactly what i mean. i went through five sketch layers, with the last of them being so precise it basically looks like a lineart. by that point i had also added background elements in the form of lily pads and mossy rocks, in line with adagio's aesthetic -- perhaps this lake is her home.

i used a tiny brush for the lineart and thanks to the final sketch layer being so precise, it was easy to get every line right. note that all the background elements are on separate layers from anything that relates to the characters -- in fact, i used a lot of layers for this piece. for example, in the case of adagio, i had different layers for her tail; fins; the lily pads; the water lilies; her hair; pale chest; and the veil. this way, i could lock the transparency of each layer and work on one element at a time, without the risk of "colouring outside the lines."

once i had added some basic gradients to both the characters and the background, i started refining the shapes and adding texture. i used a painterly brush for adagio's fins and lily pad details, but in the case of allegro's fur i selected different "sections" and used a charcoal brush to add a darker or lighter gradient. with the scene being relatively zoomed out, i focused more on the colours and contrasts than on tiny details, and i made sure to work on both the characters and the background, so that the latter wouldn't "lag behind."

speaking of the background, there's some points in the process where it changes drastically due to adding a layer effect or gradient that suddenly makes it much darker, lighter, or greener. i knew that the colours and lighting conditions of the surroundings would affect the characters a lot, so i kept experimenting with the atmosphere. i realised that allegro looked very out of place, so i started adding subtle green overlays and reflective light to her body, which immediately makes her seem more "at home" in the scene.

i mostly used my beloved 'gloaming' brush to keep rendering the characters and background elements. again, i was mostly concerned with the big picture and intentionally left areas like the mossy rocks and the far background relatively void of definition, so that they wouldn't pull attention away from the characters. on the other hand, i zoomed in to add extra detail to the focal points where it mattered -- such as adagio's hand working its magic.

by now i had made certain parts of the lineart less prominent by changing the colour or adding an overlay on top of the lines -- this is why the water lilies look more "glowy" than earlier in the process. however, i must admit that i forgot to add the yellow flowers that allegro likes to wear. i was going to paint them on top of the lineart layers, but somewhere between adding the bells,  painting the ripples on the water, and blurring the far background, it simply slipped my mind.

some minor things that i deliberately changed from the concept sketch to the painting is that allegro's syrinx turned into an aulos; her horns are longer and curlier; and adagio has a dorsal fin. i also thought about giving adagio a lily pad bra, for the #fashion, but in this house we do not censor "female-presenting nipples."

finally, i topped things off with a few neat little details that heighten the atmosphere even more. i painted some green patches onto the surface of the pond, like fallen leaves floating on the water. i added pale specks to the air, because small blurry particles being hit by the light is a great way to make a scene look more magical. last but not least, i added out-of-focus foreground elements that immediately makes the composition look more three-dimensional and immersive.

and there we go! if you have any questions about this process, please feel free to comment below. :>

// art + characters © me.