Colleagues, today I bring you a new drawing. As always, I was inspired by one of the cards from Rising Star. Today's drawing is of the i35 Kithara. This is a musical instrument closely related to the harp. The difference with the harp is that it's much smaller—and I mean much, much smaller. It's small because it can be played by holding it with one hand while the other plucks the strings. Harps, on the other hand, are generally much larger, some even the size of a person. They're commonly seen only in orchestras and similar settings.
There are also smaller harps, but they're less common. The kithara, however, has always been known for being small and more delicate. Many works of art depict them, and they're almost always associated with the divine or with Greek mythology, where various gods played it. But we'll get to that story another day. Today we're here to see the drawing I've made. I want to show you how I created it.
I used a combination of IbisPaint X and the classic Windows Paint tool to create the frame for the card. I use both tools because with one I make the curved and more refined parts, and with the other I make the larger and straighter parts like the rectangles of the frame.
Now that the first part was finished, I could start drawing the Kithara. I began by drawing the central part, which is shaped like a rhombus. Then I drew part of the support for the strings. For some reason, while I was doing this, they looked like a head with horns, haha. What did you all think?
The most noticeable change was in the details. This is where I added many extra touches. For example, the soundbox, the entire area where the tuning pegs are located, the string tensioners, and the embellishments.
The previous steps were the process for creating the sketch. Now I'm going to show you how I digitally painted each part. For the harp, I used more than five colors. I used various types to simulate the shadows, reflections, and shine of the wood varnish. I hope to continue improving my drawing skills so that I can get better and better over time.
To conclude, colleagues, here is the finished work. In this last part, I added the strings of the Kithara and painted the usual card details. And with that, it's done. See you in the next one.
