Weekly Illustration - 1: The Nightfire

Hey everybody!  So I'm here with some new art and a new resolution.  I've had several artistic resolutionary ideas since before the new year, and because of the holidays and a busy start to the year, I'm a little late in starting, but better late than never. 

My plan is to create some sort of finished art every week, and to spend at least 30 minutes a day on it to complete it, from Sunday to Saturday.  I may spend more time on it than 30 minutes a day, but I want to commit to that at least.  I imagine there will be some trial and error where my vision extends further than my reach, but I'll try to get them as finished as I can.  Sometimes it will be illustrations, sometimes it may be comics or storyboards.  I don't want to box in the possibilities really. 

For now I'm going to go off of my own ideas, but I may open the floodgates to suggestions in the future! 

This first one is based in the culture of the Tuareg people of Saharan Africa.  They're a people with an amazing culture, history, and artistic sense.  I've been very interested in them for quite a while now, but unfortunately detailed information on them is hard (or expensive) to come by.  Even so, I wanted to make some sort of illustration based around them, and used the information I know, and what I could find to create something. 

I used quite a bit of reference for background and design.  I wanted some sort of framing element, but for it to have the sense of Tuareg design.  These were the basis from which I worked.  Unfortunately I couldn't find who made these, but the're veil weights.  I also used one of these traditional Tuareg cross designs as the top and bottom of the frame.  They're from The 21 Tuareg Crosses of the Niger from the Book of Wolfgang Creyaufmüller"Das Agadez-Kreuz."  Unfortunately that still doesn't tell me the original artist.  It may be a traditional design.  I also used this photo by Jacques Taberlet of the Aïr Mountains in Niger, which is one of the many places the Tuareg call home. 

I think this is the first time I've attempted what might be called a digital painting on such a scale, so there's a definite learning curve for me.  I don't know a lot about digital painting as of yet, but I'm studying up on it, and just doing this taught me a lot of lessons about more efficient and better ways to work in the future.  Hopefully doing some digital painting nigh-on weekly will lead to some good improvement! 

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy this, and that you'll stay tuned for the other work I'll be posting in the future.  I'll do my best to make it the best it can be!