The Little Mermaid Painting

Ariel by B. Dominique

Yes, I decided to paint Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Why? Because she is the BEST disney princess of all of them! Ok, maybe I'm a little biased. As a child, I was told I watched the little mermaid every day. It has to be true because even to this day I know that movie like the back of my hand. So I decided, why not paint her. 

 To paint her, I first created a light pencil sketch of her outline on an 11x14" canvas panel. I then used liquitex acrylic paint as a wash to create my first layer. I slowly built up the colors using this method. 

I'm still learning how to paint skin tones and you can see that she is a bit tanned. Well I figured, she's in the ocean, under the sun. She should be tanned! Even still, I'd like to lighten her up a notch. Aside from the skin there were some other difficult areas, such as her hands and I almost didn't even want to put them in the picture. I know with practice these things will come naturally. 

 Although there were difficulties I must say I really enjoyed painting her hair. Had to be my favorite part. I think mostly because I got the chance to use a vibrant, though slightly toned down, red. I also got to play with light and shadow while creating hair strands. Really fun stuff! 

In the end, though not perfect, it really came to life for me. I have to keep in mind that how artists picture their art in their minds never truly comes to fruition, but that doesn't stop us from creating. We accept the challenge and then move on to the next.