Here's my entry for Daimida's coloring contest...

Backstory:

3 years ago, I came to Deviantart. I was always a traditional artist from as far back as I can remember. I mean, I've tried Photoshop a few times but I never really manage to grasp it. Joining dA was like a way to immerse myself into the world of digital artwork...so, I remember browsing around the website and this one pic stunned me...that pic was one of Daimida's earlier work [link] -lineart [link] (back when she went under a different alias - Katibu). Being the noob that I was, I tried my best at coloring it (I remember how much time I spent with the blur tool and scraped across the image wishing it could blend more readily)...hahaha, I never realized that you had to check a box in the brush tool to get the pressure to affect opactiy so the whole time, I thought that my Wacom tablet was broken...however, I still continued in spite of it...and it came out, well...DECENT (okay, okay...somewhat decent...for a noob, at least). However, the lasting effect was that it gave me a starting point in digital works....anyways, as the Chinese proverb, "A journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step." So, here we are, 3 years later (quite literally), this is where I'm at.

I saw this contest not simply as a contest (although the thought of Daimida drawing one of my OC's, Afini, would be like a wish come true), but it was a chance to prove to myself just how much I've grown as an artist (or well, a colorist, at least) over the past 3 years.

For this pic, my focus was on one thing...beauty. I can stare at that face and not help but drool...hahaha.

Contest Info:
[link]

Original Lineart: [link]

Lineart by: [link]
Colors by: [link]