Girls Night Interruption COLOR

GiftArt Duo DiD sketch; Paper, Pencil, & Photoshop COLOR.

--- With Mario & Luigi back in Brooklyn for a visit, & most of her Toads dismissed for the night, Princess Peach decided to invite over her close friend, Shawna, for a royal girls' night at the castle. Shawna eagerly accepted, and not only was grateful for the invite, but also at the rubied Tiara that Peach presented to her upon her arrival! However, their joy did not last long. Only an hour or so into Shawna's visit, as the two of them were preparing to hold a Royal ball, the Castle gets infiltrated!

Koopa Troopas, Little Goombas, and Hammer Brothers penetrate the Castle in search of their King's target: Princess Peach. During a conversation regarding their dresses, a group of koopas storm through and grab both ladies! "King Koopa didn't say anything about two of them!" says one Hammer brother to his brother. "Let's just tie her up and grab the Princess!" answers the other. As the koopa troopa foot soldiers pace back and forth as sentries to the archway, Shawna gets shoved into a chair in the room, and her hands and feet bound. About to scream in protest, a cloth gag is tied around her head.

Peach watched in fear! She was used to being kidnapped, but not for it to happen to any of her friends! She struggles to twist our of the grasp of the other koopas, but as they finish tying Shawna to the chair and then tie her own hands behind her back, she knows the drill - it's no use. As the other koopas lead the way out, one of the Hammer brothers ties a rope around Peach's ring choker while the other watches closely, and once that is knotted and tugged upon lightly, she obediently follows them, casting one last glance at the securely bound Shawna as Shawna meets Peach's eyes.

With most of Peach's subjects gone and Mario & Luigi away, Shawna knows it may be up to her to rescue her friend and stop the koopas and struggles against her bonds. But the ropes are tied tight and the knots are just out of reach of her fingers. She knows Peach is tied tightly enough that her weak struggles won't do any good as she's led away. Will Shawna get loose in time to save Peach??? ---

Ok, long setup again, but I think it is worth it for this one. I had a request from Shawna for herself to be placed in a scenario with Peach, and we talked out the scenario and particulars. The request was for COLOR, and therefore the original sketch is in my scraps section.

This is the important info:

Shawna: With very few exceptions, I don't really do fan art of real people. Therefore I wasn't sure how mixing a blend of real world and Anime/cartoon styles would appear. I started with the basic position from my Bonkers sketch, and changed the details to match the request. I also needed to come up with a suitable dress, and a last minute added Tiara which I know doesn't look great but it was all I could come up with. Essentially the idea was to go for a Princess-y look on her, and I think it turned out ok. Coloring was ok, although I did use some interesting alternate color highlights for her hair.

Peach: What can I say about Peach that I haven't already many times? Well, I should admit that my reference items on her and my personal preference of her look is from Super Mario 2. I know recent games have given her a detailed and fashionable appearance, but it just isn't necessary IMHO. I know her dress is supposed to be almost to the floor and covering her feet, but I needed to show the motion of her walking, and I couldn't think of another way to show that other than the feet being where they were. This is one of the times where I actually use the "JC Peach Choker" in action -- since I always use that in lieu of her round breast jewel, I thought it was about time it serves more of a purpose than just hinting at Peach's often-forced submissive side. The hardest part about her coloring was decided what to shade with her hair, given that she is headed into what seems like a less lit (albeit obvious light source of some kind) corridor. I still have a ways to go to understand shading and execute.

The Scene: I lifted the idea of the Mural on the wall from Peach's Castle in Mario Kart 64. The trim was kind of made up on the spot as I couldn't replicate the Castle's trim like I originally intended. I used a double filter for the texturing on the bricks, and even though it doesn't do exactly what I first envisioned, I think it came out awesome. This was also the first time I have draw a Hammer Brother, and other than making him, perhaps, a tad too small, reference material helped make his appearance not too difficult. I did use some gradient work on the ropes and the "corridor". I also stuck to primarily only two colors per section - main color and one darker shade for shadowing. I am hoping this gives the scene more of the look that I am ultimately going for when conceptualizing all of my art.

Well, Shawna, I hope you like this!

As for the rest of you, let me know what you all think of this - I am eager to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly

- JC

EDIT: I forgot Shawna's white stockings!!! So I did that, added a Pattern Stamp to them, adjusted the color of her gloves, and then used some Pattern Stamping and a Stained Glass texture on the mural. Oh, and I also darkened the line art.

EDIT #2: Been bugging me for a while, so I fixed the perspective of the bricks just to the left of the arch that Peach is being led through. I don't blame you if you don't even notice it 03/02/10