Alex Ledante
When making a portrait, the key ingredient is personality; no matter how skillful the technique, if the subject’s personality doesn’t shine through, the piece will have failed on a fundamental level. The personality trait I am showcasing here is kawaii (being the quality of cuteness in the context of Japanese culture)
Animal ears are considered massively cute, as are hairstyles which recall earses. In this experiment, I will attempt to make an adorable girl with a kawaii hairdo- please wish me lots of success!
#1 work in progress
Not necessarily the final pose or lighting, but it satisfactorily captures the kawaii vibe that I want this piece to have when it grows up. She is pointing at her earses because that sort of gesture is also cute
I might decide to make her more coy or sassy and once I understand her personality, she might get some copy on her shirt but indicating the earses will remain in the mix one way or another
#2 rough sketch
Trying something new here- ink and gouache on watercolor paper- interesting stuff going on. The toned paper has a midrange value, so I only need to describe the darks in ink, then indicate the highlights with white gouache
I am going to try a similar approach using a white colored pencil instead of a brush, tanoshimi ni shite kudasai
