Made the Deadline with Time to Spare

Yippee!  Managed to get the inking done on this monster piece after all! *HAPPY*  I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make the deadline with the print-ready file.  The deadline is 3 am my time tonight.  It's 12:15 right now!  Woot!

I thought my "Desert Rose" had a fair amount of details, but oh boy, this one sets the new standard, even for me. XD  I guess I've been craving to do work like this after months of producing simple pieces to be released straight to digis.  Sprites and mer-tots are fun in a different way, but it's "Rococo Cinderella" type of work that I can really put my personal stamp on.  I love taking my time figuring out mind-boggling details (usually in a format a little too small), just to push myself and see it finished.

When I had the figure inked, I felt a little overwhelmed about the pumpkin carriage (I generally don't like drawing things like circles, straight lines, arches, etc.).  This one required design details to be worked out before I could ink, so it was extra slow going, cleaning the lines as I inked.

"Rococo Cinderella" WIP 1

I even took a break to see who won the "Last Comic Standing".  Not the lady I was rooting for, so that was anticlimactic - two hours of dillydallying programming and then ...disappointment. ^^;  Oh, well.  Came back to my desk to finish up the woods and rose bushes in the background.  Relentless.

As Jr. remarked, this is probably the most I've ever done of the background.  I feel it's a bit of an overkill, but hey, the whole Rococo style is all about overkill.  I like researching the period costumes of most any kind.  But this era in particular is about as fun as Japan's Heian period.  Excessively decorative garments among the highborn in both cultures.  It's outrageous and impractical as he**, but that's what makes it FUN!

"Rococo Cinderella" line art for submission

 I am submitting this piece to Ellen Million Graphics call for submissions of the Fairy Tales coloring book.  These volumes (Dark Fantasy, Mermaids, Arabian Nights, Zombies, and Fairy Tales) will be multi-artist collaborative compilations.  I wish I could have submitted a few more, but this is the minimum I wanted to (hopefully) contribute this time, so I have to be pretty happy that I made the deadline. ^_^

I have two volumes (not one, but two) of coloring books of my own in the works with Ellen.  I hope she's about ready to finalize the selections for the above mentioned titles, so we can get ready to proceed. :D  The deadline was extended several times, but each extension by progressively shorter duration.  First extension was by 6 month, then 1 month, and then 2 weeks, and now 1 day.  I hope I'm not the only one who procrastinated... ^^;

It would be so wonderful if the books can go into print well before this Christmas. *fingers crossed*  Coloring books are fun and they do well in my shop.  It'll also be so fun to color my artist friends' works when these compilation titles come out. :D