I-Fri: Sacrifice *updated*

*update, tuesday July 18, 3 days after original post (scroll down to see original)

I decided to try this one again. Much easier to compare apples with apples, no?

Looking at my original painting later, I wasn't totally happy with the colours - they weren't rich enough, so here I have made them more saturated, and added some dry brush for texture. I like this better, i think it adds to the drama of it.

Now for the black line. Well, harrumph, I'm still not happy with this, I may just have to do it AGAIN until I get it RIGHT. I'm not sure if it's the fact that they're in black or if it's just the lines themselves... I might try some different patterns, and also just breaking them up a bit here and there - the black still makes it feel heavy but at the same time I like the way it makes the colours pop...

don't think I'll make another I-F link but I will post here if I do it again.

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The Scorpion and the Frog

A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too."

The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp "Why?"

Replies the scorpion: "It's my nature..."

(okay so I used a bit of artistic license in my version)
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That's the inspiration for this piece, and I want to say a bit about the technique. I am getting increasingly happier with my gouache-that-look-like-watercolour backgrounds. They are a lot of fun to do. I tried to stay really loose on this one and not worry about outlining every single thing. Funny, as I was painting, I would catch myself going to paint around something oh-so-closely, and then think 'no! stop! keep it loose!' I guess it's not in my nature :-) but it is still something I want to try doing.

I tried the lines in a different colour this time, and no black border. I do like it better without the border - it lets it free (except that my scanner wasn't big enough and cut it off on the RHS...) The lines I painted too dark at first and had to blot them out a bit. Not too sure about them. The characters outlines I did with black coloured pencil and had to go over them a few times to make them dark enough. They're still not really dark enough in my opinion, but I hate going over lines more than once, it makes it looked contrived. So, some victories, some defeats. Try, try again....