I’ve been working on this piece for the past week and a half. Drawing things over
and over again after taking breaks to refresh my eyes. So many times I’ve had to
revise because things just needed to change, like the arm pose, and
I only end up seeing such mistakes after taking a break.

This one is especially important to me because it’ll be my first real Nerissa fanart, so I
wanted it to be something that contained my heart and soul.

I threw everything—all the knowledge and experience I’ve accumulated these past
two years of taking art seriously—at this. Gradient maps, textures, line weight, 3D,
finer lines, studying make-up, effects, and even folding cloth a certain way just to
get the reference photos for the dress right.

I took like half a hundred photos just to make references and eventually ended up with
a method for shading cloth that allowed me to surpass my old practice thanks to tips
from Marco Bucci and David Finch (both fantastic artists on YT, by the way)
and my previous study of JC Leyendecker’s work.

I’ve always struggled with clothing folds, but now it feels like something just clicked
and started working. I feel like this new understanding helped me go beyond the
reference photos and push for something that’s better than what exists in reality,
which is something I’m really proud of and something I hope I can implement in
my future work.

I know a lot of people don’t really look very long at illustrations regardless of the
amount of detail put in, so a lot of artists tend to go for simplicity, and it’s probably
to my detriment in terms of social media exposure to work so much on a single
illustration, but it gives me the greatest joy to present something that I know holds
up well even under close inspection.

I want my work to have all I can give it, to live on as proof of my existence,
to serve as a reminder that I persist through the tough processes, to go through stages
of ugliness, and to produce something beautiful enough to hopefully move others.

This one's for you, Nerissa. You Smiths-loving, choral singing, Hololive-addicted dork.

Thank you for existing.

You are the light that never goes out.