December MOTM: Midwinter Prince - painting process video // nsfw

if you want to watch the process video of december's monster of the month painting, of a midwinter prince and his beloved consort, download the attached .mov file!

coming up with the pose for this painting was pretty easy. i wanted to showcase the consort's stylised antlers in profile, and the prince's sleeves needed to be glamorously displayed or draped. i wanted the two of them to exchange a tender look, and show off how the prince's skin flushes with blue instead of pink when he's excited. it only took a few pose doodles until i had something that ticked all these boxes, and thus proceeded to refine it. i ended up making the consort even fluffier than on the concept sketch, specifically in the way his neck fur extends down his back and chest. but i decided to leave out the prince's tree branch collar so that it wouldn't obscure the silhouette of their heads.

i used pretty fine lines for the lineart, but rather than drawing just a single line i made several, sketchy lines next to each other. this is one of my favourite ways to do linearts right now, i think it looks so  lively and it's a bit faster and "freer" than making a super precise lineart where every single stroke has to be just so. next i cleaned up the sketch layers, but kept them somewhat visible below the lineart, where they essentially provide a bit of shading, especially to the consort's thick fur.

i kept the concept art in the corner for colour reference as i started plotting out the base hues of each character. neither of them has a very complex colouration but each shade is chosen to complement the others and create contrast between the two lovers. i started shading the consort's musculature and fluff, paying special attention to the fur of his neck and tail; i wanted it to look so thick and fluffy you want to just bury your face in it. instead of adding too much texture to his arms and legs i painted on the birch bark stripes, and added a simple gradient to the tree branch antlers.

at this point i decided to paint a snowy background to emphasize the winter theme. i covered the ground with freshly fallen snow, and placed a few spruce trees to balance the composition out. i used to paint a lot of forest backgrounds a few years ago, and drawing trees like this is so soothing to me. the characters needed to pop against the background so i kept it relatively simple and soft, as a contrast to the sharper lines of the lovers.

finally, it was time to paint the icy and frosty effects of the prince's design. i changed the look of the sleeve and veil a bit, replacing the angular pattern of the concept sketch with an organic border of rime frost at around wrist level and making the veil look a bit more icy. after establishing the base tone of his body i painted on the patches of frost to his thighs and torso, using thin white lines to create a snowflakey pattern that looks almost glittery. for a regular human i would have added a subtle pink blush to their cheeks, nose, lips, groin, behind, and knees -- but in the case of this prince i added a faint blue overlay to the same areas instead. after painting on the icy highlights, frost-covered eyelashes, and blue make-up he appears even more ethereal.

i wanted this piece to look crisp and sharp, like you could smell the cold winter air just from looking at it. to that end i went over the lines and polished the details, but refrained from overworking it. last but not least i added a faint 'dim of winter' - a subtle layer effect that made the colours a tiny bit warmer and brighter, as if there's a little sunlight coming through a thick layer of snow clouds. i'm ultimately so pleased with the colour palette, because the characters match each other really well while still having distinct looks. the warm undertone of the consort clearly stands out against the prince's cold blues, and neither of them melt into the equally wintery background. my favourite parts of the designs are the frosty effects of the prince and the long, thick fur of the consort, so my focus was on rendering those textures and patterns. but the whole piece came together beautifully and it really feels like i'm ending 2020 on a high note, so cheers to that. :>

all this said, just comment below if you have questions about this process, and enjoy the video!

// art + characters © me.