Honeybee Fro

     Whenever I do a piece of artwork, it takes me a while to come up with a name for it.  With this one, it took close to 24 hours.  The name for this picture comes from the name of the model used in the reference photo, which I’ll explain after the jump.

     About three years ago, give or take, is when I started trying to become a professional artist.  At that time, I started putting together a collection of illustrations to add to my portfolio.  One of the pieces was done using a reference from the Apple Bottoms Jeans ad, with Melissa Ford as the model.  That, Melissa Ford, is where I got the “bee” in the artwork title.  I only added honey because, well, just because.  This picture is almost an exact duplicate of the picture, except I gave my model an Afro, thus the “Fro” in the title.

     I had decided to try and redo this picture in Sketchbook Pro 2010, but it wasn’t working out.  I did a few layers of artwork to add to this illustration, but none of them looked any good.  So, I saved it, and put it to the side.

     A few minutes later, I came back and started coloring the pencil illustration just for the heck of it.  I had no plans of keeping it, but started to change my mind at this point.  So, I decided to keep it and continue finish it.

     And here’s where I got once I had the a lot of the colors laid down.  I saved that model separately and decided to start on the background.

     In Paint.net, I opened the original file illustration, and colored the background.

     I opened up the background & model in Photoshop and started putting the pieces together.  The third picture is my trademark/emblem.  For the last few pictures of mine, I’ve been adding it in ways that aren’t so distracting, and I repeat it here.

     I was going to save the picture as it was, but felt like it wasn’t full enough.  The model was loaded back into Sketchbook Pro, and I added the length to the legs.

     Next, I reopened Photoshop to add the emblem to the sneakers.

     Again, opened up Paint.net and added more room on the sides and below.  After that, I added steps…

...and put the model on the page.  As you can see, the right leg is too short, but I fix it later.

     Before I finished, I decided to change that vase.  I don’t know why, but I just didn’t like it.  So, I opened Sketchbook Pro and just did a quick illustration off the top of my head, and here’s what I got.

     And this is the final picture.  The right leg was lengthened in Photoshop using the Magic Lasso tool.  I isolated the foot & calf, and lengthened it artificially.  I also lightened the visible fur, as I felt it was to dark for a white fur coat.