Cowgirl (PROCESS)

OKAY! Let’s just get it out of the way that I am a very indecisive artist, to say the least. I sit and contemplate a piece to death through every step of the way before publishing it, and then sometimes even continue to work on it after I have hit ”share” on all my social media. This piece was of a particular challenge, though, because I am unfortunately pretty bad at drawing hats at all, let alone one sitting on someone’s head (if you look at my Gertrude drawings with any scrutiny, it’s clear there is a big lack of consistency in the exact design of her hat because I just don’t know what I am doing). Beyond the hat, this cowgirl’s pose was (and still is) causing me pain!

So here are more-or-less the original pencils (you can see erase marks all over the place where I was trying different things). I wasn’t super settled on her leg size, and nor the type of chaps/boots she was wearing, and so then I duplicated the layer and drew over it to get this, instead.

The issue is that I had still only had the hat penciled the first way, and I even inked it that way, too! I was like, “If I don’t like it, I’ll change it later” (DUMBASS MOVE). The hat took me sooooo long to figure out, and even after I had colored the entire thing, it still sat wrong (which is why you see in the original flats that the color is offset on it because I eventually moved the line work).

(Note for those unaware - when coloring an outfit I know or assume will mostly be one color, I tend to do my flats where I separate everything so that I can select a specific item of clothing and not end up accidentally affecting everything around it, as well. It’s not perfect, but it helps a lot (especially in that most recent Gertrude drawing, because of how intensely I ended up rendering everything!).)

Also: her feet! I had originally drawn it that her boots were flat on the ground, but after I’d already drawn them AND colored them, including spurs, I realized that it not only looked terribly wrong, but her ankles must be broken (I forgot to save the layer which included those boots, unfortunately). Pretty frustrating!

With color, I also never really know what I want to do until I am doing it. I knew she was Latina, but that was it! I initially had her in black because of course I did, but I changed it to pink cuz I thought she would look both cool AND hot. But I also did a whole version in which almost all of her pink was the same shade - I thought the drawing was done, but then I realized, especially from a distance, that the lack of contrast in the drawing itself due to color holds and rendering just……didn’t lend it to look like anything but this weird mass of pink! NOT GREAT!!

Now the drawing like IS done, but it’s one of those where you finish it and are just like…this one wasn’t good even from the start! Like, it’s FINE, but the rendering feels super nineties - and not in a good way! - and the pose, with consideration for how badly I drew the perspective of her legs, the thickness of said legs, and how the chaps ended up working out… it’s just not my favorite. I have issues with the top half (the hat STILL bothers me, even after I pulled extensive reference to get it right), but I think it’s much more tolerable than everything going on below it! But that’s art! Sometimes it’s a winner and sometimes…it’s not! Still, I appreciate all the support, and I hope you enjoyed this uhhhhhh fun journey!