Inspired by 's beautiful photo [link] which was also my primary reference for this picture. I did wind up having to directly trace the basic outlines, as the pose turned out to be more difficult than I thought (I'm still not entirely clear what makes a photo manip vs. a digital painting, although Julie Bell does trace blow-ups of photographs for her work). I did NOT pull any colors from the photo, however. Obviously the wings, clouds, fabric, fuzzy-light-things and city are all mine.

The picture suggested an angel, and the way the model was laying was just akward enough to suggest wings, while still seeming perfectly natural. The rest of the image came together after about a half-hour of brain-storming. I named the image "Soft" because that's what everything suggested to me. Wings, feathers, clouds, sleep...soft, fuzzy, safe and warm things. The little light-bugs just appeared. I have no idea where they came from. The city is there because it felt right. Maybe my subcontious suggested it as a reminder that there's always something hard to life. I don't know. I'll let you guys interprete it however you want.

Basic info: Photoshop+Wacom Intros 9by12. Took about a week and a half, due to work and a mild cold (I can paint and work. I can endure a mild cold and paint. I cannot work, endure cold, and paint.)

Obviously, inspired and heavily referenced by 's photo [link]
Did a subtle exparament with complimentary colors here. Not sure if it worked or not, or if anyone will even notice.
Oh, and yes, I know it's watermarked. I put it there. Yes. I know it's ugly. Yes. I know it's distracting from the overall image. Yes. I know it's right in the middle of the detail where you want to look. That's sort of the point of watermarking an image. I don't want a cutesy-wootsy little logo or something that will blend in better to preserve the overall feel. I want something dead smack in the middle of the detail that you can't crop out or smudge out without it being noticeable, that will discourage the more intelligant theives out there to keep their fingers to themselves...and let the viewers of the idiots know where the rest of the art went to. I know the odds of it happening are small, and if it does happen there's not a thing I can really do about it, but I'm really tired of leaving the front door unlocked.