The Steampunk Princess and the Journey Around the World
Princess Luciana paces her penthouse in anticipation. Hundreds of goldfish blimps soar across the skies carrying the citizens of Pez Reino to their various destinations. She gazes into each blimp, her sensors scanning for her sister’s chip. Princess Valentina is expected to arrive home from her journey around the globe any day now. Impatiently awaiting the arrival of her sister, Cyborg Princess Luciana fidgets with the metallic flowers on her gown. Hoping each passing blimp will bring her closer to their reunion.
I had such a blast drawing this Steampunk Princess! She started as a piece of an idea that was all mixed up in a pile of other ones, but I loved her so much, I had to bring Princess Luciana to life.
Hot Tip: How to Seamlessly Blend the Sky
I knew I had a lot of skies to fill and I didn’t want it to look flat. However, I also didn’t want there to be obvious areas where the colors were trying to blend into each other. Do you know those perfect sunny days where the sky is this brilliant shade of blue? That is the world I was after for our Steampunk Princess Luciana.
There are two secret tips to this seamless blend.
Tip 1:
Choose two colors that are so close to each other they will blend seamlessly without effort. This might be a bit tricky if you’re sticking to one brand. I found I had to supplement my collection of Prismacolor Markers with a few Copics to get those lighter blues.
Tip 2:
Create the effect of a large clean sky by strategically separating the area with clouds, bubbles, bokeh, and flying goldfish. This allows you to color the sky in piece by piece instead of worrying about getting the whole thing done at once.
Before and After Spotlight
This drawing started out as a before and after, but I ended up going rogue. The idea was a flower garden, so I wanted to create a rainbow flower princess. She was surrounded by bunnies and making her way to look over the edge of a cliff at the wonderful world of flying goldfish.
I couldn’t for the life of me, make those two things work together, so I decided to get out the big scissors and chop those ideas in half. Steampunk Princess Luciana was born of my lack of ability to choose only one frame to draw from.
I definitely wanted to keep her rainbow, and I also wanted to make sure there were flying goldfish. Everyone kept asking me why the goldfish were flying, to which I responded why the fuck aren’t the goldfish flying. However, I did opt to turn them into blimps, which meant our princess had to become a cyborg.
Hot Tip: How to Draw Realistic Hair
I’ve always been jealous of the long, thick Rapunzel-like braids I see all over Pinterest. I can’t say my hair will ever do that on its own, but I can give it to the girls in my art.
I’ve recently learned a few tips for coloring realistic hair from a lovely woman named Flo. Check out her digital art tutorials on Youtube and Patreon, to watch her bring these tips to life step by step.
Sketch the pattern of the hair before you start coloring.
I like to use my thinnest pen for this, a 005 Micron Pen. Give yourself a map of how the large chunks of hair fit together and the direction they’re flowing. Be careful not to get out of control and try to draw in each individual strand.
Once you have your roadmap sketched out, focus in on the shadows and highlights. Color them in as blocks moving your pen and drawing your lines in the direction of the hair flow. You don’t want to draw in each individual strand, but you do want to give the effect that there are many strands bunched together. Once you’ve done this, you can go back in with your 005 Micron pen and maybe a thin gel pen to make the highlights pop. You can also use your Micron pen to draw a few individual strands escaping from the braid.
If you’re drawing lighter hair, try using light brown fine liners instead of a black one.
The Process
Progress shots of the creation of Steampunk Princess by Kailey Lauren Kay 2020
I worked on this drawing amidst some ridiculously complex ones, so it was nice to take a breather, flow, and have a really cool artwork in only about 20 hours.
I started with the background to get the big and scary bit out of the way. I added the colored bubbles to give the piece a bit more magic and bring the rainbow vibes full circle.
I went through and tackled one goldfish at a time starting with the smaller ones and working my way up to the bigger more detailed fishies. I saved them for the end because the closer something is, the more detail your eyes will pick up. I wanted them to really look like they weren’t just bigger, but closer to you.
When it was finally time to color my Steampunk Princess, I went in for the hair first. Big and scary, straight out of the way. After that, it was a matter of choosing colors that were close enough to bring the blend into the rainbow and following the rainbow road through her gown and scarf.
I topped everything off with some super sparkly metallic gel pens to really make the metal pop even more. Plus, I’m always looking for a place and reason to insert sparkles. That’s just how I like to live my life.
Hot Tip: Use Shadow and Highlight to Make Metal Look Shiny
When you’re drawing metal, making it actually look shiny seems impossible. The most important thing to focus on to bring the effect to life is the shading. What makes the metal look shiny is the fact that it’s reflecting the light and items around it. Make a special effort to take notice and recreate it in your piece. Remember, the highlights will be extra shiny, and the shadows will be extra dark. So leave some white space in the highlight and go back over top with a white gel pen to bring them to life.
Flying Away
I ended up loving a couple, or a great many, things about this piece and my Steampunk Princess Luciana. I love how easy she was to bring to life. I love the simplicity of the idea, how her world escapes the frame, and how there aren’t a ton of details but it’s still packed with magic. I love the contrast of the pastel rainbow with the harsh metals of the steampunk world. Even though I tend to bury myself in a mountain of very important details, sometimes simple is exactly what you need.
Have you had any accidental magic happen?
If you want to grab your very own Steampunk Princess print, check out my print shop!