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Jooleya — Lady of the Lake - Ciri - Pencil Portrait
#ciri #cirilla #drawing #girl #hair #ladyofthelake #pencil #portrait #water #wet #wethair #witcher #cirillafionaelenriannon
Published: 2017-01-22 14:56:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 3654; Favourites: 124; Downloads: 0
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Description
Having been very busy switching jobs and places for the second time in not even six months, I've not got to draw very much, so I'm even more pleased to finally have finished a proper pencil portrait again.I am happy with how it turned out. I was challenging myself playing around with the water effects and the wet hair, and I'm not sure how well I succeeded in implying her wet hair is supposed to be of light colour, because in order for it to look wet I had to draw it very dark. Nevertheless, I enjoy the result.
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Size A4, Bristol board
0.3 mechanical pencil, Ain Stein 2B lead
0.5 mechanical pencil, Ain Stein 4B lead
3.15 mechanical pencil, Faber Castell 6B lead
H Faber Castell wood pencil
Tombow Mono Zero and kneaded eraser
blended with several sizes paper blending stumps, tissue and my fingers
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Comments: 56
This is so lovely. You've really outdone yourself on this. The water is brilliant. It is amazing what you can do with your pencil.
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Thank you so much. I'm happy with how it turned out overall. It may actually end up on my wall eventually.
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Its a great piece the deserves to be shown off. I only have one on the wall. The rest are locked away in a binder.
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Thank you. And same here. I have all my drawings in a binder. But I might change that when I move in May. I might attempt an artworks wall at my new place. 
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This is a really detailed piece. Very well done! I am pleased that you got back to drawing, too
Secondly, you are right about the hair. I would have guessed it to be a medium to dark brown color, not a light color. Since I am not good at drawing in pencil, I don't have much advice here. Where you working from photos of people with wet hair? I think because it is black and white, you would have to make it a lighter grey and use the water effects around the hair to make it look wet instead of the color (the clumping, reflections, and the water itself; which are all done quite well
As far as the title goes, I am not sure why this is the "lady of the lake". Maybe you could give it more context to show more clearly (unless Ciri is a know character that I simply do not know?) that she is of the lake and not just coming out of the water. That's the second thing, because of the title, I think she might actually be under water and the droplets are bubbles, but then her hair would be in the air (water). But since it is not, the droplets must be water droplets, which are kind of random. Their placement makes me think she came out of the water quickly, but her hair looks like it has been sitting still for a while. Maybe you can clear that up to make the piece more powerful and compelling.
Besides that, I still think the piece is great. You definitely have the skill and the talent for high quality art production. I only pointed out a few tips to turning great skills into more compelling art. So kudos to you
In case you are curious, I am with these guys:
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Thank you very, very much for your awesome destailed and helpful feedback, Sam!
It sure is hard to keep up with art when life happens, but really rewarding, too. And it's funny you mention her eyes. I seem to have a thing with eyes. I'm starting to think slightly wonky eyes must be my personal signature or something. 
And yeah, the hair. I wasn't too succesful to capture light wet hair. I was working from photos and I was trying to find photos of people with light wet hair, but somehow it only started looking wet in the drawing once I went darker. More room for improvement here. I might try gently working on it with my eraser at some point and see if I can get it to look lighter.
And no, the title itself won't tell you much unless you are familiar with Sapkowski's 'Witcher' books. Ciri is a character in these books and long story short, she was getting mistaken for King Arthur's "Lady of the Lake" at one point. But yes, she is getting out of the water quickly, getting surprised by the person who's mistaking her for the Lady of the Lake while she'd been bathing in the lake. You are right that I really ought to improve on the 'fresh out the water' look with her hair. A very good point, very well observed.
So thanks again for your very helpful comment! 
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Cool, cool. You are most welcome.
I have no idea what books those are, so I guess I am not one to critique your work! But it seems it was at least a little helpful, so I am glad you could benefit. I still think you have a great ability to produce with a pencil.
(P.S. That eraser idea is brilliant. I think you will really get the result you want if you take your time with it. Good luck!
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First of all, I'd like to say that this work is amazing. Really. This work shows clearly why traditional art will never be matched not even by photography - because photos - more often than not - lack the emotion and the visual dynamism. I'm supposed to leave a 7+ lines comment, but since this work is almost perfect, I'll focus mainly on the strong points. So here we go: I love the contrast - it's so dramatic and balanced, without looking exaggerated or boring. Her visage is so gently drawn, it looks like porcelain. In my opinion, the strongest point of this work are the eyes and the lips. Because there it becomes obvious how detailed this artwork really is. Also, the shadows there look so, so real and so awesome! The water effects are definitely a good idea and difficult to draw (and still you drew them very well, congrats. anyway there are a few drops which could be a bit improved - which are too bright and too simple). Another strong point of this beautiful work is the way you drew hair. Especially on the left side of the drawing - not so much on the right side, tho. It seems to me that it is too bright there and not detailed enough. It looks as if it's not really finished. The background looks good (a lighter shade of grey, maybe?) I hope this helps. It is a gorgeous piece, congratulations!
(I'm from )
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Thank you very much for your comment and the encouraging feedback, Maria.
I'm happy to hear contrast and skin texture work, as well as the shadows. You are right about some of the droplets that could use more detail. The idea was to have some out-of-focus droplets, indicating depth, but I think that could have worked better. Also, yes, the right side... in my reference the right side was very over-exposed and somewhat out-of-focus with little detail, and I copied that, but a bit more detail would probably be beneficial.
Thanks again, that was a very helpful constructive comment!
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(On behalf of )
This is a pretty nice picture. The design, of course, is gorgeous. I really love how realistic the face looks, and I love the textures and the lineart. For traditional art, this is super impressive. The atmosphere of this drawing is also pretty nice. For example, the black-and-white style definitely adds to the dark and emotional mood of the drawing (At least, that's what I think you're going for.), and it really pulls me into it.
I have one main issue with this picture, and it's the shading, specifically on certain parts of the face. Like the nose for example. The bottom of the nose kinda looks like it's away from the face. (Due to the shading.) Another example is the neck. I can't really see it, and the highlights mixed in with the hair strands makes it look like the neck is in the left side of her head. There's other minor nitpicks about the design, but it's for said reasons like the nose and the neck. So I suggest you work on the shading just a little bit more.
Still, this was a really impressive picture. Keep up the good work.
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Thank you very much for your comment, Sean!
I'm happy to hear the drawing has an emotional pull, as yes, with the eyes and face being so close up, the emotional expression and effect was what I was after.
And I see what you mean about the nose and neck. I think especially on the (viewer's) right side the neck could use more definition, so it's easier to tell what's neck and what's background. So yes, the shading here could use some improvement. Thank you for noticing and pointing it out!
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This has such an emotional pull! The shading and textures are so elegant. I just can't get over how beautiful this is!
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Thank you very much for your kind words, Aya.
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Oh yes! I'm sorry, I was so rushed then
Emotional pull: It instantly played this song in my head youtu.be/ySQKkK0Wj-U I know it has nothing to do with the Lady of the Lake Lol Just the angle of the head and the way her eyes stare at you- not pleadingly but not quite hollowly either. She looks as though she has no desire for anything from you, which is beautiful in it's own way. It's like a hint of tragedy that makes you wonder if she knows what she truly wants? The droplets running down her face and hair look phenomenal! Again there is a hint of hint of sorrow where the water runs below her eyes, but it's not placed(?) to where it would be tears. Referring to the song title, Morning Glow, I can easily imagine the sun behind her. I've grown up on a lot of fictional tragedy revolving around King Arthur meeting the Lady of the Lake- all his tragedy leading to his downfall spurred the moment she handed him Excalibur. I see this image being her in that very moment.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to explain! I love learning about that sort of effect of my drawings. And I'm very pleased I managed to capture this slight sense of sorrow and sadness you describe, as well as the detachedness, the not wanting anything from others. So thanks so much for sharing. I really appreciate it, that's awesome feedback.
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I. Am.
THE LADY OF LAKE.
Well,
techinaclly im her goddaughter
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Well, pleasure to meet you, Goddaughter of the Lady of the Lake, then.
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The pleasure is all mine
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Thank you very much, Belle.
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wait, you drew this...with pencil...you sure this isn't a photo??!!
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Haha, yes. Unless I spent hour after hour drawing a phantom, I'm sure!
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This is beautiful. To get that effect on the drops with pencil....
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Thank you, Stephen. That the tip of a mechanical pencil is a very small point helps with details like the drops. So does shaping the precision eraser to a point with a crafting knife.
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I'd leave a super long comment dissecting all aspects of this piece, but I have literally nothing bad to say about this. This is amazing and I hope I get this skilled some day! Keep up the great work!
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Thank you very much for the kind words!
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Holy shit, that is on point!
I don't think I'd find a mistake no matter how hard I tried!
And all of this with traditional media too!
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Thank you very much, Mikaelo, that's very kind.
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Outstanding work!! She looks so real!! 
Absolutely brilliant job! Well done!!
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Thank you very much for your kind words. I'm glad you like the drawing.
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You're very welcome!
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You're welcome and plus, I like your profile picture.
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Thank you very much, Hossein!
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