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This picture was a “closure piece,” meaning that it satisfied my interest in Wendy so completely that I no longer felt very interested in her afterwards. It was so perfect that it brought closure… Well, perfect except for that backwards hand. (whoops)
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While making this, I experimented with a new approach to shading. I separated the shadows and highlights into two layers, allowing me to add a great amount of detail to both. These days I just put all the shading on one layer, but I might reconsider this approach at some point. I also experimented with colored outlines. The “rain” was actually an experiment with adding texture to an image to create the illusion that it was more detailed than it really was. This technique was inspired by the work of Karabiner.
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My interest in Wendy as a character is a little peculiar. It predates my adolescence, so it wasn’t really based on physical attraction. It was based on what I imagined her personality to be like. Before the Mario 3 cartoon came out (with it’s annoying version of Wendy,) I was reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure” Mario book called “Koopa Capers.” In it, the surprise at the end was that Wendy was secretly plotting to take over the Koopa kingdom from Bowser. I loved this! She wasn’t one of the bad-guys. She was her own person. I imagined her having a strong, independent personality. If you encountered her, would she would protect you? Maybe she’d fall in love? It presented many endearing possibilities.
