And the result is...... Oh my goodness.
The shading itself took about 4 days, each of about 4 hours each. This was slightly faster than the previous semi-project on the Love Hina group photo (in T1.5), although it was definitely much more vexing throughout. Unlike the last time, where much emphasis was placed on tri-chromatic light dynamics (surfaces facing light were all white, surfaces skew were mid-tone, and obscured surfaces in dark tones- giving it a very studio-like appeal), T1.7 shadings do not strictly adhere to light dynamics. Rather, more emphasis was placed on natural shadowing, colour conversion (how would a dark yellow fare, in comparison to a magahony, on a greyscale), and texture detail (i.e. shine in metallic surfaces v.s. cloth v.s. hair).There were a lot of points for consideration, and most importantly- details to consider.
The shadowing for the bust portrait should be relatively easy to cough out by now, and this time there were quite a number of T1.7 samples to consider. Some modifications from the Rach-Nat portrait were the curvature of the eyes, the reflection of light (wrong for the Rach-Nat portrait), a double eye-lid, abstracting the nose bridge, and incresing the dimensions of the mouth to give a small but distinct smile. The whole idea was to make her 'Moe'- not in a cutesy or adorable definition, but rather in the definition of 'budding'. After all, Hirasawa's supposedly fifteen (then), not a runway model, but rather a puberscent girl with a little chubb and yet a look rearing for maturity. The schoolgirl look had to hold- I guess it somehow did: not in my ideal way, but appropriate nevertheless.
The tonality for the jacket-uniform was slightly tricky- in the original, the jacket was in dark navy blue, while the hair was yellowish brown. On a greyscale, it would naturally follow that the jacket would actually be darker than the hair, even at it's lightest shine. Initially, I tried to be true to the original- but on a T1.7 it turned out that Yui was a blonde caucasian- after some negotiation, it was settled that the jacket be slightly lighter than the hair, but at its shine brighter. This gave the jacket a sort of reflective finish, and to justify things I tried to keep the majority the dark surfaces minimal. On the flipside, I definitely forgo the ideal light accentuation in her chest region. Nope- Yui's a moe schoolgirl, and school uniform's are NOT supposed to be kinky; moreover, she's not nineteen-going-twenty with well developed boobs like Rach is.... So to all sick-ass otakus waiting to see her with realistic-depicted boobs the size of melons: go stare at some yourself- boo!
But the chief troublemaker had to be Gita. Instead of simply having to look like anpother les-paul guitar, it had to have a cherryburst-design finish- and this time (unlike the original), Gita was a smorgasbord of wood, wire, shiny metallic twinkies, and polished surfaces. I had to simplifiy the wooden-finishing, since It was near impossible to replicate without looking like a watermelon, and in turn I gave the wood a little more shine. The rough unpolished wood was depicted in darker and roughly shaded grey instead of jet black. The killer was still the guitar strings and tabs- they just had to be white against the black of the wood, not whitely white, but shiney white! Between the shines must lie an element of black where the underside of the wire lies. Consequently, the wood had to be shaded in 1 by 1 in boxes. There were about 110 boxes- that one sucked totally.
There were many times I though this picture was definitely going to fail. The multitude of surfaces, lightings and details, adding to the sheer size of the portrait, only meant that everything had to be equally well-depicted, and by T1.7 standards, an idealism margin of only up to 30% is given to simpify portions where I have yet to master upon (since it's my first time shading full body shots in T1.7, I have officially mastered nothing). Yet miraclously these little hiccups managed to harmonize themselves to give a sufficiently well-depicted picture for it's own style. I guess the honour is not completely mine to claim, but shared between members who (unadmittably liked it) chipped in their opinions, or saw potential in what could more probably turn out to be a visual graphite disaster. Credits have to be given to the source material, and the reference material (including a real Les Paul Gibson Custom 1955 electric guitar cherryburst design- the closest I could get as reference). Of course, with determinism deing the divine plan; due credits too have to be given to above.
Now one question: Is this going to be your last attempt in doing such horrendously large protraits in T1.7? Have you learnt your lesson in biting off more than what you could chew, Jesse? Definitely T1.7 portraits in its respective size is not a feat to be underestimated, and by conventional definitions it brinks on the border of impossible, but then and again- LETS BRING IT ON!!!
Hmmmm- we've finally proven our Hirasawa as the Genius- now then....when will Mio kill the witch?
Attributes:
Genre: Version 1.7 anime / manga character conversions.
Source material: Yui Hirasawa; Sakurakou K-ON bu, K-ON! Cagayake Girls!
Other reference material: Cosplay uniform, Sakurakou Girls High; Les Paul Gibson 1955 custom version, cherry sunburst design; General pictures of people holding guitars (2).
Dimensions: 50 : 50 cm half body portrait w full depiction of Guitar.
Idealism factor: 50% - reference to guitar tonality and school uniform design.
Duration: Total 7 days: 1 day for general depiction, 4 active days- shading, 2 days break.
Comments: Definitely the most ambitious picture drawn ever, with the highest amount of detail insofar. Even so, some improvements on proportion could be made on the fret-board of the guitar (a little too high); and the right hand position, so that she appears as if she's in the process of strumming (technically she appears to be adjusting her guitar, but that's realistic enough to pass). More research could be made on surface reflection and opacity, but that would require charcoal, art pencils and soft erasers. This picture is done in a 4B mechanical pencil and a polymer eraser.
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