A Wine With The Refined

A body settled, a drink indulged, a good time had. In the world of lounges, there’s always an experience to behold, especially when there’s someone to join along. This is a pretty overdue Shiburin gifty for sir Kusotoko that I’ve been meaning to get to, but finally glad I was able to put in time recently to get completed. It was a scene that was going to be celebratory by involving lights of many sorts, and as such, I ran into a few...hitches along the way that led to this piece’s delay. >.>

For example, I actually threw around a lot of colors trying to see what would stick for a lot of the background. There was a brief time where this background was mostly red! I was pushing for a scene that had items like velvet carpets, which is almost always the first thing that come to mind when I think of classy. But the red wasn’t color coordinating the way I liked, so I had to undo about a day’s worth of coloring to try a new approach. And around that time, a lot of approaches I tried out kept coming off as a bar feel rather than a lounge, so I had to do some throw some experimenting for a couple of days.

I eventually came up with some tables to throw in the background that I liked, and those stools actually used to be chairs that had armrests on them to push for more of a lounge feel, and stuck around for about two days. But then when I got to the floors, I really liked the idea of an area of a reflective floor, with Shibuya Rin in a more VIP section with its area being more designated as a more carpeted area. And once I finished those floors, the armrest chairs really stuck out as awkward, even during the stages I was getting floor colors set, so they were ultimately removed in place of the stools placed now. Stools still come off to me as something you see in a bar, even though they can be seen in lounges, but it ties the scene together a little bit better.

So in a brief fun fact moment, this might be the first piece I’ve done I had to undo at least one day’s worth of progress twice! And I’m very sure this won’t be the first time, and that number is going to grow, but after this, I’m all set for those times now, haha.

So those are the issues that had caused delays, now for the elements that stuck So to further distinguish the setting to be more like a lounge, I had a thought to push for more dynamic lighting. There was one picture I saw for a reference that had these built-in ceiling lights that cast light directly toward the wall, and little of that light went elsewhere. It reminded me of lights of casinos I’ve been in that had similar lights in the ground, so threw those in there to add a little extra color to the walls.

Still playing a little more with the skin light “leaking” and I’ve been liking how that’s been going in the recent pieces they’ve been used in. I also decided to push for more hair sheen toward the top of her head and I thought that came out well, too. Overall, I really pleased with how Rin came out, although the bow straps could be flowing a slight bit better as they go from her waist to her legs, but still doesn’t look too bad. Also really like how much shine that wine glass is giving off.

And the background, even though I’m pretty content with how it looks, I think I probably would have liked it more if it hadn’t gone through so many changes in the color stages. To go through many changes to have it end up “more than okay” is a strange feeling, but certainly not something to drag me down, I’ll still be willing accept it, especially when it has more good than bad that I like about it. Such as the poles creating a small reflection on the ground, it’s something I thought added a nice little touch to the background.

A lot of highs and lows to go through with this piece, but even with the times I had to undo a lot of progress, I’m still glad to have put in the effort to finish it up. I got to try out more of an environment I haven’t done much of, try out more lighting techniques, and see how well I can tie it together. It was a big effort and some minor flaws are still in there, but it’s still a piece I had fun with.

Summer is starting to come to a close, and by then, I’ll be able to have the time I need to get back into a faster upload schedule I like, the monthly updates are growing too much for me. More Idolmaster fun will come about again in a not too long period, but I’ve got a few roughs to get at first. In less than a month, especially, I hope!