Your Little Butterfly

Heh, one look at this drawing and the title becomes obvious...

Enough of my irreverantly sarcastic comments.

This idea first came to me when I was trying to put together a submission for a title page for the Bleach Scanlation Group M7. I didn't pen it until this weekend though and the conest ended May 31st. Bummer. It was actually very close in overall atmosphere to the piece that won so I'm kicking myself for not getting it in sooner. Enough of my complaints too.

The title wasn't pieced in until later. In fact I drew Rukia's main body (minus the far arm with the butterfly) over the May Long. Later I added the arm and then finally the title - I ashamed to admit however that the title was inspired by Aqua's song "Butterfly". Don't be shocked if you find another post up here in a few months entitled "My Samurai" (or perhaps "My Shinigami" would be more appropriate to the world of Bleach! Yes, it will feature Ichigo looking quite "schexay" as they say. I'm not a fan of her and Renji or even Byakuya as many poeple seem to be. I'm a traditionalist, applying western romanticism to Japanese culture. What can I say?

I actually put some rather painstaking effort into making it seem as if the lines on Rukia faded rather than stopping all together. Thus the small dots at the end of most lines. It makes them look slightly softer yet better defined (at least to my eye). I'm not sure how much sense that will make to you, but that's the trick it plays on my pupils.

Finding the appropriate way to scan this wasn't easy either. The ink didn't seem to want to saturate the paper as well as I wanted it too, so I had to scan it using a TEXT setting on the copier at work, rather than IMAGE. That gave me the black and white effect I had hoped for. Hmm, I'm going to take a moment to criticize my own work, seeing as I'm far from perfect. The proportions are slightly off. Her upper body is slightly disproportionate to her tiny legs and hips. I must confess I saw her rear as being slightly larger when I first pictured the sketch in my mind but I think it turned out all right. Oh, and the line outlining the muscle of her foremost forearm is oriented improperly. It should be concave rather than convexed. An error I have no desire to fix, though I will strive to bear it in mind in the future. Also, for the sake of keeping her limbs within the drawing ma hav foreshortened the foremost arm far too much. Yet again, something I realized had been done long after it was impossible to fix. Though despite me pointing out these flaws I hope the initial impression of beauty does not become lost in the criticism.

Here, I will also take a moment to toot my horn as it were...I love this picture. When it is finally combined with the four other pieces destined for it, I'll cry when I see the finished product. The series overall may take me a year to complete in my current state though that is something I am willing to wait for. You can never force any piece of art, unless your are trained to do so. I am not.

I particularly like how I contrasted the lines of her face when they disappeared behind her hair. That detail caused me some trouble and forced some white out onto the paper but the overall look it created was entirely worth it.

Telling you how much time this took would be quite impossible. Between the seperate sketching sessions it may have taken me nearly twenty hours, or perhaps a bit less. With my memory there's no way to tell.

Well, I sincerely hope I haven't bored you. I also hope you will love this pictur as much as I do. Thank you very much for visiting and please, visit again.

*Spreading The LOVE Of Bleach*

*~<Shiryou666>~*