Celestial World Tree - Part 3

Greetings once more all of you lovely folks. I know that it's been a little bit since our last adventure in Celestial World Tree – Part 2 but rest assured that I have not been idle. Oh no! In fact I'm pretty sure this project has been slowly consuming my soul. I mean in a figurative stand point, not literal. If the later was the case then I would be attempting to contact all of my D&D friends to warn them I've apparently created a mimic in the real world. Anyways let us jump right back in and let me show you all where I am at the moment.

Back and Forth

In Part 2 of the project, I left off explaining that I wanted to include watercolors in with what I was doing which was why I had painted a thin layer of transparent watercolor ground on the
lid and internal panel. Once dried, I went ahead and lightly painted base colors as a guide to both pieces so that I had a better idea as to what I was doing before I brought forth the color pencils. With the internal panel, I was going to keep to the blues and purples with only little bits of yellow and green. So working gradually, I focused on the texture of the branches and finding myself discovering a narrative with it. I imagined that instead of the Red String of Fate, the strings that held up the various charms in the tree were purple. The stars, moons (and suns) would softly glow with their own light where as the bells would age but make sound. It was an interesting thought process to have as I slowly worked everything in.

Once the color pencil was in, I ended up painting another thin coat of transparent ground over it all and let it dry before I started to layer watercolors in order to help give an etheric glow to the charms. Since I was using the internal panel as a layout of how the lid was going to be, I set the internal panel aside to star working on the lid. Following the same process as before, however this time I wanted the center of the lid to be the same blue as the internal panel with the outside slowly fading to a somewhat more natural green and brown. Right away I could tell that the tree was going to give me troubles so I reminded myself to take it slow and give myself breaks. Once done with the color pencil part of it, I painted on another coat of the transparent ground and set it aside to dry before returning to the internal panel.

Using a 01 Micron pen (0.25mm), I carefully outlined the various elements of the internal panel. This took a bit of time, not just because of needing a steady hand but to also repeatedly clean the nib off and get the ink to flow how I wanted it. I'm loving how it is coming along so far but I can certainly tell that I want to have a little bit more dimension added to the panel before I go ahead and clear coat it. The lid, however, is showing me that much more work is needed

even as I get started on the watercolor I'm doing on top. So I'm plotting out what kind of details are going to be needed, what I need to do to tie both pieces in together (especially if they are to be hung together and not just as a single piece). With where I am right now with both parts, I'm estimating a few more days to get them to the point I want them but of course who knows.






Critiquing and Planning Ahead

Of course I know that there are going to be a good handful of you going "But Dawn! The internal panel is perfect! Seal it now!" Oh no no no, my eager art adventurers. There is much more that needs to be done first before either one can be sealed. The internal panel itself, though lovely, is lacking in depth and is just.. well.. flat. The charms need a bit more shading and the background itself is feeling more like an afterthought which is making the whole piece by itself to feel unfinished. Then there's the lid. Even at the point it is now, I can easily tell that it's no where near it's middle point. It needs more definition and shading where as the sun, moon and stars in the composition look like after thoughts. Yes, the center of the tree shares the same color scheme as the internal panel but that's it.  So there is still a lot more work to do on both to not only get them to where I want them but for them to compliment each other. It would be simply silly to have one look better then the other or for them to not go together at all. In the proceeding days, I will be working on the color, shading, detail and getting then to be as cohesive as possible before I start turning my attention to the extra elements and assembly.