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Description
"Vibrant crimson against the cool gleam of sapphire, ivory teeth, porcelain skin tinted copper under the setting sun - her image burned upon my retinas, I patter my small steps upon the beach, into the ocean, running after her. I wade forward, against the wave of golden reflections, reaching out, grasping that fading form in the distance. She smiles, glass raised, aquamarine cocktail swirling within. Like inviting me to chase after her, my elder sister drifts away, leaving only a snapshot of summer as my challenge."

This is my submission for the summer contest at

The rules for the contest are:

1) must include at least 6 different colours
2) must include a watermelon
3) must include water

The deadline got extended from Aug 31st to Sept 3rd. I really needed those three extra days (for those who know me, you'd know of all the troubles I've gone through this summer, and free time isn't at all abundant). I spent quite a bit of time working on this picture, doing it bit by bit over the month of August. It really helps rise my spirits from an otherwise very depressive summer.

As for a discussion of this picture itself, I used my OC, Aya, because I think her vibrant personality really suits the theme (along with the vibrant hair and eye colours I used for this character). Aya is Meng's [link] (bottom right) elder sister by the way. I contemplated incorporating the required elements in more subtle ways, but the whole summer theme just...spelled juicy watermelon slices and good old beach time. I did also include watermelon elements in the swimsuit design though, haha.

You have no idea how angry I was when PS froze on me and I lost all my clouds, which I spent another half an hour painting. Ugh...anyways...

I also decided to go with very bold lineart and solid colours instead of a softer style because of the theme. I think that brings out the joy and festive mood of the season. I pretty much lost count of how many colours I used, but for base colours on the character, I used 11. I quite like how the colours turned out, but honestly, a large palette does mean quite a lot of work shading XD

Hope you like it!

Aya + art (c) me

Description
"Vibrant crimson against the cool gleam of sapphire, ivory teeth, porcelain skin tinted copper under the setting sun - her image burned upon my retinas, I patter my small steps upon the beach, into the ocean, running after her. I wade forward, against the wave of golden reflections, reaching out, grasping that fading form in the distance. She smiles, glass raised, aquamarine cocktail swirling within. Like inviting me to chase after her, my elder sister drifts away, leaving only a snapshot of summer as my challenge."

This is my submission for the summer contest at

The rules for the contest are:

1) must include at least 6 different colours
2) must include a watermelon
3) must include water

The deadline got extended from Aug 31st to Sept 3rd. I really needed those three extra days (for those who know me, you'd know of all the troubles I've gone through this summer, and free time isn't at all abundant). I spent quite a bit of time working on this picture, doing it bit by bit over the month of August. It really helps rise my spirits from an otherwise very depressive summer.

As for a discussion of this picture itself, I used my OC, Aya, because I think her vibrant personality really suits the theme (along with the vibrant hair and eye colours I used for this character). Aya is Meng's [link] (bottom right) elder sister by the way. I contemplated incorporating the required elements in more subtle ways, but the whole summer theme just...spelled juicy watermelon slices and good old beach time. I did also include watermelon elements in the swimsuit design though, haha.

You have no idea how angry I was when PS froze on me and I lost all my clouds, which I spent another half an hour painting. Ugh...anyways...

I also decided to go with very bold lineart and solid colours instead of a softer style because of the theme. I think that brings out the joy and festive mood of the season. I pretty much lost count of how many colours I used, but for base colours on the character, I used 11. I quite like how the colours turned out, but honestly, a large palette does mean quite a lot of work shading XD

Hope you like it!

Aya + art (c) me