Here we are at the final stretch before I transfer this painting to paper!  This part seems as easy as coloring in the major forms to look pretty, but I assure you it isn’t, or at least it’s never that easy for me! I agonized with how to make these colors harmonize while still featuring the July birthstone of Ruby as a central theme.

Number 1 was my first instinct for color.  The teal of the background really pops the ruby red of the Lady. However, with purple, blue, and orange mixed in, there were too many primary colors that were fighting for dominance.  Not to mention the overall scheme was too dark, causing the Lady to be lost in dark values.

Lightening up the background in the next iterations helped to keep the magpies from being lost in the darkness.  Number 3 was interesting, but the orange flowers just draw too much attention away from the Lady and make the image feel too busy, since they start to harmonize more with the lanterns as a visual element.  I like the lighter orange in the trim and sheer cloth.  Number 2 is my favorite out of these for bringing visual interest back into the flowers, while still keeping them relatively subtle.  The lighter trim also draws the eye down through the figure, accentuating the curving flow of the hair as well.

Ah how difficult this was!  I just have to share what amazing variations I’ve found in the Larkspur (Delphinium) plant so you can see why my muse went in a hundred different directions.  That being said, I can’t wait to see what people will do with the coloring pages for this Lady!

And now it’s time to FINALLY start transferring the line art to paper and start inking this Lady!  Stay tuned to my social media outlets for little inking videos and such.  This next part goes fast, thanks to all the prep, so hopefully she’ll be done very, very soon!  Stay tuned!

If you’d like to pre-order a print of this Lady, check out my Reward tiers on Patreon that will let you get a simple open edition print OR a super swanky limited edition gold leafed print!

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After I figured out my source inspiration for Lady of July in the Qixi and Tanabata festivals, she came together rather quickly!  I had the perfect pose in mind to depict her free flying nature thanks to this lovely pose by dazzle-stock on DeviantART, which served as a base.  

I arranged my elements, keeping in mind I wanted a simple background of a night sky to push the brightness of the lanterns and also to keep the image from being too busy since the main figure and elements were already very detailed.  I changed the pose by adding her far arm and refining the arc of the body with a different pose for the legs.  This gave her a stronger upwards arc and sense of direction.

Next, I moved on to the window design, which proved more challenging than I expected!  The figure covers a good deal of the window, which meant the main decorative elements needed to be on the outer edge of the window.  The window also needed to have larger shapes in it so that it didn’t overwhelm the complexity of the main elements, which was a challenge with the detailed nature of Larkspur!

I went through a few variations before I found something that felt right!  These all felt a little too generic, with just the Larkspur and the lines.  The 3rd design with the tiling started to put me on the right track with an Asian-inspired tile feel.  I eventually settled on a final design inspired by the undulating star explosion caused by fireworks, which fit the themes of July so well!  The Larkspur became much more simplified as tendrils of abstract elements emulating the ‘arms’ of a firework’s shape.

With all of my line art figured out, it’s time to enter the final phase of prep where I figure out the colors and finally transfer this painting to paper!

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Now that I have a general gist of the pose and layout I want from my thumbnail sketches, I move on to creating the fashions for Lady of July.  Thinking on the romantic origins of Tanabata and Qixi, I found myself drawn to the graceful flow of ancient Chinese Hanfu dresses.  This style of clothing creates a fantastical element with its highly decorative representations in historical fantasy movies and costumery.  I also knew from the beginning I wanted to incorporate the star themes in the wish talismans of Tanabata.  

The Hanfu style also shares many characteristics with Japanese kimono, which helped me to push Lady of July’s fashion into a more fantastical realm, as I don’t want her to represent any specific period or culture.  Using my trusty croquis sketchbook, I worked up a couple of variations in gray marker.

In doing these variations, I wanted an outfit that would flow with her figure and also be light and airy, which makes the gauzy sleeves of the outfit on the left more fitting.  

The 2nd variation on the right explored a more layered, regal feel utilizing more of the talismans in the design.  I like this look quite a lot, though it feels too heavy and restrictive for this free flying Lady! 

If you look closely in the trim and sashes, I went with the decorative theme of shooting stars, again in homage to the Star festival and her kinship with the sky.  I’ve also worked in her Larkspur birth flower as a decorative element in the print of her skirt and sleeves.

In the end, I suspect I’ll be utilizing an outfit which relies mainly on elements of the design on the left, but with the star talismans and pale hair of the design on the right.

I realized in laying in basic values with the greys that I liked the idea of her hair being an unearthly white, as the final figure will be against a night sky.  This would help the figure stand out from the sky, as well as give her a supernatural presence as if she is the embodiment of a star.

I realize the further I go along with this series, the more fantastical these Ladies are becoming.  Not necessarily a bad thing!

Which outfits do you like?  What do you think of the fantastical direction I might be going with this one?  Let me know in comments!  Next up, I’ll be working on the composition and window designs. Stay tuned!

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As most of you know, I’ve been neck deep in the Ladies of the Months series for the past couple of years!  I’m over halfway done with the whole set of 12 paintings (and matching masks).  It’s high time I created a logo for this project!  Having a logo would provide the perfect professional touch to my branding!  I could use a sticker for envelopes, a symbol for a letterhead, or a stamp on wrapping.  Imagine the possibilities!

As ever, Pinterest was the first place I turned to for brainstorming!

I actually began design work for this series when I first started the project, but the process has been difficult for me.  I don’t have much practice designing with text.  I’m also my worst client!   I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted, but I knew what I didn’t want, which was every design I seemed to come up with.  I started with random doodling with some common Art Nouveau shapes to get the creative juices flowing.  The biggest problem with many of these designs is that they were too detailed to be clear and legible logos.  I wanted to include 12 circles to represent the birthstones, but this seemed to be asking too much!

Next, I did even more sketches using an ideation exercise I learned from Greg Spalenka’s Artist As Brand book.  He suggested brainstorming for logos by using keywords from your brand and creating pictographs for the words.  Then, you could use the pictographs as starting shapes.  I went with the words ‘time’ and ‘beauty’ and came up with some interesting shapes that pervaded the logo ideas from this point onwards.

None of the logos from the pictograph sheet really worked either.  They were still too complex or just didn’t capture the themes in an appealing way. I was getting closer to what I wanted, however!

My design-minded friend, Sam Hogg, also took a bash at the Ladies logo, which helped me get more ideas of how to incorporate text as well as design, something I honestly hadn’t been thinking about!  Again, I found myself more attracted to the self-contained logos, like the one on the bottom left of Sam’s sheet.  I can’t express how important and helpful it was at this point that I had someone to bounce ideas off of!  Having feedback helped me get outside of my own head and limitations

As serendipity would have it, I received my copy of Mucha’s Le Pater during this process, which inspired the moon-shaped container form in the next sheet.  Next, I researched countless references of Art Nouveau jewelry and cameos to see how Art Nouveau masters of the past utilized the shape of a woman’s head with a decorative backdrop.  I liked the container shape of a circle, but also the asymmetry the flowing hair creates, especially in number 4.

At this point, I left the design for awhile.  The ideas needed to gestate!  When I finally returned to my favorite idea on the last sheet, I decided to use it as another starting point, exploring the idea of bringing the mask back into the design, since the masks are also part of the series.  I also saw this sketch from Mucha’s Documents Decoratifs that triggered my ‘eureka’ moment.  I finally knew what I wanted!

I eventually ditched the mask in favor of simplification, as it is the flowers and the Lady who are still the most central themes of this series.  The middle logo in the bottom row is the one I’ve chosen to finalize, as it combines the appeal of the asymmetrical flowing hair with the container shape of the circle.  It hits all my sweet spots and manages to include flowers that aren’t overbearing!

I hope you’ve enjoyed your Patreon-only sneak peek at this historic milestone in the Ladies of the Months’ development.
Stay tuned for the final logo reveal!