The Inspiration: The Unicorn Hunters
Last month when I read Katherine Arden’s The Unicorn Hunters, a historical fantasy based on the late 15th-century duchess Anne of Brittany, I just knew I had to paint a scene from it. Arden’s writing is so evocative it was hard to choose just one scene. However, since my recent fan art has been a mix of pencil drawing and digital painting, I decided to attempt something a bit more complex this time: painting a watercolor portrait of the main character.
The Hunt for Historical References
I started with researching what the real Anne of Brittany looked like. Most (all?) of the paintings we have of her depict her as an adult woman, already married, a ruler, wearing the fashions and headdresses she came to be known for (most notably, the French hood – think Anne Boleyn):
However, Arden’s book takes place while Anne was still young and as yet unmarried. Arden often describes Anne’s hair as being put back in a caul or net, which added believability to the historical setting, because loose hair wasn’t usually proper for noble women of her status. (Personally I’m also extremely bothered by my own loose hair and can’t even think if it’s in my face, let alone do some political scheming.) A fillet embroidered with a strand of unicorn hair is the defining element of book-Anne’s look, so I had to incorporate that too.
So I went about looking for references for fillet-and-caul hairstyles for noble women in the late 15th century, and found this (and other similar styles):
Despite Barbara Pallavicino being Italian and her fashion twenty years later than the setting of the book, I decided to adapt her hairstyle for Anne. In order to be “embroidered” with the unicorn hair, the fillet had to be a bit wider than Barbara’s: I decided it would be made of linen or silk fabric, so the unicorn hair thread would lay smoothly on the surface.
Frankensteining a Reference Photo
I based the composition of the portrait – a lady framed in front of window – on the 1490 portrait of Margaret of Austria by Jean Hey. A photo by Artur Rekstad on Unsplash (which is an amazing source for free photos to draw from, by the way) made the perfect reference for her face. To get a relatively accurate sleeve and hand, I enlisted one of my kids, an artfully arranged blanket, and a Hello Kitty pocket mirror. I also had to look at several photos of open windows, because if there’s one thing I can’t visualize, it’s perspective. (Another thing is horses. Do not ask me to draw a horse from memory, unless you want a laughably cartoonish eldritch beast.)
Secret Weapon: Procreate
Finally I was able to start drawing! After I had drawn the main figure and windows, I wasn’t sure how to proceed with the painting. Watercolor is notoriously unforgiving. So instead of winging it and possibly ruining it, I took a photo of the drawing, imported it into Procreate on my iPad, and digitally painted it until I was happy. At this step I also took inspiration from the original cover illustration by Serena Malyon. Throughout the book, Arden often mentions incongruous light (“a different daylight,” where I got the title for this piece), which is the tell-tale sign that there’s magic near: either moonlight on a night with no moon, or bright sunlight on an otherwise misty and overcast day in Brittany. I painted moonlight in the top left of the portrait, and slanting rays of sun in the bottom left.
Now having a master reference, I got out my watercolors.
The Watercolor Battle (& Product Reviews)
For the longest time I have used Talens Ecoline liquid watercolors. They are gorgeous and vibrant but, unfortunately, dye-based, so some colors are very prone to fading in sunlight. A couple years ago, wanting to have some reliably lightfast watercolors, I invested in pigment-based Dr. Ph Martins Hydrus liquid watercolors as well. HOWEVER, after being left unused, the pigment settled and separated in the bottles and even got stuck in the droppers and had to be dislodged with a paperclip and stirred up. Blegh. Anyway, the painting process itself went as nervously as watercolor ever does – it looked unsettling for much of the time but I was patient and kept going.
The finishing touches: the metallic highlights were done with metallic watercolors from Claire Chi Studio, and the lace caul was painted with white acrylic ink. Acrylic ink was perfect for this because it’s thin enough to paint fine lines, but also opaque, and did not reactivate the watercolor underneath.
The Framing Fiasco
At this point I had grand plans to create an intricate line art drawing on the mat, but as I had neither frame nor mat, that had to be put on hold. I found a great frame from Goodwill for only $3.99, but it had artwork sandwiched in between two pieces of glass which was then permanently glued into place. While prying the glue out of the crevices with a knife, I punctured my left palm (ouch). Finally, once the frame was clean and glass washed, I got out my 11×14″ mat with 8×10″ opening, only to discover that not only was my thrifted frame 10×13″, but also MY PAINTING ITSELF IS 9×12″. Yes, this entire time I’d been painting on a watercolor block, whose cover clearly stated it was 9×12″, which I did not read and just assumed it was 8×10″.
So I had to resign myself to getting a new frame from Michaels (whose prices are higher in-store than online (!), which is a topic for another day…). I painted the mat black with acrylic gouache, which doesn’t show brushstrokes and isn’t reflective. Deciding against an intricate mat design, I framed the painting. Here it is without the glass:
Hope this was a bit helpful if you were wondering how to gather ethical references and take a bit of guesswork out of painting in watercolor. I also encourage you to read The Unicorn Hunters – I think you’ll love it. Let me know in the comments what you’re reading!
