Solo [Tain's Studio] New Canvas

[Martini Elwood]

14th, Autumn, 518

Tain’s Studio was a place of awe. Map now stuffed safely in her backpack, Martini could look at the building and see why it was such a nice place. It hung closely on the mountain, dangerously close tot he edge in fact. The structure seemed sound though, and Martini doubted it would be open if people were to be in danger just by entering. She entered the studio before, those in her hazed rush she hadn’t taken the time to properly admire that place.

Once she’d finished she stepped inside, the light pooling into the modest studio with little effort. The day was young and the need for candles were small. Even so their were a few of them in view, most likely backups or just in case candles. Ah, but she was on a mission today, Today she would paint - or rather… attempt to paint. She’d made a few throw away drawings, some with mistakes and some just extras she made for the sake of spending time.

The backpack she had was messily packed with a rolled piece of canvas and her toolkit. Of course, Martini had no paint - she’d never had need for it. So she would buy some colors today to use and hope for the best. The doors shutting behind her, she made her way to a more secluded area of the shop. She shrugged off her backpack before setting up her toolkit and pulling the canvas from it. It was blank of course, but she would change it soon enough.

Martini sat for a moment, letting the thick smell of paint and paper filled her nose as she relaxed into her new workspace. There wasn’t much talking, though the few that were quite and soft. Great, she needed the quiet to focus. Looking around, she waited a bit before waving down an employee. She would need some paper.

“Could I get a sheet of paper please?”

“Of course, that’ll be… four topaz kina. Let me know if you need anything else!” Martini hummed her thanks as she collected the sheets and handed over the kina. It was so odd, not using mizas anymore… but it was refreshing as well. Taking a charcoal stick from her kit, she leaned over one sheet of paper and got to work. First agenda; warm up and loosen up. She started by making light indications of shapes, basic construction to get the general idea down on paper before she refined it. She used light pressure, just so she was able to see them but not enough for them to stand out on the final piece.

A circle at the center of the page a line across the paper below it with two triangular shapes on each end of the paper. Drawing landscapes wasn’t easy, it was something she had struggled with for quite a bit until Alice decided to force her into it. The moon shinning over two cliffs on either side of the waterfall. She could picture it, but her challenge was to put it on paper. It was going to be a while before she could color it properly, but it would look pretty all the same.

Spent-4TK | Paper, Sheet x1

[Martini Elwood]

The full moon, a reflection of Syna’s light, was something of a difficult draw. There were so many interpretations of it’s shape and surface, but there was nothing solid to suggest it’s actual form. The brunette had always favored the rough, rocky texture herself, but smooth and silky depictions existed… Perhaps a ball of white fire would be more accurate if such a thing existed. She began to make small lines and curves, using the thin end of the charcoal to make small crater like shapes inside the center circle.

Once done, she used a squiggly circle just below it, underneath the line diving the paper. She had settled the paper sideways, that way it was longer and had more space to cover. The squiggled circle would be the reflection of Leth’s light in the water, hence why it was slightly muddled and deformed. She added minimal detail on the reflection, as she was certain it would be covered by color if she choose to paint the drawing as she originally intended. She began to work small flowers on the surface of the water, as if they were floating. She add a little bit of shadow to the water to give it extra depth.

Moving on, the sky would need to have something equally breathtaking… Stars was the obvious first thought, but she didn’t want to add traditional stars to this piece, as she wanted it to pop a bit. Perhaps making them more like sparkles and having a two-toned sky would look better? She added small rhombus shapes across the paper above the original Leth’s light. She spaced them so that they weren’t close to each other, and only made seven of them for the sake of not overdrawing the details. She added cloud shapes behind and around the original light, making sure to add shading just to give it volume.

With that done she had left enough room to color the background without taking to much from the foreground. Composition had never been a big deal to her, but she wanted this drawing to be perfect. She thickened lines wherein the area was further away from view to give an extra hint of depth to the drawing. Now that she had completed that, she bean to make cracks in and shape the leftmost cliff. It was a jagged hunk of rock, but it would have been smoothed by the water constantly rolling off it’s head and down it’s sides. She made indentation were the water had weathered away at the rock, loosening pebbles and boulders that she formed at the very bottom of the paper.

Now that one cliff was done she began to work on the next, using the same strategy. Thin curved lines created cracks, will large jagged peaks slipped out from under the water, splitting it over the jutting pieces of rock that hung from the cliff. A rock-bed was her last piece of detail, just a bunch of light, lazy circles that faintly resembled cobblestone. Finally she worked a bit more with the rush of water - maintaining it’s volume by adding spaces where the water collided with the rock-bed.

[Martini Elwood]

Taking her charcoal off the paper, she examined the drawing as always. She always checked for mistakes; proportion, line-weight, gaps in the lines… All things she looked for that made her drawings seem off. She of waited until she had finished the lines mostly because the sketch was never important to her. The sketch for her was just the bare minimum of what she needed to properly structure the drawing, so she relied on it. Though, now that she was improving it was becoming a waste of time. She was confident in her anatomy now so using construction lines was more of a hurt than a help.

Either way, she lifted the work in her hands delicately, observing it from top to bottom just in case there were any errors she wouldn’t otherwise be able to see. There were a few, much less than the previous years of art she’d made. She fixed the smaller errors, ones where a shape wasn’t closed completely or places that needed more shading or detail. Smiling to herself, the brunette nodded proudly as she rotated the paper in her hands. Satisfied that most of the errors had been dealt with she placed the paper back on the table.

More often than not her first drawings were her warm up, and while not the case with this drawing she did find it helpful loosen her wrist from the stiffness of a new day. Now that she was aware of her surroundings she noticed some of the other patrons crowded around something or someone. Unable to sate her curiosity, she lifted from her seat to find a blond surrounded by people as she worked. She was painting a landscape with the setting sun in the background. It looked like the street near the studio. She was just putting the finishing touches on it, and Martini thought to watch her a bit longer until the crowd dispersed.

“It’s… beautiful.” Martini whispered with awe, her gaze stuck on the painting as she took in the details of the street depicted. Indeed, it was beautiful, it lacked the lines that made drawings so popular, but it still upheld the appeal. Beiges, earthy browns, white for bricks… An array of colors that seemed to melt together to form the magnificent painting she was openly gawking at.

“Thank you.” Startled, Martini finally zoomed out of her tunnel vision to view the painter. Martini nodded awkwardly, ashamed to have missed the vital piece of the painting. “You are?”

“Martini. Elwood.” The brunette replied eagerly, taking the paint splattered hand in her own as it was offered. She kept a light, firm grip before releasing it. She’d attempted to paint in the past, but it never stuck as she had no real teacher. Perhaps this person..?

“Nice to meat you, Martini. I’m Nat.” After a short introduction Martini inquired about the colors. She didn’t see some of the colors that the painting had on the palette she was holding… “Oh, those? I mixed some of the primary colors to make them.”

“Ah, perhaps you could teach me sometime?” Martini smiled brightly at Nat’s nod, excited by the prospect of this new class. She thanked Nat before letting her get back to work while she made her way back to the table she’d seated herself at beforehand. Impulsively, she asked for some primary colored paint, curious as to what she could do with them.

SpentPaint, Blue (5oz) 5JK, Paint, Yellow (5oz) 5JK, Paint, Red (5oz) 5JK | TOTAL (15JK)

[Martini Elwood]

With the three colors before her Martini was more confused than ever. These colors made others? Looking at the to limited palette before her, she realized that it might have been harder than she thought. In five once containers paint in the colors of yellow, blue, and red sat before her. She made a mental note that these colors were primary colors, which seemed important. There was a medium sized brush that had been delivered with them, but it was less important to her mind at the moment.

Colors had never been something she’d thought about thoroughly, or bothered to learn about in a capacity larger than knowing their names. Most, no, almost all of her drawings were simple black and whites. Occasionally, rarely, she’d used ink to add extra sparkle. Even then she’d used only a singular color. She’d had red and black inks, some of different shades. Not one of the lessons from her childhood had prepared her for something so complicated. Drawing in a heavy breath, Martini tried to take a step back and relax her thoughts.

Perhaps she was over-complicating the process..? It wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe she should start with something simple instead of color mixing. Perhaps an actual painting might help. Of course, she was better at understanding with hands on approach! But what to paint… She hummed, her mind swirling with possibilities. Oh, perhaps something based on the colors she had? The immediate thought she had was fire, but she wasn’t sure how much she could do with fire. Despite that it was the only reoccurring imagine in her mind.

Petch it, she’d draw a flame. Lifting the brush she rolled it between her fingers, testing out it’s weight and getting accustomed to the way she held it. The bushy end was what she dipped in the paint, so she started with red. The brush dipped in and came out dyed, she immediately moved to the canvas she had brought with her. With a long, slow stroke she made a tear shaped outline. She filled it with more loose, rough strokes, but thickened the outline so that it was larger. She rounded it the best she could before dipping into the yellow experimentally.

The color seemed to dilute and mix with the red still left on the brush. It seemed to create an darker tint to the yellow, a mild orange that she liked the look of. She realized she’d just mixed two colors and made a new one, even if it was only a slight change. She had been over-thinking the whole idea! It was a simple matter of mixing anything she could. Before she got farther though she continued the flame, interested in how the color would look over paper. With a small stroke inside the border of the red, she added a bit of detail to the fire. It looked off, have it uneven and adding more color to cover up the areas that looked bad only made it worse. More over, the paper seemed to fold as the paint dried, making it seem hard and textured.

[Martini Elwood]

She didn’t stop trying to make it better though, she painted a bit of blue over it, not exactly sure what she was painting herself. It looked like she had just thrown colors onto the page and let it sit. In other words it was terrible. One thing she knew for sure though, it took practice. And no matter how much her mind screamed in frustration she was determined to learn. Martini sighed as she looked over at her belongings, glad that she decided against adding color to her moonlit waterfall drawing.

Now that she thought about it she would need to do a bit more work before she left. Looking out, she realized that Syna’s light was beginning to lower itself from the heavens. She asked for another sheet of paper, deciding to do a bit more before heading home. With another piece of paper being handed to her she placed the moonlit image beside her and folded the canvas paper with her poorly drawn flame to keep for later reference. It would serve as a reminder, but the moonlit drawing could possibly be sold.

If she could part with it, it was a decent piece of art…

She took the charcoal in her hand, deciding to draw a circular composition. She made a large circle, using light lines that took entire space of the paper. She’d drawn her fare share of water for today, so she decided on a forested area. Starting with the low laid grass, making little pricks to represent strands. She started drawing trees in the background, behind the grass as if looking into the woods. She made sure to give the trunks detail. Wood was textured and bumpy, so she tried to demonstrate that by adding cracks and holes in the trunks.

Martini added other details such as branches, fallen limbs, and small scarcely detailed depictions of birds flitting about. There was nothing eye catching about the drawing, as it was very sketchy. It was more of a concept than a fully completed piece, but she detailed it all the same. She shaded the underside where the leaf clusters gathered on the trees, even going as far as to make them more pronounced. She lightly pressed the charcoal stick to the paper, swiftly moving her hand back and forth to add a light block of color to the grass.

Once done she done she retraced the pricks in the grass she had made earlier, making them dark so that the added a three dimensional or pop out look to the drawing. Finally done, she placed the charcoal on back into her kit before observing the sketchy drawing. Most of the lines were misplaced, but the ones that added detail were darkened so that they stood out. Proud of her work, she made to put everything in her bag. First the roll of canvas which held the crudely painted flame.. Or whatever it was. Then the neatly tucked the two draws together inside so that they weren’t too wrinkled or crumbled.

She smiled as she waved goodbye to Tain and Nat, promising to be back soon. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed for home, satisfied with the day of work she had done.

LootCrude painting of a flame / Moonlit waterfall drawing / Sketchy Forest Area drawing / Paint {5oz} x3 (Blue, Yellow, Red)
SpentPaper, Sheet x1 (-4TK)

[Madeira Dusk]

Grades Awarded!

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Martini Elwood

Skills

• Observation: 4xp
• Drawing: 3xp
• Planning: 4xp
• Socialization: 1xp
• Persuasion: 1xp
• Painting: 2xp
• Meditation: 1xp
• Organization: 1xp

Lores

• Location: Tain’s Studio
• Drawing: warm up exercises
• Drawing: the texture of the moon
• Drawing: how to draw water reflections
• Painting: mixing colours

Awards & Retribution
+ paper sheet x1: -4tk
+5oz paint x 3: -15jk

Notes
You really do write wonderful descriptions of the drawing process. Cant wait to see more from you!