This image has a story behind it. Two biographies of C.S. Lewis describe the event from his life (and his friend J.R.R. Tolkien) as they went for a walk; “at one point, Lewis fervently declared that myths are beautiful stories, but nothing more than fabrications: “worthless lies, though sweetly seasoned.” This provoked a resounding protest from Tolkien: “No. They are not lies.” As if to confirm these words, despite the quiet and warm evening, a sudden breeze came from nowhere and blew down a veritable downpour of leaves. “We held our breath,” Lewis later recalled.”
I’d like to dedicate this painting to these two, especially Lewis. When the time comes, I intend to try illustrating his books, either in hopes of enriching my portfolio or as just a gesture of gratitude.
Also, I’d like to share a somewhat ironic observation: my entry was inspired by memories I found in Elizabeth Wiater’s biography of C.S. Lewis. Her Polish surname is a dialectal version of the polish word “wiatr,” which in English means “wind” or sometimes “breeze” (it is like with dialectal version of a word “Chimbley” used in some parts of England instead of “Chimney”). I thought it was worth mentioning because this month’s theme is “A Brezzy Day,” and perhaps some of you (like Lewis and Tolkien, whom my work addressed) don’t believe in coincidences and will find this interesting.
I’m still bad at drawing and painting figures, so I took the easy way out by painting view on figures from their back. This painting was chaotic, with different brushes for different things. Ultimately, I copied three leaves that I was quite happy with few times, and then added the rest, which look (and actually are) just individual brush strokes. As long as I can see it from a distance, I’m satisfied, but I can still see the rough edges left by the “Basic-2 Opacity” brush that sting my eyes.It looks unfinished. I would love to make a remake someday, hopefully in less than a year.
Congratulations on winning the monthly art challenge! Your winning artwork is now displayed on the featured artwork banner.
May I have your permission to post this image on Krita’s social accounts (Mastodon, reddit, X) and on Krita.org? If yes, I will credit your user name (or another name if you specify one). If no, no problem.
Please write a brief description of the visual art that will allow unsighted people using a text reader to understand the image.
Good Alt Text Examples (click to open)
A herd of black and white cows graze in a distant field. There are yellow flowers in the foreground and the sun is shining.
–OR–
Full-length portrait of a knight in armor. The knight is standing next to a white horse. Behind them are a number of soldiers tending to their animals.
This might come as a surprise to you, but my answer is “no.” There’s a problem, because, as I mentioned in the description, it feels unfinished to me. The idea for this painting came to me the night before the challenge ended, and I published it prematurely. I don’t think this painting reflects my entire process, but rather, a significant portion of it.
But since I had so much fun making it, I promise I’ll do a remake soon. I think I’ll start from scratch instead of repainting. I need to add warmth and refine the edges. I’m also reading “Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth” by Andrew Loomis and want to see if it changes the way I paint figures, even from a back perspective. I hope to made it before Christmas (2025 of course).
Nice picture! And what a neat back story! Thank you so much for sharing that. Hadn’t heard that anecdote before. Very cool. And that detail of Wiater and breezy is… quite the coincidence . Again, thanks for the share.
Looking forward to the remake, while quite enjoying this excellent piece.
Wow, that is amazing! I love JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis! LOTR is the best!
P.S. Did you use free brushes to get the painting look? I’m still trying to figure it out for one of my current digital paintings. I am learning human anatomy, any tips?
Yes, I used the free Memileo brush set. However, I think there are two. I think I used one from the Memileo 360 Light bundle. I only used one brush: “Memileo 360light Brush flat” and its variations made by me. This particular brush doesn’t lag at all on my device, while others seem too heavy. So I decided to make my own minor modifications, such as changing the brush’s pressure sensitivity from the default curved line to a straight line at a 45-degree angle, because it fells better (at least for me). I currently have 16 variations of this particular brush, but I mainly use six of them;
Same as the original, but I changed the brush sensitivity and unchecked “Hue” and “Value” in the settings.
Same as 1, but I increased the contrast in the brush tip options to make the paint appear like “liquid metal” (you can see how this looks in the video on the official Krita YouTube channel regarding memileo brushes).
Same as 1, but I changed the brush tip to “DA_RGVA bluegreen_small”,
Same as 1, but I changed the tip to “scratches_rough”
Same as step 2, but I changed the tip to “RGBA anim 01”, I use it for details, but not only
Same as step 2, but I changed the tip to “memileo_360light-PHOTO-E_03-random” and also changed the “spacing” to 0.77 to make this brush more like individual brush strokes.
Depending on the brush tip, its ability to smudge without applying paint (with light pressure) can vary. Painting with “liquid metal” with light pressure doesn’t create a distinct metallic effect, but rather gives the randomness typical of oil paints, which is difficult to achieve in digital painting.
As for tips:
I recommend setting a specific amount of time for experimentation, as too much fiddling with brush tips, pressure sensitivity, and many other things can lead to headaches and general discouragement.
I recommend mastering still life painting, as it’s really easy to be satisfied with the result.
If you absolutely want to create figures, I recommend starting with their back views (I even won a competition with one, but you already know that). Even backs can look good, and it’s much easier than with faces.
And if I can recommend a general painting method; I recommend focusing on a specific part of the object, inhaling and exhaling, making a change, and then inhaling and exhaling again (and then comparing reference with your work). For example; looking at the arm and seeing that I need to deepen the value by creating a dark shadow shape; inhaling and exhaling, correct it, inhaling and exhaling, again comparing the reference with what was painted, and repeating with a different shape. It’s about maintaining awareness at the right level of balance between concious thought and action. I’m not sure my technique is the best; you can, and even should, experiment with others (I struggle with this myself, as probably every other painter, but at least I’m aware of the problem). So key words are “mind and hand balance”.
. Again, thanks for the share.
