Slightly to the Left of Human

Alright, so this blog is supposedly about Doing, but all I've done lately is post about books, share artwork, and eat chocolate.

Today...I'm going to share more artwork. I shall blog about Doing Things when I get around to doing them (plans are afoot!)

Today's theme is Slightly to the Left of Human* and includes paintings from as far back as last March, so you can see my improvement ;)

Daisy, March 2014

Daisy
With this, I was trying to imitate a style on a Facebook art group I'm part of (everybody was doing it, I thought 'Why the heck not?') Needless to say it didn't go too well. I think her pupils are the best part of it! I utterly destroyed parts of the paper in trying to colour her face, and the ink pen I used turned out to Not Be Waterproof, so I had a few smudges. Gaah!
Medium: Watercolour and fineliner on paper
Size: 17.7x24cm

At least I'd improved by the time I painted the next one...

Cocooned or Coco, September 2014

Cocooned or Coco
My scanner picked up the texture of the paper in this one; the paper isn't actually as textured as it looks here! I used masking fluid fairly successfully this time--very minimal surface-ripping of my cheap and cheerful watercolour paper! Hurrah!
Coco's shroud turned out pretty well; I messed up the background a little but it isn't that obvious, so I can deal with that.
Medium: Watercolour on 190gsm watercolour paper
Size: 15.2x19.9cm

Rosie, January 2015

Rosie
Painted yesterday! (Yes! Sometimes I do post completely recent artwork!). I'll be honest with you here. I started this with her eyes, not really knowing exactly what I was going to paint. Then I filled in the other details: her jaw, her lips, her nostrils, her hair... By the time I got to her shoulders, I'd decided. So I gave her a pointy ear and a rosebud for a hand.
Trying to paint her skin was a pain in the butt; I find it so difficult to create all the contours of the face in watercolours! But after lots of faffing and several shades of green, it turned out better than Daisy or Coco.
P.S. I'm getting the hang of masking fluid now.
Medium: Watercolour on 300gsm watercolour paper
Size: A5

As with all the other posts on the 55 tag, this one is for a goal off The List:

055. Create 52 paintings in 1 year

* Where did that phrase, 'slightly to the left of human', come from, anyway? I've only ever seen it used in amateur fiction but it has to have originated somewhere. Unless at some point, everybody read the same fanfiction and thought 'hey, that phrase is cool.'