Solar Eclipse (in Digital)

Nice to be back! Today sharing the last of my Solar Eclipse trilogy. Remember that solar eclipse we had back last Spring? Although my friends in the U.S. were able to enjoy the view then, the eclipse was unfortunately not visible here in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, I was fascinated by the visual effects of it in the news and decided to paint about it. First on black paper with chalk/pastel as described in Solar Eclipse (on Paper) and then weeks later on canvas with mixed media acrylic as outlined in Solar Eclipse (on Canvas). A great way to experiment painting on a black background, and of course feature Little One too!

Pencil Outline

A photograph of the canvas version of the painting was firstly imported into my Procreate app. Then all I did was switch the background to black, added a new layer, and with the white Procreate Pencil brush, I traced the basic outline. The layer with the photograph was then hidden so all you have is this sketch.

Filling it all In

I must say I did enjoy the challenge of finding appropriate brushes and the correct greys for this painting. It was important that a soft light touch was created for the Little One’s face and dress, and for this Soft Airbrush was chosen. Then for the bunny ears, I needed a different texture and hence went for the Rice brush in the Magical Textures range (available on Creative Market). And now for the hair, we went for Grungy Line Brush from Jason’s range. The eyes and dress collar were then filled in with my usual Medium Airbrush. So far, so cute!

Time for Some Sparkles!

And here comes the fun part! As I enjoy adding shiny sparkly textures to my paintings, whether digital or analog, this bit gave me a chance to play around with the many available brushes I’ve been accumulating for this purpose. Most are in the Gold Rush (metallic brushes with glitter as well) and Lights (illuminating brushes) both available on Creative Market. Some from Royal Textures set by Schrill Art too. What is important is creative a few layers now and again to give some dimension to the effects. A random play around with the various brushes, and I was eventually very happy with the result!

I very much enjoyed working on the Solar Eclipse series. It gave me some practice on working with black backgrounds using different techniques. The charcoal and chalk on black paper was a good warm-up before moving onto painting on canvas. There I got to experiment with different texture mediums. Creating a digital version was then the icing on cake. Although you still get to work with textures, they’re obviously not as tangible as canvas work. Pleased with all of them and although the same subject matter, I can’t compare as they are yet so different to one another. I’ll let you be the judge of that (see below) But one thing is certain though: All of them have indeed achieved the kawaii element!