Final result:

I'm an artist in the ... literal definition of the word, but I'm not a very good draughtsperson - my ability to render perspective, shape, form, and tone by hand, is not photo-realistic or particularly accurate. I work a job that to those who have attended art school would consider to be hell on Earth some days.

I often, and more recently, find myself spending hours upon hours in meetings. Sometimes I take notes in between raising cogent points. I listen, and a I draw. I suggest, and enhance, and build upon other people's ideas.

Today I was thinkinking about Joan of Arc. The French figure, the fabled, mythical warrior woman who heard the voice of god whisper in her ear. Then, those ideas and thoughts became muddied by the video game, Jeanne D'Arc, where Joan is portrayed as a powerful, super-natural hero, capable of morphing into monstrous forms.

To me, what mattered however, is how she acts on the surface. Her apparent normality. The fact that if we passed her on the street in modern times, she'd be an ordinary woman, with an extraordinary story.

Hence, Joan represents the complex nature in all of our pasts, presents and futures. Really, any character, any name will do.

Today that name is Joan.

Here's the progress.

Original drawing</h1?

I've attempted to capture the moment Joan was hit by an arrow. Ignore the eyes on the other side of the image, I have a habit of drawing eyes...

I've then done some clean up, and colouring in photoshop following the conclusion of my work day.

Atop this, I've introduced various textures, colour, and a few blending mode adjustments to then leap to the final version, as seen originally above.

Those who've followed my work previously know that I tend to be a lot more photographic in the nature of my digital imaging - this is a rare inisght into a sketch, and something I attempted to colourise.

I'm not an exceptional digital painter, and this is just a single creative endeavour for a single day.

Don't fret, I'll be picking up the camera a lot this weekend, I've got three different shoots scheduled, with various looks to occur!

Until next time!

I know that this isn't exceptional, but it is what was always found in my sketch books. I like scribbling with pen.