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Dagny - A Work En Progresse

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Ravane

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Very nice, Ravane, very nice. Lovely and elegant. I especially like the fragility evoked by her slenderness combined with the look on her face, which to me evokes "I belong in this city, among these buildings, and I know it".

Is this the scan of something you're doing by hand? If so, how big is it in real life? Will you do colors as well?

Edited by Felipe
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Very nice, Ravane, very nice. Lovely and elegant. I especially like the fragility evoked by her slenderness combined with the look on her face, which to me evokes "I belong in this city, among these buildings, and I know it".

Is this the scan of something you're doing by hand? If so, how big is it in real life? Will you do colors as well?

It's not a scan actually, I drew it on my computer using a graphics tablet.

Printed, it should be 11x17 inches.

And yes, I did use Google Images, but no luck thus far.

Edit: That is, no luck with the streetlamp part.

Edited by Ravane
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I smell a bidding war coming on. Ravane, if you're looking to sell that, let me suggest to you that you just sell it to me for whatever price I choose. :D

But seriously, you should research various auction formats to see which would yield the greatest financial return. I recall vaguely from my game theory studies that, to borrow from the old Michelob commercial, "some [w]ays are better than others."

She looks eerily similar to . . . you. Awesome.

[Edit: Here's a link to some NY skyline photos. Edit again: Oh, maybe those aren't that good. I'll try again later.]

Edited by Groovenstein
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Yes, I think that the eyes should be lighter, and I also think that the hair should be a little less... poufy? big? I don't know exactly, but I don't especially like the hair. Though, obviously, if you do, by all means keep it the way it is. I imagine Dagny a bit differently, though I couldn't draw her or even convey what I think she would look like. But the drawing is very nicely done. I hope you continue posting as you make changes, additions, and maybe add color.

Thanks for sharing this. Maybe you could do one of Dominique?

Zak

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I'm going to leave the eyes- but the hair isn't really finished.

And as to the condescending look- I agree, but it's not neccessarily the eyes. It may be that she's barely smiling, and in the arch of her eyebrow. My favorite things to draw are faces, and facial expressions- you'd be suprised what a few pixel's worth of variation can do to a face.

And it's going to be in full color. If I auction it, I'll probably sell more than one- they're prints, after all.

Edit: And thank you for the reference photos, guys.

Edited by Ravane
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Okay Ravane, after staring at it a while longer, you're right. Keep the eyes.

But also, I noticed the hands could be little... daintier. Right now they remind me of the Seinfeld episode with the "man hands".

Oh, and is that bracelet supposed to be the one of Rearden Metal? Because I believe that was a chain-link one.

Zak

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Okay Ravane, after staring at it a while longer, you're right. Keep the eyes.

But also, I noticed the hands could be little... daintier. Right now they remind me of the Seinfeld episode with the "man hands".

Oh, and is that bracelet supposed to be the one of Rearden Metal? Because I believe that was a chain-link one.

Zak

Good call, but no-it's going to be the diamond one.

And the hands are, besides the buildings and the railings, obviously, the most unfinished portion of the peice. Hands are obscenely difficult to draw correctly and proportionately. In fact, the hand in the background is only implied at the moment, and by the time I'm done will probably look completely different.

Thanks for the criticism, keep it coming if you can think of any more. I find the longer I stare at a peice the harder it is for me to find the flaws because I tend to fall in love with it.

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First, great stuff. Thanks for posting it. I can't draw at all. So, I'm always fascinated by how people can do it so well.

The "condescending" thing is what struck me about it, though I would say it was more defiant than condescending. I had a thought about this: wouldn't it be cool if this were a snapshot of some particular, representative scene from "Atlas Shrugged".

The second question: how does one tell that this is Dagny, railway Goddess?

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First, great stuff. Thanks for posting it. I can't draw at all. So, I'm always fascinated by how people can do it so well.

The "condescending" thing is what struck me about it, though I would say it was more defiant than condescending. I had a thought about this: wouldn't it be cool if this were a snapshot of some particular, representative scene from "Atlas Shrugged".

The second question: how does one tell that this is Dagny, railway Goddess?

Perhaps she needs a bracelet of Rearden Metal? ... :)

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Thanks for the criticism, keep it coming if you can think of any more. I find the longer I stare at a peice the harder it is for me to find the flaws because I tend to fall in love with it.

I know the feeling. I've tried my hand at drawing in the past. I have this book "How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way". Don't let the title fool you. It has all kinds of neat little lessons on drawing. I love to draw, because I can create my own world. Of course, I'm just an amateur, and so it's all just for my own fun.

My experience is that drawing a woman's face is much more difficult than drawing a man's, because flaws show up so much more easily. The brow ridge can't be too prominent, the jaw can't be too large, proportions must be symmetrical, etc.

I look forward to seeing the final result, Ravane, because I can see that you have talent.

Btw, just for the record, there was a guy who used to post here named RadCap, aka Brian Smith. He hatched the idea for comic book characters here last year. His his website is here .

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First, great stuff. Thanks for posting it. I can't draw at all. So, I'm always fascinated by how people can do it so well.

The "condescending" thing is what struck me about it, though I would say it was more defiant than condescending. I had a thought about this: wouldn't it be cool if this were a snapshot of some particular, representative scene from "Atlas Shrugged".

The second question: how does one tell that this is Dagny, railway Goddess?

Funny you should say that, because originally it was going to be the scene where Dagny was standing on the platform above the station at Taggart Transcontinental headquarters, addressing the workers. This is right before Galt follows her down the rail tunnel.

It is one of my favorite scenes because I love the way she is described- how Rand explicitly states that her prescence in an evening gown, a goddess in her own domain, is so strangely appropriate.

However, I chose to use the dress design from Rearden's party, and ended up using the New York skyline as the background.

I may change the background yet- perhaps to have Rearden's mills glowing in the distance. Or I may well use the Taggart station, I'm not sure.

If I do use the station, I'd feel obliged to change the dress accordingly.

Edit: On second thought, I will change the background to the station. The problem of recognising the character had never occured to me as I was drawing what I'd always imagined her to be.

Edited by Ravane
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Edit: On second thought, I will change the background to the station. The problem of recognising the character had never occured to me as I was drawing what I'd always imagined her to be.

Actually, I like what you have. The idea of using the braclet of Rearden metal would convey the point that she is Dagny. I know you rejected the idea, but the braclet of Rearden metal would certainly help convey that she is Dagny and you'd have to make almost no changes to the scene. Remember, she loved that bracelet. Wasn't it a blue-green color? Can't recall.

You could always do another drawing of her in the station, or on a train rolling down tracks of Rearden steel.

Another idea is a Wyatt torch in the background, but it may be out of place.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I disagree. I think that a railway map on the wall would be overkill. I am by no means an artist of paint and canvas, but something about having a railway map in anywhere but Dagny's office feels out of place to me. If Ravane were to make another picture of Dagny portraying her in her office, I think that would be another matter.

Great picture by the way. I'm fine with the eyes, hair, and everything else about her except her hands. I understand that it's a rough sketch currently, but her right hand is larger than her left and some proportions are off. I imagine that you would have it fixed in the final draft anyway.

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