For my twelfth concentration piece, I chose to do Polynesian mythology, specifically Maori. Maori are the native people from New Zealand, and this is their god of rainbows, Uenuku. Uenuku is a Maori man who was turned into a rainbow, so I decided to mix the traditional Maori face tattoos into rainbows. This project was done digitally on my computer with a program called Paint Tool Sai. This was quite a process as skin is difficult to paint digitally. The most troubling part of this project to paint was actually the lines for the tattoos on his face. I had to get every line precise as well as blend them into the skin just a bit to make it look like the tattoos are actually on the skin, rather than floating in front. The easiest part of the painting it the eyes, I really like how they came out and they look very smooth and illuminating.
First, I sketched out the face while looking at a reference picture, secondly, I put in the base lights and darks in the skin, any part that is shaded or illuminated. After blending them in, I detailed the shading much more on the face. Then I painted the lips on, using pinks and peaches. After that, I colored the eyes in with light pink and white, and put in the strokes of brown in the hair and eyebrows. After some more intense detailing on the lines and cracks in the face, I started drawing the tattoos in a black color, then used Preserve Opacity to change the colors into a rainbow. Lastly, I blended the rainbow colors together more and painted the background black. I thought the man would pop out more if I accentuated the red on his face into the background. I really enjoy this one, and I'd love to keep painting digitally.
First, I sketched out the face while looking at a reference picture, secondly, I put in the base lights and darks in the skin, any part that is shaded or illuminated. After blending them in, I detailed the shading much more on the face. Then I painted the lips on, using pinks and peaches. After that, I colored the eyes in with light pink and white, and put in the strokes of brown in the hair and eyebrows. After some more intense detailing on the lines and cracks in the face, I started drawing the tattoos in a black color, then used Preserve Opacity to change the colors into a rainbow. Lastly, I blended the rainbow colors together more and painted the background black. I thought the man would pop out more if I accentuated the red on his face into the background. I really enjoy this one, and I'd love to keep painting digitally.