Study of Morgana

[motetus]

Hey look, I've drawn something that isn't Eagle fanart! Um, it isn't Star Wars fanart though - I feel so bad for abandoning my poor Alphabet Challenge for so long just when I was nearing the end, but I will finish it eventually! And even if I only draw one letter a year, I bet I'll still reach Z is for Zabrak and paint Mal before swcajolings writes the next part of Beacon.

So, this was done for drawmelot's Style of Famous Artists and Animated Films Project. I picked John William Godward's Study Of Campaspe  - not really one of my favourite pieces of art, but I didn't want to do anything that was too well-known or use an reference that was too high-res or detailed in order to avoid copying too much.

I am... sort of torn on the end result. I had a lot of fun painting Morgana (female skin tones are so much more enjoyable!) but I think there are parts of the background where it's obvious I started losing interest, and I wish I'd managed to keep Morgana's face looking more like the initial sketch and less like the original painting. But given how long it's been sitting in my WIPs file (months! I usually finish something I start pretty quickly so I have no idea why this was such a struggle) I had to just hurry the fuck up and get it done before I had my first abandoned piece of the year.

Has full-frontal nudity, so NSFW. Unless you work in an art gallery.



John William Godward's original:



And my Merlin version (gosh, Katie McGrath is gorgeous. I thought I had no interest in drawing Merlin fanart, but I will make an exception for her):



Also, this was the first painting of mine I had the courage to show to my mother. She disapproved of the nudity. GOD, MOTHER. DIDN'T YOU ONCE DRAG YOUR WHINY UNAPPRECIATIVE DAUGHTER AROUND ART GALLERIES LOOKING AT PAINTINGS JUST LIKE THESE? I do not understand. I think she prefers landscapes.

Comments

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

This is gorgeous! I love your color choices, and the shading, and perhaps weirdly, the texture of the floor.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Morgana's purple dress is my favourite, so I had to pick that colour.

(ha, the floor effect I got just by overlaying a marble texture. I prefer not to use that many textures now, but there was no way I was painting a million cracks)

[sineala.livejournal.com]

Oooh. This is really, really pretty.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It was fun to draw an attractive woman after months of men, men and more men. Maybe someone should talk me into drawing Cottia!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

*GASP* THE MIND, IT BOGGLES.

AND IT'S A WOMAN. WHAT IS THIS MADNESS? Even the wife kept asking me why there were no cocks.

My mother probably would not approve of the piggies either - I shall have to paint her watercolour flowers and landscapes. Landscapes with naked gay frolicking, har.

(no wait, no. I don't want to lose my inheritance)

[demon-rum.livejournal.com]

Maybe your mother would like it better if you put her in some sort of see-through sopping-wet linen sheath, a la the 'wet drapery' style? Those statues leave NOTHING to the imagination, but hey, look--clothes!

actually, I'm glad you didn't because she has delightfully brown nipples. If I'm allowed to mention that. Also, great skin. Very warm, healthy and pink. And I love the indigo tones; makes the painting more lively than the original.

I feel like I should be apologizing for something, but I can't put my finger on it...

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Nah, my mother would still disapprove, she thinks everything I do is weird. She said I must have inherited my fondness for nude art from my father and not her: ew, creepy. Also, I very much doubt my father appreciates the gay stuff quite as much as I do.

Yeah, you should be sorry. BE SORRY WITH PORN.

[waltzing-mice.livejournal.com]

OMG, this is just gorgeous!!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! :)

[seascribe.livejournal.com]

Oh,I love this. You picked awesome colours for the background, and yes, Katie McGrath is gorgeous, and you should totally paint more of her. :D

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D If I draw her again it will probably be with clothes on - yes, Katie McGrath has a lovely figure, but omg those dresses. ♥

[ainsoph15.livejournal.com]

OMG, A BEAUTIFUL NAKED LADY. AM I IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE???

Oh hon, I LOVE the vivid colours, and I have come to the conclusion that you draw the prettiest toes ever. I also love how she is a LADY WITH SOME BOOTY (as is lovely Katie ♥) Best of all, I adore her facial expression - so proud and commanding and utterly assured of her power. Your pictures are so atmospheric - this one also has sounds in my head, like I can hear cymbals and sistrums and ululating minions in the background :D

Ha ha, oh, your mum's reaction, lol. You've reminded me of when my parents first started dragging me around art galleries when I was about five/six, and I was MORTIFIED AND OVERCOME WITH THE MOST PROFOUND SHAME AND EMBARRASSMENT BY ALL THE NAKED PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. They sort of impatiently tried explaining the difference between nude and naked, while I wandered around with my eyes fixed firmly on the floor. I was having NONE of it.

How things change XD

[motetus.livejournal.com]

I KNOW. While I was painting this I kept thinking "what are these strange round anatomical features... oh yes that's right, breasts!" I should draw women more often than I do, but, but, men doing gay stuff MORE FUN.

Hahaha, I am finding it very very difficult to picture wee!prudish!Ainsoph. NO, CAN'T DO IT. I think I was too busy sulking to get embarrassed - god, what a little shit I was as a child. Now going around art galleries is my idea of a good time - oh god, I'm turning into my parents, aren't I?

(no wait, I'm only on my first drink of the night by 9.40pm, not my 11th. Not quite like them...)

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

This is absolutely gorgeous, hon <3

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! :D

[the-little-owl.livejournal.com]

Lovely! And I like your colour scheme even better than the original! And Morgana has this magical staff with her that roused the dead knights :>)
The background is fine for me, but her feet could use a bit of bone structure at the ankles and on top. They remind me of a seal's fins.
As for your mother: mothers are like that. Sex in art is fine as long as it is not their daughters, who creates this art.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Yaaay, someone recognised the staff! Clever girl. :D Yeah, feet were the last bits I did and when I was in a "ugh, just finish, FINISH already" mood - maybe I should hire you to stand next to me and refuse to let me save the final jpeg until I stop being sloppy?

Heh, you are right about the mothers (and good heavens, compared to what my brother gets up to, me merely painting sex should be the very least of her worries), I do wonder how my very prudish one produced a daughter as fond of smut as I am. Must be a rebellious thing.

[planejane.livejournal.com]

This is utterly gorgeous. There is something so beautiful about her fluid curves and then all the lovely textures you have going on. I like that curl of hair around her nipple, too.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, curves are lovely to paint... but not quite as much fun as Esca's hipbones. :D

[ella-bane.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is gorgeous! I love her little toes, the shading of her body, and the detailed staff. SO PRETTY!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I'm very glad you like it. :) Yeah, I'm pleased with how the skin tones of her body came out too - usually I go for much more dramatic lighting with darker shadows, so it was nice to learn that you can paint convincing skin with these kind of colours.

[suechosethis.livejournal.com]

She is gorgeous and a lovely interpretation of the original :) I love the colour - I agree her purple dress is so beautiful, it is her colour!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D Yeah, that purple dress is my favourite of all her outfits - makes me wish I knew how to sew! I hope she gets more fabulous outfits in season 4 though - I was very disappointed that during her (brief) reign as queen she didn't get a new wardrobe. Priorities, woman!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Ooh, very curvy. Like the way you have done the breasts and stomach, they look as though they have a weight to them, and I like that the nipples are realistically asymmetric. Also the lips, very sultry!

Agree with the owl about the toes. Not as good as Esca's toes, which have set the standard I now expect your toes to meet. Well, not your actual toes...

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D But I must give John William Godward most of the credit for this, seeing as a lot of it was just copied.

And yeah, the toes! STOP GETTING SLOPPY, ZOE. Um, I can I use the foreshortening-makes-things-harder excuse this time? Probably not, seeing as I had a perfectly decent reference to work with...

[swcajolings.livejournal.com]

I would resent the Beacon comment except that it's true. Maybe for your birthday, if you promise the Zabrak picture includes either hardcore action or hardcore porn. Preferably both. If that's the case, upcoming Beacon stories will include the same.

I am very much digging this painting. Lol mothers and their conservative sense of art. Mine saw a medieval religious painting of a lamb and when I explained it, she said "Oh I get it! Jesus was born in the year of the sheep just like me!"

Bit o' concrit: the body in the general has a really nice sense of roundness and depth, but the feet are still a little 2D. If you look at the reference pic, there's a very subtle darker contouring around the ankles and toes, as well as the inner side of the bent foot, that give the feet a sense of having vertical sides plus a top plane kind of like a wedge/doorstop.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Ack, okay okay, you are all right about me being totally lazy and sloppy about the feet. I touched them up a bit - better? Still don't like the toes, but my heart is set on Victorian canings and frock coats now.

Aw, I was planning on doing something sweet and schmoopy with Mal and Obi-Wan. Maybe I could turn it into schmoopy hardcore porn? With hardcore action too! Bit of a challenge there for me...

Your mother is so unbelievably adorable.

[pronker]

She looks suitable Druidic, to me, and I don't really know the character or the fandom *except for basic Merlin or Arthurian tales*, yet the sultriness and arcane knowledge in her gaze is compelling.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D The chick who plays Morgana has the most beautiful sultry-yet-dangerous gaze. As much as I love the characters the audience we're meant to root for, I can't help siding more with Morgana. She's just such an awesome character!

[tracy7307.livejournal.com]

Wow this is gorgeous... from her toes to her belly to her nipples with that curl of hair, everything is beautiful. I love the rich color of the fabric behind her. Lovely!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, my dear! :D I am rather partial to her belly too - it's nice drawing female stomachs for a change - I don't have to worry so much about getting all those abdominal muscles right.

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

Love the colors and I think you did a great job with her.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It had to be purple - there isn't another colour that looks better on her.

[venivincere]

Just stunning. The purple suits her down to the core and that expression on her face makes me smile. Perfect!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so much! :D I loved the expression on the original, it's as if she's completely unconcerned about her nudity, so I tried to mix that with Morgana's awesome pouting face.

here via themostepotente

[secretsolitaire.livejournal.com]

I'm not in this fandom and I have no idea who this person is, but she's gorgeous!

Re: here via themostepotente

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! It really is a lovely compliment when someone who isn't interested in the fandom likes it enough to leave a comment. And yes, Katie McGrath is stunning. :D

[loobeeinthesky.livejournal.com]

It's absolutely gorgeous hun ♥ The painting for one blows me away, you have such a soft way with colours and how you do clothing folds and skin.

Laughing over your mum, mines so similar, though she does get shown men getting closer than she's used to XD

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Oh Lucy, thank you so much! ♥ Your words mean a huge deal to me.

Ha, oh mothers. I am impressed you can show your mother the men stuff though - I don't think I could! But... I have a feeling she does know about it, she has occasionally made a comment that sounds like she is aware of it (how she does, I don't know!) but I'm not going to push to find out how much she knows! Hardcore Catholic, she is - I don't think I could ever persuade her it wasn't that bad.

[phoenixacid.livejournal.com]

This looks absolutely gorgeous! I love your twist of the original art and the colours you've chosen. Just stunning. :)

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you like the changes to the original - couldn't have Morgana in anything other than purple, could I? :D

[ravyn-ashling.livejournal.com]

that is gorgeous, oh my god! i love the softness of her image against the textured background and flooring, and your choice of colours is just perfect for Morgana.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Eee, thank you so much! I'm very glad you like it. :)

[kitty_fic]

She is gorgeous!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Katie McGrath is gorgeous, very very gorgeous.