The Lost Daughter of Sparta (EVENT with Felicia Day 3/20)

Remember how I'm gunna do a talk this Friday with Felicia Day at the release party for her graphic novel, The Lost Daughter of Sparta?

March 20, 6pm / Powell's Books / 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR 97005

Well, I painted her some fanart of her character from the tv show The Magicians, right? It was fine. It was a totally acceptable drawing. Nothing, like, special, but it gets the fanart job done, you know?

...............But I just didn't feel... good about it. I know I'm capable of making a better image than that one. And on top of that... was it kind of a dick move for me to give her artwork for an old project she worked on as a supporting character instead of something celebrating her brand new project that was born straight out of her creativity and she's proooobably super proud of and excited about it right now?

I returned to my watercolors.

The titular Lost Daughter of Sparta is Philonoa, who wears a veil to hide the large god-cursed birthmark on her face. To lift the curse, she sets out on hero's quest to collect a she-dragon's egg*, the shawl of the Gorgons, and to kill a giant, magic bird. Along the way, she is visited by the goddess Artemis with all her wisdom and frustration.

For this illustration, I incorporated all of the the above story elements. You've got Philonoa holding the egg and wearing the shawl tied around her waist, with the magic bird-creature framing both her and Artemis. Towards the end of my sketching, I realized I could even put the beast into a kind of heart shape around the two and I felt very clever.

After wasting way too much time trying to draw Artemis with her bow and arrow based off of reference photos from Google searches, I finally made my own. Please note the bow I made out of a charging cable taped to a ruler. Please do not note how inaccurate the hand positioning is in the final illustration 😬

Once I had the digital drawing sorted out, I printed it out in a light color onto some fancy watercolor paper that was just sitting on a public-use shelf in my studio, Helioscope.

Then I taped it down so the paper wouldn't buckle too much once I started watercoloring on it and I just fuckin' went to town with my paints and ink.

It has been so long since I last inked a picture that I actually couldn't find my supplies for a good half hour! God, this used to be the only way I inked my work, and now I couldn't even find my tools. But once I got started? Man.

What a fucking joy to use a brush.

*.....Oh. Oh my god. Oh my fucking god.

Philonoa doesn't steal the she-dragon's egg, she steals her PEARL. PEARL. Her perfectly spherical PEARL.

I drew an egg!!!! An oblong egg-shaped egg!! Oh my god!!!!!!!!!

This is probably because I still had "stolen egg" on the brain from my previous illustration!!!!!!!

Oh my gaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwddddddddddddddddddddd.

Is it too late for me to make a new third drawing before Friday???