Hello Kitty Pullover

It’s now the first week of September. Summer is definitely over as temperatures plunge below 20°C. More sweaters and jackets being worn, and not many shorts and sandals anymore. Yet it’s still warm enough to enjoy the outside, be it gardening, long walks in the woods or just sitting on a park bench. Little One, for one, is makimg the most of the last days of this pleasant weather. Today, she wants to show you her new Hello Kitty pullover! It’s a kawaii baby blue one with Hello Kitty’s face on it. And she’s brought her cute little Teddy Bear too! How could I resist drawing this?

Pencil Sketch

This time, I went for digital painting, using my iPad and Procreate app. A pink background was chosen on which I decided to make an outline first with black Derwent pencil. Normally I never make an outline first with digital art. I just plunge straight into the painting, but this time wanted to try something different. Whilst positioning Little One slightly to the right, I drew some flowers on the left sticking out from the edge. It’s always good to change composition in my work to give more variety. So far so good with Hello Kitty being added afterwards.

Coloring In

I gave gouache a go for this painting. On paper, I like the look of gouache with its opaque matte finish so wanted to experiment with it digitally. Here I get that chalky appearance as well. The colors I chose also worked well with the pink background, especially the blue for the shirt and yellow for Teddy Bear. And now for the retouching …

Touchups

A new layer was added on which I worked on the eyes using, again, gouache. Once happy with how they looked, I proceeded with doing more to the hair. The Procreate app has a Touchup menu that gives a more streaky effect on the hair when you brush down the area with Flowing Hair. And for the first time, I went for Fine Hair to make the eyelashes more voluminous, and I was pleased to see that worked well too! Then with the black Derwent pencil, I drew in the eyes of Teddy and Hello Kitty along with her whiskers before going over the outlines to tidy up the painting more. And now I can safely say I’m done!

And what fun it was to sketch again! And this time also digitally. Great to be back to something relatively simple as well given I’ve been lately involved with mixed media art. Digital art is also a great way to get creative when you just want to relax and paint without getting messy. And doesn’t Little One look ever so sweet? She certainly looks like she enjoys hanging around outside today. And so kawaii in her Hello Kitty pullover and clutching her Teddy Bear!