Grafit nouveau
I ran into a post on Cara from Grafit Studio proposing a kind of DTIYS challenge: paint one of their models in Art Nouveau style, a la Alphonse Mucha. I was not familiar with Mucha prior to this, but as soon as I saw his work, I knew exactly what we were talking about.
I decided to take up the challenge, despite the style being way outside my usual leanings. I am just not given to such flourishes and filigree. But I was taking with one of the reference photos and, coincidentally, bumped into a dramatic dog portrait structurally similar to what I was planning In practice, so I knew I had to try.
This thing was indeed a challenge! I found I had to trick myself into keeping my color palette desaturated and pastel. The outlines were against my nature, the framing elements never felt like they were coming together… The flowers took several passes to get feeling right, and initially I made much too prominent. I went through every problem in the book. Some of which you can still see in the work. Those outlines are pretty rough, actually. The lettering is sub-par.
But, you know what? I’m pretty happy with it. I made something way outside my comfort zone and learned a lot in the process.
Process images:
Medium: Digital
App: Artstudio Pro
Tools: Ink, paint, airbrush