#the second pic took some time to edit because HIS FACE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[leopardom]

another day another set of Jan pics (sorry not sorry)

[silver-wields-a-pen]

Still no writing, and I put the editing on hold because pain is a thing that dominates my life 😭

So instead I decided to decorate my new dining table! It came unvarnished and had the perfect surface for drawing on, so that's what I did!

It gets better, I promise 🤣

I had an idea for a flower lion with the leaves as its mane. And yeah, I was slightly concerned I was about to fuck up my table with bad art but I really wanted to do this. It won't be just me drawing on the table, my nieces and nephews will too. I thought it'd be a fun family bonding thing for us to do and a nice family memento, plus their moms never let them draw on anything at their houses and I'm the "cool aunt" 🤣

Anyway, I gessoed the area I was gonna paint and redid the sketch. Already looks better, right?

Yup, he's pink. Yup, that's my concept design on the seat to the left. I really struggled with getting the shade of pink I wanted. I never mixed paint colours before to get a custom colour, so this was a learning experience.

Yeah, his mane is big. I tried shading the bridge of his nose lighter, but this is also something I never did before. I never really painted much and my teachers only cared about the students who were already good at art and didn't need help, so this is me learning as a go. And I'm still scared at this point I fucked up the table 🤣

This actually took me like a week to do in total, so it was a slow process of painting bits at a time, stopping to see if I liked it, trying to fix any mistakes I made and then taking another break to rest.

Oh look, he changed colour!

The lighting isn't great, but I mixed another two shades of pink, including one metallic and went over him. Don't worry, imma fix the scruffy parts, but this is a big improvement already 😁

Okay, he's a little scruffy still, but that's on purpose. He has a fluffy texture that's hard to see because of the lighting, but it looks better in person. I decided not to fuss further with the colour and blending because I knew I'd fuck up. I saw a good stopping point so I took it. The inner layer of leaves came together quick although I was worrying how I'd do the veins in them. No matter what I do with leaves they always look terrible the second I add the details.

Getting close to finished now. This was the end of last week. I went with a succulent type leaf and left off fine details. He's kinda cartoony looking so I think it works.

Adding shading and outlines in places just to tidy it up, but this is pretty much done. Pics are kinda bad, but whenever I look at it I'm happy with how cute it is, so I'm happy with the end result.

Got a tiny bit heavy handed with the sealant but this is all done! That's not coming off the table without some effort. I love the shading on his eyes and face, and I think it's a nice contrast to how simple the mane is. He looks like a happy lion and I'm happy with it ❤️