Mioko on Canvas

Painting Mioko

In this post you can see the illustration 'Mioko on Canvas' that I created for Chapter Thirty One of Dwelling. It is an interesting process to create a drawing of a painting in progress, this isn't the first time I've had to create one of Dorian's unfinished canvases, previously I have drawn Dorian's painting of a tenement building.

Mioko sat cross-legged on a chair in the center of Dorian's makeshift studio. Deeply focused, Dorian sat ten feet away, his eyes either pressed an inch or two from the canvas or looking over to appraise the shadows and highlights around Mioko's form.

Chapter Thirty One of Dwelling by Doug Karr.

Creating an illustration for Dwelling

Creating this image was a bit of a messy process. I masked off an area that would become the neutral background of the canvas and then applied water and ink, flicking and spattering the ink onto the paper.

Dorian squirted out another blob of red paint. He loved her salty edge. It was exactly the reason he'd asked her to sit. The more he looked, the more he felt she really did have a ramshackle beauty, unique to this time and place, but with a pleasingly repellant quality hidden underneath. She was a perfect set of contrary forces, striking yet somehow menacing. The more he looked, the stronger he felt it. She was perfect.

Chapter Thirty One of Dwelling by Doug Karr.

Once the masking tape was removed I drew the image of Mioko on to the blank area of the paper in pencil. I used a variety of brushes to add ink to the image, using a large flat brush to apply quick brush strokes to the background to suggest Dorian's paint marks.

Finally, a dip pen and drawing ink were used to add finer details and outlines to the drawing.

'Mioko on Canvas'

Ink on paper

She climbed down from the chair and walked out the door.

Dorian watched her leave. Picking up the palette knife, he flipped it in his hand, mulling over what had just transpired. Then with a tinge of sadness, he scooped more paint onto the knife and got back to work before the feel of her completely dissolved away

Chapter Thirty One of Dwelling by Doug Karr.

You can read the 31st chapter of Doug Karr's novel Dwelling now!

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Have a great day and Steem on!