In 7th grade my mother, the eccentric woman that she is, bought me a pair of cow printed Capri pants. Now, c’mon don’t look at me all crazy, it was a time when I didn’t know any better. And while most people might fright over my “cow print capri’ combo, I rocked them every chance I got…

…uh, well, at least I think I did.

But while shootin the breeze in home ec class my friend Danielle would crown me with the most imaginative of nicknames, Moo Moo Mel. And for probably no other reason then to share in the buffoonery she became, “Ding Ding Danni.” It’s one of those things that you would never give license to anyone else to say and for no other reason then to laugh at yourself…

…oh and if you haven’t figured it out already that’s the point of the story, so go ahead–it’s okay, laugh at yourself.

It’s funny, throughout my lifetime of being an artist, I’ve gotten so many requests to draw people but never really got to them. I’ve probably been promising Danielle a drawing for at least 6 years and now that I’m really loving this world of digital painting I thought I’d give it a try.

20 or so hours later…

(Before and After)

I’ve always loved the original photo of Danielle, it’s got a certain dreamy quality to it and was perfect for the final selection. I was especially excited to paint her gorgeous eyes. Ya know, eyes are so telling when it comes to emotive portraits that it’s essential to get them across well.

Painting Steps

It took somethin over 20 hours to complete this. At first, I played with the color balance in Photoshop, but BIG MISTAKE. That’s probably why for the first 6 hours everything was really red until I decided to go back to the original unedited photo for color references.

Every painting is a lesson…

…from the skin to the hair I become so fascinated about what I learn from each piece. Hair, for instance, has so many values and sometimes picking an unexpected color results in the best effect.

[activate nitpicking phase]

There are, of course, plenty of things I’d go back and tweak, but I’m learning to drop my stylus and finally walk away.

Thanks Danielle…

…for being my muse for two weeks and for all the love and support I’ve received from my friends, new and old!

I’ve been looking at this painting for like the last five minutes. From this day forward I am officially convinced that no artist likes their own work, at least…at least in the beginning. I mean when you think about it, could this really become some worldwide epidemic, infecting artists with a viral string of nitpicking, disillusion, and sickly moaning?..

…Perhaps I’m exaggerating.

This is completely bipolar of me, but it’s actually kinda growing on me now. Huh, look at that.

Self Portraiture

It took 20, long, frustrating, enlightening hours to finish this piece. And at the end of the day, I certainly learned a lot, even if I wanted to chuck my laptop across the room.

Painted from an insomniac’s webcam session, the original photo shows me wrapped up in a blankey in jest expression.

Painting Steps

But I feel bad. I got this really gorgeous Wacom tablet for Christmas and still turned to my crappy old tablet for guidance. Holding the smooth, sleek stylus almost seemed wrong in comparison to the formerly chewed up pen and pal. I’m like a design Cujo, gnawing at it the most when frustration peaks.

Anyway, the steps and honest commentary above show the progress of the painting from start to finish. The beginning phase seems to test my patience like a bad ass little kid, but I manage til the 8th or 10th hour when things finally start looking–er, human.

Painting skin is especially interesting because you’d think you can just look at a photo and pick out a single color to match it, right? Well, in good ole reality, skin is made up of different colors: the fleshy bits, highlights and shadows, natural pigment, and pigment affected by light. After 8 hours of trial and error it’s easy to succumb to pulling handfuls of hair out, BUT something also really cool starts to happen…

…it all pulls together oh so lovely.

The “You Just Know” Stage

For all my fellow artists out there when is the stage when “you just know” about a piece. You know it’s not done, but you’ve got faith a little more work will do the job. Does it depend on the medium and tools used?

I would really love to know,so feel free to comment below!

3 years, 4 redesigns, and 2 domain changes later, and wait for it….

…MelodyNieves.com is here!

A short and sweet 1st post–I’m jumping for joy to embrace a real place for my own personal reflections and artwork. I feel like busting out my sweet Vanna White skills and hand miming the different sections of the site, but you’re not here–so it’s kinda awkward, by myself, heh…

…Anyway

While you’re here you can check out my portfolio, or even learn more about me if you’re memory is a little foggy. I promised myself I wouldn’t over OCD this post, so with that said…

Que Sera Sera!

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