Lindsay subscribes to Shojo Beat magazine. They're running another "Draw our Beat Girl" contest. While I wasn't planning to enter, (I have a portfolio I'm trying to put together. Random anime girl wasn't something I needed more of) the more I thought about designing an iconic character for Shojo Beat, the more amped-up I became.

I had an idea for this picture--I wanted to give the girl a pleated skirt, with each pleat depicting a panel from a manga running in Shojo Beat.

I was concerned that using manga panels might look too loud or tacky, but from the first pleat, it looked perfect-- color, pattern, and texture, all in one package. Even the magenta ink used for the printed pages, was exactly right color for my image palette. After the success with the skirt, I used another manga page for the patterning in the obi. It was on message with the picture's theme, and looked as good as any pattern I could create or source from elsewhere.

For the background painting, I was inspired by the artwork of Ein Lee. You can find her DeviantArt page (featuring brilliantly ethereal anime paintings) here: [link]

Ein likes to use a program called Paint Tool Sai for painterly watercolor effects. Sai is a limited, low overhead, Painter knock-off, but to its credit, it manages to steals some of the best aspects of Painter. Also, the app is only like 2MB. You can download it here: [link]

Before long, I was futzing around with the watercolor tool. Originally, I thought I'd color the character art in Sai, but after using Photoshop to paint for the last two years, the watercolor tool seemed frustratingly uncontrollable. I fooled around in the background, washing colors around, and making little designs. Eventually I tried making a little Sumi-e painting; it would tie in with the Japan-ai theme expressed in the character art. A tree appeared and a stray line became the silhouette of an ibis. Somehow, this seemed like just the backdrop I was looking for.

What proceeded was a day of painting in Sai and Photoshop. The picture took time, but I’m pleased with the result, so I can't complain.

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Sketched and finalized on Strathmore 400 Series sketch paper, and then painted in Sai and Photoshop CS2. It took about two days from concept to completion.
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Download=slightly larger.


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High-quality Giclee prints are available in both 8.5"x11" ($10 plus $3.50 shipping) and 11"x17" ($20 plus $3.50 shipping) sizes, and I'll be happy to sign it.

To purchase a print:
1) Browse my website gallery: [link]
2) Click on the picture you're interested in
3) In the description under the picture, click on your desired print size option and click "add to cart". That's all, you're ready to order!