Pin-Up Hildegard

Whenever I post about my twin OCs, I'm almost always featuring Sylvie. It's about time I featured her sister Hilda for once!

I still, for the life of me, can not figure out what kind of profession Hilda would have compared to her sister. Cop? Retired soldier from the army? A doctor? An executive? Decisions, decisions... All I know is that she's renowned in her field and has a bright future with her current career. 🤔 I should really do a little more research into this sort of thing.

Pin-Up Sylvette

Oh my god I'm absolutely shaking right now she's being very cute despite her outfit SEND HELP 😩

The original draft was of her just playing the violin. Then the idea turned into making a sketchdump of her in various facial expressions. Then the idea turned into her just wearing her undergarments sleepwear.

HELP SHE'S 2CUTE5ME HELP AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 😫

Quench

I sought to use more of the watercolor techniques that I learned about and tried it on this portrait I drew of Sylvie. The results blew my mind. To say I'm amazed is a complete understatement.

I am incredibly proud of this.

I had problems with the shading on her face, and then my girlfriend talked about trying making it look more like makeup rather than just the wispy effect of a paintbrush. I was almost immediately reminded of the existence of the Smudge tool, which I used a lot for my Evoland 2 poster. I was squealing in glee once I saw just how well that heightened the effect.

When I finished, my heart swelled at my sense of achievement. This is my first proper watercolor painting on Photoshop, and I've learned so much from doing this piece alone. I'm really happy for myself and what I've accomplished. Was worth sleeping at 4 a.m. for.

I'm also very proud of that hanko-style stamp signature I made too. I'm definitely going to be using that from now on.

I'd really like to work on the backstory of her and her sister more... But it's difficult to come up with something.

The Violinist in Blue

Finally did it! 🙌

Three days ago I received my new nibs for my tablet pen. In my excitement, I felt a sudden inspiration and attempted to paint without outlines. For this time I decided to draw my resident violinist Sylvette; I've been wanting to draw her for a while now and feature her with her violin. In the future, I want to draw her playing it, or her with her sister instead.

This turned out surprisingly great! Basically, all I did was I outlined with the color I wanted to use for a specific area and used my inking techniques to determine the shape of objects with the same color. You can see this particularly along her legs and most especially on her right hand, which I'm the most proud of in this piece, by the way.

Looking at this again and I'm just, honestly, wow, really. I've had this OC in my mind for so long like many others but it's such an awe to see her in digital, and in color, and with a fucking colored background, holy shit! Definitely the most fun I've had with art in a damn good long while.

Next time I want to draw her playing her violin, or her just spending time with her sister. Yes. In color. With colored backgrounds. Something that isn't just sky and a not exactly half-assed but if you think about how it came about it is kind of field of grass. Ugh. ART HYPE! 😆👏🎨

The Marks at 11

"How were your lessons, Sylvie?"

"They were okay, I think. I'm starting to get the hang of playing the violin. My instructor said I'm getting better at it too."

"Think you can do the recital next month?"

"I hope so... I don't feel so confident about it."

"I don't blame you. Just thinking about playing for so many people just gives me the creeps."

"Right? When I started though, even just playing for my instructor makes my knees all jittery. It was like he's gonna chew me out any second if I made a mistake!"

"Ugh. Does he?"

"He used to, but not anymore."

"Then you're definitely getting better, heh."

"I think I eventually got used to playing with him, so it isn't that bad. You know, even if it's scary thinking about it, I like the idea of playing for so many people and just feeling so... Graceful when I do."

"Like a princess or something?

"No, not like a princess. More like a bird?"

"A bird?"

"Yeah. Do you remember that show we watched about hawks a couple of months ago?"

"Not really. What about it?"

"You know how sometimes there's just a man talking and then music just plays while it shows birds flying over the sea? Sometimes I imagine I'm that bird. I just fly low over the water and then soar into the sky like I'm just so free and nothing can keep me grounded."

"You're starting to sound like some cheesy don't-give-up motivational song."

"Ahaha. I don't mean to. But that's just how I feel about it."

"If you say so."

"One day I hope I can play as good as the masters do. Maybe I'll be good enough to dance while I play the violin."

"Is that even possible??"

"Yeah. I heard of a violinist that twirls like a ballerina and can bend back really low while she plays the violin. Her movements don't stop her playing at all, but sometimes it does... And even then she keeps practicing and trying to get it right. Then she just hits each note perfectly once she masters a song. It's amazing. I just don't remember her name..."

"That's incredible. I don't believe it though, but it sure sounds really cool. Think you'll be able to pull something like that off?"

"Me? I don't think so. I'm not as flexible. And it looks too much for me to even do!"

"You tell me you wanted to be like one of the masters, and here you are saying you don't want to do something one of them is already doing."

"Well yes, I--hey, I thought you said you didn't believe that was true!"

"I didn't, but I think it'd be cool if you could do it too." Hilda looped her arm around Sylvie's free one. "We can practice stretches at home. Then we can look her up online and see how she does it so you can start playing like her too. Come on!"

"H-Hey, wait! Hilda!"

---

A passing thought I had for my OC twin sisters.

During my trip to Turkey over a month ago, I was listening to Lindsey Stirling a lot, which inspired me to write about these two at the time. She combined two things I love about music: EDM and violins. Definitely a fan of her work.

Now listening to Lindsey's songs reminds me of the Pammukale Travertines, Cappadocian caverns, and dusty Anatolian steppes.