Cover of volume two of Polyphonica After School isn’t as savory as the first, especially as the crimson annihilating loli isn’t anywhere to be seen – yet it is still indeed quite rewarding to ogle for its own reasons.
In place of the ultimate loli, we instead receive this blonde haired substitute – and whilst she’s certainly no flawless female, there’s a few characteristics exclusive to this illustration which make it rather memorable and striking in general. And as for the first, the whole upper body and skull area is almost otherworldly in its allure – which is somewhat fitting considering this loli is a supernatural entity.
Yet her ethnicity aside, truly focus on this region of the canvas – her hair seems practically endless as it delicately sways off the image’s frame, with a few coils curving down gracefully to aide in showing her position atop a floating contraption in the water, whilst the predominance of her mane all recedes in an upward bend towards the unknown.
Her eyes are of a tone which resembles a shadowy gold, equipped with a sphere of more intense highlight near the lower quarter, acting to beautifully bring out her hair through harmonic color consistency. And not to mention, the yellow spectrum of hues beams off the canvas from basic contrast to begin with. The present brightness and saturation of the color allows it to truly shimmer forward majestically – with a legitimate aura of eloquence and refinement.
A rarely utilized yet highly effective color scheme is, in fact, in play within this illustration – a reason the yellow selection of hues manage to shine so strongly is that the only other tones on canvas, besides the neutrals of black and white, are blue and red. A triad color scheme of the primary three is always vehement when employed – and this is a fine example of a more mastered usage. Both the red and blue are washed out quite significantly, faded in order for the yellow to have little interference in coming off the canvas.
The colors have been applied so considerately, one can see how on top of all the aforementioned, the red was also made the lightest of the bunch – ensuring that any undesired sentiments or implications associated with that hue are suppressed as they’re not the goal of the art piece. One could go so far as to say the artist fine-tuned the specific emotion she wanted this illustration to exhibit.
Onward, shift attention to the elegant yet simultaneously sultry choice of swimsuit worn by this flat chested female – it goes without saying that the black and white provide a ton of impact in terms of contrast, making it almost impossible to look away. Indeed, the intricate rows of soft shadow fluctuations on top a mix of straight black and solid white formulate a feel of soft ruffled fabric, perfected with a darker grey ribbon of more silken texture resting over, all being skilled captivators upon the eye.
Now there is perhaps a single reason one would look away, and here is where the pose becomes relevant – it’s a rather unconventional layout despite showcasing a fairly ordinary event. The angle which the artist approached this piece is particularly strange – yet all so seductive in either case admittedly. The girl isn’t notably ample in the chest – however, her upper body is definitely enticing as result of the potent contrast, and the same applies to the girl’s lower half as well.
One wouldn’t ever anticipate the crotch of a female to be the focal point of an artwork, and it nearly never is – all for reasons which essentially speak for themselves. There’s little to see there – assuming if that region ever were made the center of attention in a work of art, as is the case here, one wouldn’t think it’d look aesthetically pleasing to any mentionable extent.
Sure enough however, one can see that this artist isn’t even operating at human level any more – they’ve gone well above and beyond to a level of skill purely unreal.
Through the appeal of outreaching curvature, alongside shadow for volume and depth, and not to forget the MVP of the day, contrast, the artist has made this frontal lower body expanse somehow immensely enchanting. Notice how the bikini bottom is substantially darker around the very edges – with a few lines of pull inward to truly show the cloth consistency as it rests, or rather, stretches across her skin.
Approaching the incline towards a certain “special place”, one can see the shadow explicitly becomes several tiers darker – even reaching pitch black at the very bottom.
On that note, the opposite direction features a lovely band of frilly white for contrast around her hips – with recurring instances of those gentle grey ribbons for further visual equilibrium. As a side-note, also do recognize how there’s a grand total of three ribbons – which holds meaning in that informality in numerics are much more attractive than even numbers or symmetry.
Onto value again, the skin transitions between a pale for the points directly under the light source, the sun of a summer day – whilst those other spots with less spotlight, or farther ends of her physique, are a tantalizing tan. The expertise of value spread across the image does well to make this loli feel as flavorful as that iced treat she happens to have in hand.
Within the mid-layer, the flotation device forms spiraling rings, a radial balance just slightly out of center within the artwork – and in an act of true rebellious informality, the loli is laid vertically across, making for one of the most marvelous instances of informal balance ever seen. The artist not only employed some risky prowess in usage of the scarcely seen triad color scheme, yet she also took advantage of radial balance – which is practically an urban legend when it comes to impeccable implementation as this.
Excellent artwork isn’t too difficult to find – yet for a legitimate masterpiece as this, they are indeed one of a kind.
Sep 30, 2012 @ 21:50 CDT
It’s not the subject matter, but the attention to detail that some artists are missing out on. I personally found the detail of her collar bones and shadows to be fairly arousing.
Sep 30, 2012 @ 22:13 CDT
With those mastered few, you can see in their compositions details as you’ve mentioned – some precise specifics that show a deep understanding for form, among other elements. Whereas with amateur or average artists, they mindlessly simplify the factors of their subject matter – unaware to certain details.
Another fine example is that the girl in this image actually doesn’t have an outline – cylindrical shapes have a dark line of shadow at the edge by nature in most cases, and adding this aides to show that they’re rounded when speaking of a composition.
As the artist is representing 3-D figures in 2-D space however, it of course is all variable – and if you look at the girl’s abdomen, that’s all mastery of value formulating it.
Oct 1, 2012 @ 11:44 CDT
i really wonder what that popsicle is supposed to mean,hehe
THAT POPSICLE