Cinabre de Dianae (Diane Özdamar)

Cinabre

Photoshop

November 2008

Cinabre is the central piece of this tryptich (because of its warm color compared to the 2 other pieces which are using cold color schemes).
Its name comes from the french name of the cinnabar stone, which is considered both as a poison and a symbol of eternal life (it has been used as a drug of longevity and resurrection).
Cinnabar is also used as a pigment.
All these images are meant to look very stiff, icon-like and full of symbols (bugs, colors, stones…) and will be printed full size (200cm x 60cm) as door ornaments.
Original size : 7087px x 23622px , 300dpi
Photoshop CS3
Wacom Intuos 3A4
No direct reference used (ie : I didn't copy a photo) though I used many references for the peacock mantis, a real pomegranate on my desk and a mirror for the hands.
40 hours approximately.


EDIT : thank you very much for the frontpage plug ! What a big surprise when waking up today ! 
Since many people asked me what are the symbols in there, here's a very quick explanation.
She's red, color of fire, life, passion and blood. Yet, she's very pale and has "dead" skin. White has different meanings in different cultures yet it's almost often associated with calm/peace. I added green too, to enhance this opposition. The colors symbolize life duality. 
The pomegranate is based on the myth of Persephone : it's a symbol of death and life too. Persephone ate 6 pomegranate seeds which caused the world to suffer winter. 
The dice are meant to represent chance/fortune which are to me very important in life (I mean life in general, with its beginning and ending). I added the cards symbols (spade and heart) to enhance this aspect (heart = love. Quite easy ^^ spade = life, both soft and spiky, skull = death. Easy too  )
She's wearing a very bright red dress full of feathers and some "light bulbs thingies" (some kind of metaphorical fire) which symbolize the phœnix : also associated with life and rebirth.
The cinnabar stone, as mentionned previously is associated with eternal life and death too. 
The horns/antennaes are associated to Nature and insects (these are very organic). Insects have been associated with eternal life and death in many many cultures (Egyptian one for instance). Mosquitos carry fatal diseases and steal blood, beetles/scarabs carry eternal life, worms/flies are symbols of death…
This painting is full of dual symbols and tries to depict Life in general in a very iconic way, such as the two other pictures of the series.
By the way, one of my friends told me that the narrow shoulders bothered her a bit, do you think I should fix it ? The proportions are ok (7,5 heads can enter the whole body, the forearms are as long as the head, same for the hands which cover the whole head, etc…) but I made the shoulders quite narrow (a bit less than 2 heads) because I thought it was elegant… Is it really too much ? 


Thanks for your looking ! Critiques, comments, etc… are very welcome ! 


Fuente CGSociety 

Syllia…de Dianae (Diane Özdamar)

Syllia…

Photoshop

June 2008

A very long time overdue artwork for my metal band, which will be used for posters / ads.
The character is Syllia (same as the name of the band).
She's meant to have huge eyes, proportions of both a child and a grown up person, and to be completely mad…
Actually, she's not a young girl, she's ageless, hence the weird proportions.
Details and WIP here
You can also find a very detailed description of this character there.
We'll be playing live on Saturday, so I had to finish this artwork in a hurry… I wish I could have had more free time…
Photoshop CS3,
Wacom intuos 3A4
No reference used, though I used a mirror for the lower part of the body and hands. I'm trying to practise anatomy as much as I can.
50/60h
It looks much better in real life… details have disappeared due to jpg compression, as usual. The most damaged part is the hair : there are no details anymore. The legs also look "dirty" while they look textured in the full version.
Thank you very much for viewing !


Fuente CGSociety

Hanagumori de Dianae (Diane Özdamar)

Hanagumori

Photoshop

November 2007

EDIT : Here's the tutorial (http://dianae.deviantart.com/art/Digital-Painting-Tutorial-74468761)  , with all the links to the videos, my brushes, and some other nice stuff. I don't know if it can be useful, but I hope you'll like it! 

Hello everybody!

Here's my new painting, I had promised a long time ago that I would write a tutorial on how to paint a portrait without using reference so here's the base image. I had started doodling something for the daily sketch forum capturing the process while painting (theme "pretty things") then I have decided to finish it and to make a tutorial out of it. I'm writing it, I think that I'll finish it during the weekend then I'll post it on my blog if some of you are interested in this technique.

I know that everything looks blurry except the face, it is just a base image for a tutorial  I may edit it later, although I really don't have time at the moment, maybe next year or at least after Christmas time.

I have enjoyed painting it a lot, I hope you'll like it too! It has been challenging because I wanted to make her look half Asian and half european, which is not as easy as I thought (I don't know if I have succeded in it, but I like her eyes and expression) and also because it is a very unusual color scheme for me. Her face is painted (she is some kind of a young Geisha) so her skin may look unusual. 

I will make the videos available on youtube as soon as my computer has finished encoding them.

Oh, and Hanagumori means "late spring where blossom haze.

" (thanks a lot to *gohodoshi on Deviantart for the translation!!!)

Quick WIP animation :

Fuente CGSociety

Syllia's dream de Dianae (Diane Özdamar)

Syllia's dream
Photoshop
December 2009

Hi there !
I know I've been away for quite a looong time… actually for almost one year.
I went through some pretty hard life times but things got better and I've finally been able to paint again last month 
So… here's the result : a painting which is meant to be used as posters and flyer backgrounds for my alternative metal band.
It is not as realistic as the first Syllia painting since I wanted to go for a more graphical look, something a bit less "fantasy" and more dynamic.
I was in a hurry when I painted this one so some parts may look rushed but I spent quite a long time on the body and bubbles (these almost killed me !), I'd say almost 35 hours went into the painting process. I guess I've never enjoyed painting so much as it meant a lot to me to be able to paint again 
References used for the body (several ugly grainy snapshots taken with an old cheap 2megapixels camera, self timer mode -_-') and I also googled several images to understand how reflection, light and colours worked on soap bubbles.
Here's a crappy-looking WIP step
Here's where it has already been used : Syllia's myspace (I had not finished the nails and ribbons yet when I made our myspace layout and flyers, I may change these soon)
Textures from cgtextures.com + an old shot of my old mouldy shower curtains ^^
Photoshop CS3
Wacom intuos 3A4
Thanks a lot for looking =)
Have a wonderful day everybody !

Fuente CGSociety 

Arte Digital de Dianae (Diane Özdamar)

Syllia's Nightmare
Photoshop
February 2010

3rd artwork of the series for my metal band, Syllia…
This one has been used as background for flyers, posters and also as our demo cover.
Previous ones can be seen in my gallery.
If you want to listen to our songs, here's our myspace and here's our website.
Also, we'll be on stage the 13th of february so if you're in Paris, don't hesitate to come support us 
Now let's talk about some technical stuff : 
Photoshop CS3
25 or 30hours
wacom intuos 3 A4
a very small and crappy shot of my face taken with Photobooth as a reference. Click here to view it.
I googled some jellies as references for their main shape 
Watersplash is heavily referenced from many google images as I wanted to make it look as real as I could. 
Personal waterdrop custom brushes used as I was in a hurry when I painted this (I had to finish it within 2 days… needless to say I didn't sleep a lot).
This watersplash has been the most time consuming part of the painting, actually. I added rust texture from cgtextures.com using layer blending mode (one rust layer, soft light blending mode) to make it look more real. 
Then, I added some more rust texture on the top of the whole picture which looked too clean for my taste.
Symbolism is up to you, I have mine, which I followed when I painted this, but the band members also had theirs which were a bit different from mine… so I'll let you figure out.
Her face was intended to look very peaceful and fragile against these tentacles / jellies and watersplash (rather oppressive environnment) to add some more contrast and a feeling of hope to the whole picture.
WIP step showing the first concept (flat lighting, butterflies were also too "cliché" and not surreal enough.
Thanks a lot for viewing! 
C&C are much appreciated!




Nimue
Photoshop
January 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! 

Nimue, the Lady of the Lake

A personal version of this character from the Arthurian Legends.

I've been sick all night so I couldn't do anything but to stay at home for the New Year's Eve… I felt so frustrated that I spent all my night painting something personal (I had not done this for quite a long time ^^' )

This is also a pretext to try some new custom brushes I made and to experiment with abstract + "realism"

Photoshop CS3

7 or 8 hours

No reference used

Inspired by Ewa Karpinska, Gustav Klimt and Odilon Redon art. 

If you don't know Ewa Karpinska, you should really check her artworks out ! She's an amazing painter who has a very unique way to use watercolours (she's also my boyfriend's mother so I've had the honour to see her paintings in real life, which really inspired me) 

Brushes used for this painting please credit me in the description if you use them, these are for photoshop CS3

Wallpaper pack (many resolutions)

Miranda and the Tiger's Eye

Photoshop

December 2008

 

This is the cover illustration for "Miranda and the Tiger's Eye" by author Sara Beacham. 

This is a novel for children (8 - 12 years or age) which would greatly be appreciated by fans of Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Book Cover, front

Press Release

Photoshop CS3

45 hours approximately

References provided by Robin Beacham (the author's daughter).

Some textures from CGTextures

I was given total freedom for the background (it had to be jungle themed), but I had to follow my customer's sketch for the characters (their poses would have been different if it were up to me).

Please note that I didn't make the cover design, only the illustration ! 

Thanks a lot for looking 

Fuente CGSociety 

Tempestarii de Dianae (Diane Özdamar)

Tempestarii

Photoshop

May 2010

Tempestarii are mythological beings which modify weather, weather-makers to sum it up.

I had this image in mind the day before yesterday and absolutely had to paint it, I don't know why.

The winged fish are meant to symbolize both air (wind) and water (rain) while the blue God with red hair also symbolizes water and fire (lightning). I added him horns as these are quite common on pagan deities (and I must admit I love to paint ram horns, these are quite fun to do).

I wanted to paint something a bit similar to my "Nimue" painting, both abstract and realistic in some parts. This has been one of the paintings I had the most fun to create.

I hope you will like it aswell 

Photoshop CS3

Wacom Intuos 4A4

6 or 7 hours

no reference used for the Tempestari (except for my hand with a very crappy Photobooth shot)

I also googled some images of Betta Splendens fish but didn't really look at them and the winged fish ended looking quite different.

Comments and critiques are very welcome, thanks a lot for viewing !

Here is an animated WIP : 

Fuente CGSociety

Morgan le Fay de Dianae (Diane Özdamar)

Morgan le Fay

January 2007

Hi artists  Happy New Year!
This is my new painting, "Morgan le Fay", based on the Arthurian Legend.
Morgan le Fay was an enchantress who practised lots of sciences and knew how to make poison (the little bottle she's holding contains poison. The moths are meant to represent the souls of her victims, attracted by poison - you can see some sparkling dust around them, coming from the bottle)
It was meant to be just a lighting exercise at first (I was playing with my wacom and a mirror) but I liked the colours so I've decided to turn it into a painting. 
Photoshop CS and my wacom
35 hours approx
no real refs used (I've just taken a look at some nightshots of streets, you can see them in the WIP thread located HERE ). 
I've used a mirror as mentionned above. The hand was the hardest part to make, it's still not perfect (there are some flaws in the painting but I was tired to work on it so I've called it done) but I've really tried.
The tones are brown and green on purpose, the lightsources are candles (and a little bit of magical light, she's a sorceress  ) so there's no real diversity in the colours and the contrast is not very high.
Btw, the internet optimised jpg compression looks very very bad, I've lost all the details in this version :( the contrast of the lights was better, the hair was more detailed, the skin had some texture but I can see nothing of that in this version....

Fuente CGSociety 

Dream Catcher - Edited de dianae (Diane Özdamar)

Dream Catcher - Edited

Photoshop

February 2007

Hi artists!

This painting has no particular meaning, I had just started doing a hair painting tutorial then I've finished the sketch I had done...

Nothing special 

Please note that it's a quickie compared to my other works so it may look a little bit rushed (I've spent 7 hours on it).

No refs used, I've had a hard time figuring the hand... it still looks off but since it's not something I had planned to paint nicely, I don't really care 

C&C are very welcome!

The tutorial can be viewed here so you can see how different is the final image 

Edit : I've spent some more time on it (4 more hours), it didn't look good so I've tried to fiw some flaws (there are still flaws but I prefer this version).

I hope you'll like it! 

Fuente CGSociety

Her Eyes de dianae (Diane Özdamar)

Her Eyes

Photoshop

February 2008

Hi everybody!
I've finally found enough motivation to finish this piece.... (though I may fix some things later, I don't know... I'm just way too tired of this one for now!)
The story behind this painting is quite simple : the girl (you're free to find her a name if you want) is some kind of a noble witch, she was born blind then discovered that she had the power to see through the eyes of animals. 
The serval cat she's holding is now "her eyes", he's bound to her (that's why he has human eyes).
I started this painting as a study to practise curly hair mostly and I ended up finishing it....
You can see the WIP thread here

Some closeups

More closeups

Photoshop CS3
Wacom Intuos 3A4
80 to 90 hours approximately (maybe less, maybe more... I can't remember...)


No direct reference used, but I googled some image of serval cats to create my own serval and I used a mirror for the right hand. 


I hope you'll like it!


Fuente CGSOCIETY

Alien Girl de Diane Özdamar (dianae)

Alien Girl

Photoshop

May 2006

This painting is the latest version of a character I had designed for a GFXartist challenge game. It's now part of a personal project.


Previous one 

Personal references used for the hypericum flower and for the face. Other elements are imagination.


References 

Closeups : 

Painted in Photoshop CS. 
Wacom intuos 3A4
About 60 hours.


Unfortunately, the jpg compression has flattened it. I've tried to edit it using the levels, but it's not as good as the psd file.


Fuente CGSociety 

Morgan le Fay by Dianae