Sketch Dump #3

 I (Hannah) have finally got around to a sketch dump.

And this one is cool, cause if I put the original color one on my iPod and zoom it in to a certain point, it'll match up in color. And I can put my finger in the center and drag the iPod around and it's like a magic color X-ray machine. 

You can see I've kind of started to get into photorealistic CG animation fan art. My papa has suggested I do some in colored pencil.


To God be the glory,
Hannah

Sketch dump #2

Post time! This is Sarah. I actually didn't really plan this post. As I was send a friend some drawings of mine I figure I'd do a kind of a sketch dump. These are really more of finished pictures for me but they aren't edited like the last sketch dump was. Hannah said I don't really need to narrate a sketch dump so that's all and I hope you like them!

Also do you guys prefer sketch dumps, digital art (photoshop) or...something else?

Q & A sketch dump

Well well well, we still have a blog, and followers! Imagine that. Sarah here, and sorry 'bout the whole blog neglectation...again. Ouch. We're really bad at this. But onward we go! I will be doing a sketch dump today and I hope you like it because it's not been edited a whole lot but I tried to clean it up a bit in Photoshop to make it more visible, and I hope you like it.

Aaaand not my greatest edit. This is Quinto and Abinwin (A as in apple, been when)the monkey. Or Q & A.

Quinto is a frequent drawing of mine because a couple months ago, I could not draw guys, only girls, to me guys were THE hardest to draw. I had drawn girls for a long time and with girls you can draw circles for the body shape and legs and just connect them all. (a bit more complicated than it sounds) And for guys you gotta draw a bunch of squares for the body shape accentuated with circles and maybe some rectangles, so... more difficult. And yet I just drew one, and I was so excited I just kept drawing them again and again and again. And he was the first one so if I can keep up some sketch dumps then you'd probably see quite a bit more of him. And Abinwin.

Would you like us to do some more sketch dumps or only finished works?

I think if we had some ideas we might be inspired to put other stuff up. Thanks!

Sunshine Award: The Deuce

Hannah here. Am I ever going to get a post up that is not about an award? I admit it doesn't look likely, but really, I'll do it. 

Thank you very much to 

Joannah from 

Writers Who Need To 

Talk To Other Writers    

 ...who nominated us with the Sunshine Award!  (Déjà vu? Nay, this one is slightly different.)

Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link to his/her blog.

2. Nominate other bloggers and let them know on their blog.

3.Answer the list of ten questions given. 

4.The Sunshine Award must be posted on your blog.

1. What is your favorite Bible verse?

My go-to favorite verse is Psalm 119:115 - "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." But I have lots of others that I like. 

2. Would you sacrifice your life if it would save that of a stranger's?

Yeah. Not any stranger, but for the most part, yes, if it came to that. Most likely though, I'd be trying to save their life and accidentally kill myself. I'm like that.

3. Given the chance to swim with dolphins...would you accept?

Right off the bat. Psych myself up to frolick and jump right in.

4. Are you more "fascinated" by light or darkness? Why?

Light. Because this:

 

 

5. Can you speak in a different accent?

British is my best, then I can do Scottish, Chinese, Southern, Valley Girl, a tad of Irish, some French, German, Spanish, Australian, Romanian, whatever accent Davy Jones from Pirates of The Caribbean has, and a spot of Cockney. (I need trigger words/phrases for a lot of these - "Sort of loose" is my French trigger.)

6. Would you rather be disliked or forgotten?

I'd say disliked. In the words of Winston Churchill, "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."

7. Has the ocean ever filled your dreams?

Recently there was this weird kid in my dream reciting a poem about the ocean and some guy named Rinykim, and then previously an octopus-kid saved me from drowning. But I've only ever seen the ocean in person when I was around two years old, and I was terrified of sharks at the time and wouldn't get in, so it's not really a large item in my mind.

8. Assuming you have one, how often is your journal put to use?

About once a year. Twice or three times if something special or remarkable happens.

9. What is your favorite fictional character of all time?

Hm hm hm. Heh heh heh. Hahahahaha!

Yeah, okay. Umm... I'm thinking it's either Robin (the Dick Grayson version, but when he wears pants instead of a leotard) or maybe Halt from Ranger's Apprentice or Hatter Madigan, or, I don't know, one of my own fictional characters, or Sirius Black or Fred Weasley, or... or... 

10. What is your favorite hymn?

It's a toss-up between I See The Lord; Alleluia, He is Coming; or It Is Well With My Soul.

Sarah's go:

1. What is your favorite Bible verse?

Possibly Matthew 28:20 "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Though that isn't the whole verse, that part is very comforting to me.

2. Would you sacrifice your life if it would save that of a stranger's?

I've thought about it before and figured I would because I'm going to heaven and they may not be, so better for me to die sooner and go to heaven than for them to and go to hell, better to give them another chance to become a christian. But then in real life I may not be capable of such clear thinking and we all hold our lives so dear so in a split second I may not. I don't know. I'd love to say I would though. 

3. Given the chance to swim with dolphins...would you accept?

Yes, but I'd be super nervous-cited.

4. Are you more "fascinated" by light or darkness? Why?

Darkness, because when the lights go out I think people subconsciously think of darkness as a semi-solid thing and it gives people that cautious, slightly suffocated feeling in the dark, when darkness is just the absence of light and there is no actual atmosphere change that makes the darkness seem to blanket everything. But when God made so many animals to be able to see in the dark and hunt silently it is pretty scary. I'd say that's darn fascinating. Though I like the light because it's safe.

5. Can you speak in a different accent?

Yeah, but not well enough to fool anyone who actually come from there. I'd probably need to spend time with someone to be able to mimic their voice properly.

6. Would you rather be disliked or forgotten?

To be remembered as someone nobody liked is pretty sad, but to have made no impression whatsoever is...also pretty sad. To have people say:
" Hey, remember Sarah?"
"Oh, yeah, pfft, I hate her."
or
"Hey, remember...whatserface?"
"Who?"
"You know, she was, uhh... she kinda looked like...well she was kinda... oh well. She doesn't matter."
A bit hard to choose. Disliked, I suppose, but not hated.

7. Has the ocean ever filled your dreams?

Not really that I can remember, but it sounds cool.

8. Assuming you have one, how often is your journal put to use?

Probably whenever I'm feeling lost and down, I just write out all of my problems and pray about them. I don't want anyone to read it though because it would make me seem like a super duper depressed person. In all maybe once a month.

9. What is your favorite fictional character of all time?

I kinda have two, and I know Hannah's gonna tease me about it.
Briana O'Toole and Mikkel son of a mighty chieftain of Aurland Fjord.

10. What is your favorite hymn?

I don't know the name of the last one, Blessed Assurance and I could sing of your love forever, I really don't know this title unfortunately.

Dat's all the questions, so nomination time. We're going to nominate:

Ajax Cochrane from 21st Century Renaissannsanance Man (congrats on being able to spell that properly, by the way, Ajax).

Siani Delaney from Writing & Wanderlust.

Bekah Joan from Found and Cherished.

To God be the glory,
Hannah and Sarah

The Sunflower Award

 Sunflower Award

What up, y'all. First we get nominated for the Sunshine Award, then the Sunflower Award. We're just some sunny, sunny folks. Yet again we have Ajax Cochrane to thank!







Ajax Cochrane at
21st Century Renaissance Man

• Share eleven facts about yourself (if there’s another eleven facts about me that I haven’t already mentioned)
• Answer the questions set by the blogger who nominated you
• Nominate bloggers
• Set seven questions for nominated bloggers

Eleven facts about myself:

1. I am the second oldest of ten children, five girls, five boys, in that order. Funky, eh?
2. It has taken me almost two months to get around to putting these facts up. Much to the dismay of sister #2.
3. I'd really love to act, and my dream movies would be The Incredibles 2, The Silver Chair, a live-action Wonder Woman movie, or a Ranger's Apprentice film adaptation.
4. If I can't act, I want to direct.
5. My official nickname is Hannah Banana, because when I was a toddler I ate a banana with the peel on it.
6. My hair is currently about 2 1/2 feet long.
7. Since February 2012 I have been keeping a list of "Things I Never Thought I'd Say", which is just strange things that have actually been uttered in our family. For instance, have you ever felt the need to say, "Truthfulness is a blue lion throwing a piece of bread at someone's face"?
8. I am almost always cold. Socks are magical, and jackets are my friend. Seriously, I have my everyday jacket, my everyday formal jacket, my formal jacket, my leather jacket. Then there's my trench coat, my weird Russian coat, etc...
9. My favorite shoes are combat boots. I also have an everyday pair and a formal pair.
10. Do you want to drive? Cause I don't want to drive, and my driving test is in 31 days.
11. I memorize things really well. I can recite Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, and Ballade of the duel at the Hôtel de Bourgogne Between de Bergerac and a Boeotian (from Cyrano de Bergerac). Not to mention movie quotes galore.


1. Who is your favorite dwarf in The Hobbit? Hmm... that's tough. In the books my favorite was Balin. But in the movies... Probably Bofur. I'd say Thorin, but I have issues with his attitude, and I'd say Kili, but I don't like the whole deal with Tauriel (I mean, seriously, it's a perfectly good, internationally well-loved novel with NO romance... do you really have to add the romance? I doubt it would ever be a box office failure, I think you can assume that from the get-go. And who goes to The Hobbit to see a romance? It's a epic fantasy period war film.)

2. What is your opinion of All Quiet on the Western Front? I have no experience, so I have no opinion. Sorry.

3. Favorite pre-1980 movie? Pfffttt... I am not very familiar with pre-1980s movies. I had to look up the top box-office hits before the 1980s to see if there were any I recognized, and of those, I'd say probably Fiddler On The Roof. Back when we had only five girls, my dad was going to get a personalized-license plate that said TEVYE (he's the guy in the movie with five daughters: "This is mine, and this is mine, and this is mine..."). But then five boys came along, so that went out the window.

4. If you were only allowed one CD to listen to, for the rest of your life, which singer/ band would it be? I'd say Maranatha singers. I know all their songs, they're worshipful, and I grew up on them.

5. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? I am both and neither. Comfortably settled between the two.

6. What subject are you most knowledgeable on? *hysterical laughter* I really can't say. It would be easier to find things I am not knowledgeable on, like math, cars, Apple products, public school, the manual option on a Canon camera, fashion, subtlety, etc. But apart from these things, I am fairly well-informed for a teenage girl. My parents have done a wonderful job of making sure I'm prepared for life.

7. Chevy or Ford? Note: This could affect your standing as a blog follower here LOL. Chevy. Just Chevy. Because Chevy homeschooler vans.

And Sarah's answers, and also her eleven facts:

1. Who is your favorite dwarf in The Hobbit? Ohh, my. Yeesh, this has been a conundrum for some time cause in the books (before the movie) it was Fili and Kili, and then in the movies they made them all different and younger looking and gave Kili a bigger part because of the end (hint hint), I still like them, but less so because they're popular now and EVERYBODY likes them.Although one thing that really irritates me (and I'm gonna add this just cause I feel like it) is everyone thinks that Kili is younger than Fili  but in the eighth chapter of The Hobbit, Bilbo says that Fili is the youngest,and according to Wikipedia Ori is supposed to be the youngest. I still think Fili should be the youngest.
2. What is your opinion of All Quiet on the Western Front? None, same as Hannah.
3. Favorite pre-1980 movie? I don't know, probably a Disney movie.
4. If you were only allowed one CD to listen to, for the rest of your life, which singer/ band would it be?Hmm. Can I choose a composer? Maybe Tchaikovsky or Beetoven.
5. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Very much an introvert, but I sorta wish I could be more outgoing.
6. What subject are you most knowledgeable on? Probably cats and animals. We have three cats, one outside and two inside. Over the past year or so they've each had some sort of infection or something and I'm always the cat doctor, giving them medicine and everything. I do a lot of animal research for fun and pick up queer bits and pieces. Oh, but I'm a total nerd about art. It's kinda hard for me not to completely gush over all the drawing books, sketch books, paints, paintbrushes, ceramic figurines, canvases, and other awesome things in the art store.
7. Chevy or Ford? Note: This could affect your standing as a blog follower here LOL. I wasn't sure till I read Hannah's answer, I'd say Chevy but I'm not very automobile-minded I suppose.

And for my eleven facts:

1. I'm not very good at talking to people, in real life or through the internet. And I'm really shy.
2. I love music and animals.
3. I can draw well, but I have bad handwriting.
4. I don't like when people show-off.
5. I am the third oldest child in my family.
6. I am the second tallest in my family, much to the dismay of my older sisters.
7. My favorite food is spaghetti.
9. I don't like being mainstream, like everybody else.
10. Other people's opinion changes what I think very much. Like, if everyone in my family tells me my painting is great but someone else who I hardly ever see doesn't like it I get really sad.
11. This little section of facts has taken me almost a week to finish.

Grace Anna Rose at Dreams Of A Narnian
Joannah at Writers Who Need To Talk To Other Writers
My (other) sister, Emily at Our Fantasy Stories

Just three today, folks, unless you'd like to do it. Then consider yourself nominated.

And here are our collection of questions (slightly saner than last time).

1. How much time do you spend writing in a day?
2. Pencils or pens?
3. Is the internet your friend or your arch-enemy? (Lookin' at you, Pinterest.)
4. If you could live anywhere other than Earth, where would it be?
5. Would you consider your music preferences main-stream or hipster?
6. If you could only have one book besides the Bible, dictionary or thesaurus, which would it be?
7. And last of all...



<---- Chips or crisps?

A Long Day for Sarah

Hey everybody. This is Sarah. Sorry about the whole blog neglectation (that may or may not be a word). It's been pretty busy at home what with tons of plant nursery stuff plus Papa is building a big shed and works on it almost every spare minute he can, having us lift, measure, pluck, straighten, nail and hand him things. But we really do get free time that we could use to finish posts and do lots of things but we're just lazy despite Hannah's little inspiring speech of turning away from laziness and forging on through the many difficulties of a blog. She started a post about another award someone gave us but still hasn't finished it, and that is all I shall say on that.

So, we watched How to Train Your Dragon 2 and it was spectacular! I really like the animation, and the dragons were as awesome as ever. And I noticed something neat about the conformation of Toothless' head and face, his muzzle is very short while his head is very broad and flat, and it's almost like a snake. None of the other dragons have a head shaped quite like his, I know they made him unique like that and made other Nightfuries so rare so that Hiccup could have the most special dragon of any other character because he is the main character. I cheated. I really liked Toothless and I tried to draw Nightfuries in different colors before but none of them really looked like Nightfuries, one's head was too pointed and one was too round and fat and I couldn't figure out why, I still can't. But yesterday I made one that looked like Toothless, except I wanted to make a girl and it worked. So here you are.

                                                    Toora the Nightfury

I made her entirely on Photoshop and I think I'm a bit too proud of her since she actually worked and now I have my own Nightfury!(more or less)

I have tried many techniques to make different animals on Photoshop with softer brushes, darker outlines, no outlines, heavy shading, light shading, special effect paintbrushes to try to mimic fur, and surprisingly this one had almost no special effects or paintbrushes and turned out better than most of the ones that did. I just used a round paint brush of different shades of blue and green, the only special brush I used was like a paint splatter brush to give the eyes little flecks of darker blue. Before this version you see here^ I made this darker one.

Hannah actually likes this one better just because it's darker. Sadly I had lots of trouble getting this versiond seperate from the lighter one while keeping the signature on so her eyes are also more round and less shiny then the other one because I must have turned off  the wrong layers while trying to save it as a JPG and not a Photoshop file and not on top of anything else.

As always I love comments and I'd like to know what you think about both pictures.

-Sarah

You Are My Sunshine (Award) [Updated]

Hello, again, 'tis Hannah! Long time no see. While we've been gone, the art projects have been building up unblogged about, and time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' by since the blog was attended (that was a 70s/80s reference... Fly Like An Eagle by the Steve Miller Band).

Suddenly, out of the blue, while we were fiddling around with our personal life, someone awarded The Sunshine Award to our blog!

Because we are shiny. I guess.

The rules for the Sunshine Award:

• Thank the person who nominated you
• Answer the questions they asked you on your respective blog
• Nominate another batch of bloggers (eleven being the standard)
• Question them (evil chuckle)
• Notify them that they have been nominated
• And post the award image on your blog

Thanks to

Ajax Cochrane of 21st Century Renaissance Man

(cue opera singing at full volume)

Check one. I like to do things big hereabouts.


Here are your questions:
Do you prefer cats or dogs? Cats. They're clean, smell good better than dogs, and seldom drool. I have never had a dog, but we have had around fifteen cats at our house over the years (pretty much only three or four we wanted, the rest just showed up). We have a couple of long-haired house cats that have been with us for nearly ten years, their "official birthday" being this Monday.
What is your favorite outside activity? Walking around. Taking movies. Carving snow sculptures. I don't do sports, and I don't much care for outside work. Walking around outside gives me a chance for some quiet time. Update: Swimming and inner-tubing behind a pontoon boat on the lake are also enjoyable for me. No oceans 'round here, or I'd consider surfing.
If you got to meet one of the presidents, who would it be? Ronald Reagan would be my first choice. I've met his personal secretary (from after he was in office), and I heard that he was God-fearing, Constitution-believing, upstanding man. If not him, then George Washington. Then I might be able to tell people first-hand exactly how the Founding Fathers intended this country to be.
What is your favorite fantasy series? Aw, dang. That's tough. I'd have to say The Chronicles of Narnia.
If you had been Peter Jackson, would you have changed the name of the last Hobbit movie to “The Battle of Five Armies” or stayed with “There and Back Again”? Definitely would have kept it as "There and Back Again". That is such a poetic title, and it couldn't have been better if I had thought it up myself.
What is your favorite time of the day? I'm tempted to say whenever I'm asleep. But apart from that, 6:00 to 8:00 PM. That's when the light is most beautiful outside, and in the spring it's right before sunset, just past that super-hot time and into the cool, shady, loverly atmosphere before dark. I believe that's around the time photographers call the magic or golden hour.
Are you from the North or the South? South, my whole life. *sprinkles Tony Chachere's everywhere*
Who is your favorite character in Pride and Prejudice? No clue, never read/watched it. My dad prefers us to avoid the chick flicks for at least awhile longer.
Are you homeschooled, public schooled, or graduated? Homeschooled, but graduated-ish. I'm not old enough to graduate yet, but pretty much all my schoolwork is done. I guess the last thing I need to do is get my driver's license and do the GED. Not too excited for either of those.
Any plans for college? I'm not doing college. As I told someone recently, my whole life has been Home Economics. And I just finished my early morning "Botany" class for the day.
What is the last thing you were doing before you began answering the questions? Sprinkling Perlite on the Manhattan Euonymus and Arborvitae in our family nursery. See? Botany.


Sarah also wanted to answer the questions, so I'm turning the mic over to her.


Do you prefer cats or dogs? Oh, cats, quite a bit, although they're are several species in the dog family that I'm particularly fond of even though we don't have any dogs.
What is your favorite outside activity? Probably swimming. But I can already think of a couple other activities that might top that.
If you got to meet one of the presidents, who would it be? I'd probably have to say Ronald Reagan because I'm not really... politically-minded and Hannah has some pretty good reasons for why she'd want to meet him.
What is your favorite fantasy series? Wow. There are just so many awesome ones. The best one I can think of at the moment is the Twelve Dancing Princesses series by Jessica Day George.
If you had been Peter Jackson, would you have changed the name of the last Hobbit movie to “The Battle of Five Armies” or stayed with “There and Back Again”? Oh, conundrum. I don't know, "The Battle of Five Armies" sorta spoils it for those who haven't read the book, but "There and Back Again" is a bit vague, and yet it's an actual alternate name for the book, though I still don't know how big a part The Battle of Five Armies is going to be in the movie. So I suppose if The Battle of Five Armies was going to be a huge part of the movie, I'd choose that title, but if it isn't, I think that the original one is appropriate.
What is your favorite time of the day? Afternoon. Between about 3:00 and 8:00 I think.
Are you from the North or the South? South, I assume because I've always lived with my sister.
Who is your favorite character in Pride and Prejudice? I don't know, never read it or seen it.
Are you homeschooled, public schooled, or graduated? Homeshooled.
Any plans for college? I'm not going either. So, no, no plans.
What is the last thing you were doing before you began answering the questions? Eating Chicken Divan.


Let this award make us feel guilty about abandoning our blog and steer us away from tergiversation and general faithlessness.


Now to nominate eleven nine other bloggers:

Siani Delaney at Writing & Wanderlust
Ashley M. at Inky Wings
Ashley T. at Cheery-O
Pretty Much Anyone at Ravens And Writing Desks (excuuuuse me, there are several bloggers and the Bible says don't pick favorites)
Sarah Faulkner at Inklined
Bekah Joan at Found and Cherished
Anastasia Elizabeth at Every Stinkin' Page
Aili at Aili's Adventures
Nessima Tavariel at Arda Nessimava

And the interrogation. *eyebrow wiggle*

• Which number (1, 2, 3, etc.) is the best, based on it's personality and morals? (Example: 7 is best because of his wise and patient personality.)
• Fruit-flavored candy or chocolate?
• Under what circumstances would you jump on a shark's back?
• Would you rather grab a handful of cow poop or drink milk straight from the cow?
• Batman or Iron Man?
• Fantasy or sci-fi?
• Three years of famine, three months to be destroyed by your foes, or three days of the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of the land?
• Favorite season?
• Is the Lochness Monster real?
• Death by fire or death by ice?
• Out of any animal, what would be your dream pet?

So there you are! I'm off to notify people. Auf Wiedersehen!


UPDATE: It seems some people are confused about the questions. You can skip number one if you don't understand it (I assumed everyone assigned personalities to numbers... when I gave the above example, Trinity walked by and said, "Seven's not wise and patient, he's a jerk. Cool, but a jerk.") Also, the seventh question is a reference to 1 Chronicles 21, when God gives King David the choice of having the three aforementioned things happen to his land as punishment for numbering the people of Israel when He told them not to.

To God be the glory,

Hannah

Marvel Ladies

It's Hannah, again. I've waited a long time to be done with this one. It's been a month long project, and thanks be to God for the foresight to put the files on my second drive, because the single folder "Marvel Ladies" was a good 9 GB with over one hundred .psd files, while my main drive has only 1.69 GB to spare. This is what comes of saving dozens of extra copies.

Left to right: Maria Hill, Darcy Lewis, Natasha Romanoff, Betty Ross, Lady Sif, Jane Foster, Pepper Potts, and Peggy Carter.

Alrighty, let's begin at the top. Backstory. I'm a Pinterester, and I get on that site entirely too much. On one of my daily visits, I saw that someone I follow had pinned this picture:

This picture, by the way, does not belong to me. It's from vylla-art.tumblr.com. 

I almost didn't give it a second glance. I think I'd seen it before, but this time it caught my attention because in the comments below there was some dispute about Marvel lore and cinematic trivia, and since I am a person who unconsciously absorbs facts about silly things like comics and movies, I stepped in to help sort out the mess. Then I saw that people began to say things like this:

I like to fix things. I'm a fixer. So when people were saying they thought it wasn't done right, I wanted to "make it right". I'm just weird. Maybe slightly OCD. 

In any case, I did some research and some sketching. It wasn't a big thing at first, and I didn't ever think I could do better than the picture above, but I thought, Well, if I'm going to do this, might as well do it right. I know for sure that Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman are very short, but I couldn't remember how Sif and Pepper, etc, compared.  

You might be able to see the notations beneath each lady: 5' 8", 5' 3 ½", 5' 3", 5' 10", 5' 9", 5' 3", 5' 9", 5'7". Yeah, I went so far as to look up each celebrity's height, but you have to keep into account that Natasha wears freakishly tall heels. Each lady's outfit is just the one I liked best or was the best I could get. Didja know there are tons of Natasha and Pepper images all over Pinterest, but Darcy? Jane? Betty? Ha. I had to dig into the Marvel Cinematic Wiki to get a handful of blurry Betty pictures, so I pretty much made her outfit from scratch.

And of course I had a ton of reference images:

   

Now this was supposed to be a quick job. After scanning the drawing in, after about 15 minutes I had finished with Peggy's dress. But then I started on Sif.
And I finished days later. That is some complex armor. And a lot of fun. This entire project was a crash course in lighting and clothing and skin tone. It's been a long, painstaking process.

Speaking of lighting. When I'd finished the outfits, hair and skin, I presented the picture to Mama and all my siblings, to rounds of gushing and compliments. Once all that was out of the way, however: What's wrong with Peggy's forehead? She looks like Megamind. She looks lumpy. Jane's head is way bigger than everyone else's. The two chicks on the end, their legs are too bright. Darcy looks way vampirical. It looks like she's wearing a mask. Sif's eyes are blurry. Peggy's hand looks like a flipper!

All part of the process, I suppose. Mama did say, "If I were in the Sistine Chapel while Michelangelo's painting on the ceiling, I'd say, 'What's wrong with his head? It's all egg-shaped.'"
But I did listen to the criticism, with a sigh, and I was beginning to realize that I was only half-way done. Especially when my greatest fear was pointed out: I had followed all of the reference images too closely, because it looked like each lady had her own personal light source.

"How am I supposed to fix that?"
"You're going to have to do the skin over again."
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Then I told myself that if I wanted to fix this thing, and get it done, I was going to have to accept this horrible fate. And so I went again, making sure that the shadows of the clothing all fell on the right side instead of the left. I adjusted Peggy's dress and fixed her "flipper", moved Darcy's eyes closer together (she did sort of resemble a frog), completely redid Peggy's face, warmed up the pale people and toned down the orange people, generally making everyone look like they belonged in the same "picture".

So now, after 39 days of hard work... and easy work and medium-skill-level work...VOILÁZ!

And despite the slightly-harsh criticism, everyone in my family has been super encouraging. I must have gone to Mama for advice a dozen times, and she knows just how to deal out the compliments. I have to admit I was getting pretty unhealthily proud about Pepper's face. 'Cause I really like it. Also, Sif's armor. But I'm working on that.

If there's one thing I would like to change about my picture, it'd be the stiff, inactive poses. In Vylla's picture she had the girls in all sorts of interesting positions that made them seem alive. So proper respect to her. This was all hers in the first place.

To God be the glory,
Hannah