"NEPHILA" & "HEARTSTRINGS" - Works In Progress

Hi peeps, 

Here are the sketches for paintings 4 and 5 of this small series.

NEPHILA

I decided to work on this concept instead of the more complex "wolf faces" one I had initially embarked on (which you can see just below).
I had been working on the concept below for a little while, and just could not settle on a pose and composition, and since this small project relies on me being able to work on each piece fairly quickly, spending days ruminating on one idea was not productive (in this instance).
So I have decided to set this wolf idea aside for a while, and I will come back to it once I have some more time to work on one big idea at a time. 

Instead, I turned my attention to the simpler "spider web" idea you can see above. 

The concept I initially explored then set aside. ⇧⇧

Because the character's pose is quite simple in itself, most of my preliminary work focused on the background, and ways to bring more narrative depth and interest to the composition. 

I sketched out my character in my sketchbook, then took a picture of it with my iPad and explored background ideas there. 

I don't have a Procreate timelapse for this one, as I settled on the design you see above fairly quickly. 

The embroidery might not end up looking quite like the mock-up, but the basics are there :  
I want the background to look like heavy velvet or silk tapestry, with gold embroidery and detail. In order for the character to stand out, the tapestry will be mostly in the dark, with only the gold thread reflecting the light for emphasis. 

The spider on the character's shoulder (in the final sketch) is a Nephila, or Golden silk orb-weaver spider (hence the title of the piece. I thought Nephila was a beautiful word...), which is a type of spider who's silk is golden yellow. They are big spiders, with long pointed legs, who are fairly harmless to humans, but can sometimes prey upon small birds, or even bats.
I have long wanted to represent them in a painting, and I feel like this is a good opportunity.
I am terrified of spiders, so looking up references for this piece is making feel itchy, but I am absolutely fascinated by these particular ones. 

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Next up is...HEARTSTRINGS 

Similarly to Nephila, I had a completely different piece in mind for this 5th painting initially. 

It was to be based on another older sketch, but while I was working on the other pieces for the series and sketching out concepts, this new idea popped into my head. 

I drew it out (sketch on the left), and decided I liked it enough that I felt like exploring it instead of the idea I initially wanted to pursue. 

The sketch on the right will be my basis for the final drawing.
I spent a while figuring out the pose and browsing references, and I did a few sketches of various hand poses (below) until I finally settled on what you see above. 

While a good portion of the body is visible in that drawing, the final piece will only include what you can see encased in the square pencil outline.
I drew more of the body mostly so that I could make sure the position of the torso I was going for was anatomically accurate. I find that if I avoid drawing the waist, I often get the torso wrong. 

The main difference between the final piece and the initial sketch in this one, will be the threads.
Instead of the strings appearing out of nowhere from a hole in the character's chest, they will instead be coming from the character's body itself, as if the person was fraying (this might give you echoes of a few past pieces of mine, wink wink nudge nudge). 

I want the character to be manipulating those threads, in a sort of cat's cradle motion. 

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And that's it so far! 

I am now done with the exploratory work for the 5 pieces in this series, and next week, the "real" work will start! 

I hope you enjoyed these Work in Progress posts, and I look forward to sharing the finished paintings with you. 

I hope you are all well,
Take care and speak soon,
M <3