Belly Dance+Comic Con!

Going to Comic Con this year (next week!) to be on a panel of Illustrators for Film. And so I decided to do an illustration in Corel Painter to take along to hand out (it was suggested that we bring something). I used bellydancing as inspiration because I have been taking a class for a year or more from the fabulous Fahtiem, and it is really FUN. My friend Paula and I went to a bellydance fair on the Queen Mary this summer and saw LOTS of outfits! Seemed like a good match, goth bellydancer and comic con. I made the pencil sketch, and tried several stabs at painting it digitally, but it was kind of a struggle. I wanted to do something that really looked 'digital' and sort of moody. So I ended up scrapping the original sketch, and did the dancer in black from scratch in Painter. I am taking a class in Painter at the moment at Studio Arts, a local tech school, from Alex Ruiz, a concept illustrator. His style and tastes are really different than mine, but I am learning some fun techniques to mess with.

If you want to see some nice tribal inspired bellydancing, check out you tube videos of Rachel Brice or for cabaret style, Fahtiem.

(Just added one more version, that I had worked on in class, using the lighting effects in Painter)