Unicorn's Gift

This... is long overdue. Sorry, Ro-chan, but I did eventually finish it

I've had this drawing — her name is Emma — this finished, colored, shaded drawing on my computer for a year and a half now, and she's looked gorgeous, looked just like this — but she's very badly needed a background the whole time.

I've tried several times to paint a background, but I fail at painting anything. I just can't do it. It comes out all mushy and squushy and ugly and doesn't look like anything I'd ever want to show to anyone.

So after more than a year of tryin', I finally gave up and used this truly gorgeous stock photo by =Fairiegoodmother. I did some color-correction work on it, gave the camera a different focus, removed some bits of it, and added shadows where they were needed; in total, it was probably a couple hours' work to make the background fit, but it came out just right, and I want to thank =Fairiegoodmother for letting me use her wonderful stock for this. The lovely Emma would never have seen the light of day without it.

And I'm not going to mark this mature. Yes, there's a body part showing — barely! — but it's beauty, simple natural beauty, and if it's damaging to your delicate sensibilities, just don't look at it.

(Update, 8/11/2010: Apparently somebody complained, so now it's marked mature. Sorry, folks.)

The original lineart can be found here in my Scraps, if you'd still like to see it.

This is available as a print, at very high resolution, much higher than you see here. Buy one! Emma's pretty! She'll look great on your wall, even at poster size!