Priscilla Hernandez blog

So what's new...

well quite a few thingies... first. I'll be making several ustream broadcasts from my studio playing for you my listeners. So bookmark this link  (you can join with facebook or twitter) and we´ll have a give away for the visitors of the online concerts. They will be simple accoustic solo performances but longing to share it with you.

Also The Underliving  music almost closed but adding a few guest and features as aussie fellow fairy singer Louisa John Krol in the track "One last Hope". We already collaborated together in latest Woodland´s album, and I'm also contributing in her forthcoming song "Fountains". I feel like Louisa, Kelly and me are mingling our projects and it is such a sister feeling. So I'm honored to have them both as guest in my album.

I'm almost done with the artworks of "The Underliving". I still need to paint the CD label and the external cover and digipack structure, but most of the pages are drafter or on its way to be finished.  Main character is this little teenager girl in a nightgown that we obviously find very reminiscent  of "YIDNETH" herself (third album is "YIDNETH" and will rescue the comic" that might be rebuilt.. and why...?  Because in the comic there's a part set in early 80´s where it shows a girl (that could or could not be "Yidneth") that during all her life see "ghosts" from the TRANSIT and other kind of CREATURES (from THE UNDERLIVING) so guess what...? so part of the  Underliving has become sort of a "prequel" (not all of it, but quite a few hints)  taking place  before the final part of the comic ends. And yes, it's all about ghosts, fairies and underlivings... and if you go now to "Ancient Shadows" cd you'll find in the digipack precisely that, a ghost, a fairy and an underliving.... remember?

So sharing now an illustration "in my mind's eye"  from he very concept sketch to the almost final (need to fix the hand a bit) result. I recently was asked if I use photography. I do believe that photomanipulation is also a way of creating art but though I do it for some promotional pictures of myself, I don't do it for the tradtional illustrations. I often like the unclean built up of the rough sketch.

So basic idea, eye within an eye... the song is "in my mind´s eye" featured in my upcoming album "The Underliving".

So let´s start.

basic design of girl hair and vintage nightgown, young around 14 or 15. I like this style better than realistic, but for this one we´ll turn it a bit more "real looking"

Basic idea and sketch... rough pencil on a piece of paper... they all start this way. Good excuse to watch tvs or movies and sketch in pieces of paper while doing it so you don't feel guilty of wasting time.

Then I develop several ideas, eye within eye, the girl, hand... hmmm And I make  rapid wash of coloring with watercolor. After this I scan. Digital eraser to correct

so time do make it "shine" a bit, though finally I've decided I'll opt for the full girl sketch in the left that I'll paint in a different layer to then make a composite of the reflection, rough, but from far away the impression of the color and highlight is already there.

That was a bit too dark, though I'll keep the vignette for the final result, I start to add detail to the iris, I place the girl, the hand needs to be corrected and pop out a bit more.

Then I spend a "few hours" adding details to the iris (this takes quite a long time) and it's not perfect but it is a painting, not a photography (I love to matte paint quickly), and polish  the girl, , lace, highlighted fingertips, and overall result comes as next (that I'll still might polish a bit more for the CD) but well here it is! Sort of proud, and with "red blurred eyes myself" after another painting sleepless night...

Do not waste your time struggling to deny
those things that are real in your mind's eye
Do not fight against a reason to believe all is real...!

Plese support THE UNDERLIVING project to be released within 2011. You can make a donation or you can buy "off the lane" single, or you can comment and rate our videos in youtube, or share them, or retweet them.  We´re almost there. Spread the word!  July is my  deadline to finish all artworks, then we should be ready if project being funded :)

After a scare I had yesterday (check my twitter or facebook, eek!)  I was forced to stay up late all night and couldn't sleep, made all sorts of random sketches and also  took the chance to keep on painting the artworks for The Underliving (please spread the link to help us) so working and  finishing the artworks of the CD, my deadline is in july, if things go ok I'd love to release it during summer. I've been painting a pair of eyes for "ode to the silence" it's a simple drawing, just a front face with a hush gesture, but somehow I spent painting like forever in the eyes, and they ended up much more realistic than the rest of the sketch... (pd. no photo, it's just painting, and not very clean but these eyes were suddenly looking back at me... Well for the rest of the drawing, now almost finished you'll have to wait for the cd. I also almost finished "a thought at the dreams door" so getting back to Northern Lights the one I promised to share step by step and that you can see up to actual state in previous blog entries.

So previous blog post I shared the pencil sketch of  "Northern Lights" (read the Lyrics) a song dedicated to the dying Arctic, and it portrays the journey of a wolf (I painted also a wolf girl but wolf and girl are the same thing) journeying to North to behold the Northern Lights, So full pencil sketch... Today I made an overall matte painting background and started to add details to the face of the wolf girl. I'll try to finish her and start details on the wolf tomorrow. Here´s a detail:

I shall be posting how this particular drawing progresses to show it as example, though of course there are 16 songs (hint hint lots of work)

How the idea started (overall idea, clothing design, blah blah), then clean pencil sketch before starting to paint. I'll be posting the  updates editing this very entry as I proceed

Then cleaning the overall idea (took the profile side option).


Then starting to paint the background, overall turquoise and dark wash with some blurred pine trees, drew somelines and duplicated the layer several times with different levels of blur and glow, will post the overall background once I put a few more details, Then starting to color some detail on the face. I always start by the faces... it's like something I should not but always do.http://theunderliving.com

I also finished some pencil  sketches for "a thought at the dreams door" among others. Thanks to all the ones reading and supporting this project, and please keep on spreading theunderliving.com

I'll keep posting updates, so bookmark the blog.

Update:  today I sort of finished matte painting the background and overall Northern lights,  and started to add details to the figure. Not entirely convinced may make it overall darker... but so far, this is how it looks. More in the following days. Feel lazy now to start painting the wolf and the fur, so may rest with another drawing in between.

I spent a lovely sunday out in the Catalonian forests  with Héctor and my friends Jose Javier and Oristila. Both Héctor and Oris took me plenty of pictures that I'll share soon, I also recorded some video. It was so fun! I carried my harp (endorsed by Harpsicle harps) all the way.  It is indeed so lightweight, but after hours of trek in the forest hahaha I really felt insanely tired. It was worth the effort, We got to see a lovely waterfall and back down we enjoyed some cheese and bread by the water. Overall a perfect day...

Here is Héctor wearing the YIDNETH t-shirt  (even if you can´t see it LOL) soon available in the store. :) By the way my man is a little bit reckless :/ climbing and jumping...! I also saw boars for the first time, they were behind a fence but soooo cute!

A shot of the landscape (lush, green, wet, lovely). Photo by Héctor Corcín.

and  one promotional picture we took up there also taken by Héctor of me playing my harpsicle harp. I'm wearing also the crown by Los Tesoros de la Ayalga, and my arm gloves and scarf by Opal Moon design. (see both in my endorsements). More lovely pics (and video) to come :) but so far sharing this one that I've called "Forest ballad"

You can see a bigger version of the photo in "My sponsors" gallery