Xiu-Mei Fan - Wushu Princess

2006

Project Information

Medium | Digital - Photoshop CS

This piece was my second ever digital painting that I completed (not my second one I did, as there were a few paintings that I started, but never finished between this and my first piece).

I got the idea for this painting after seeing a pose on the poster for the 2005 movie “Serenity” (which the pose for this image was mostly based on). The idea for a”Wu-Shu Princess” came partly from my love of Hong Kong Martial Arts movies at the time (such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and House of the Flying Daggers), as well as my love of video games in the fighting genre (such as the Soul Calibur, Tekken and Dead or Alive Series).

For this digital painting, I wanted to try adding in as much detail as I could (as much my skills at the time would let me anyway) into her traditional Chinese Qipao dress, (she is royalty after all). I added thread details into the embroidery, as well as adding a thread pattern over the entire dress, (and for the pattern on those lace thingies on her arms) by using a pattern fill layer.

I got the Chinese Calligraphy on the right hand side done at a little shop in the Chinese quarter of the city where I live (sadly that shop is no longer there). I scanned the calligraphy into Photoshop, and then painted it to look as if it was gold gilding.

If I were to do this again today, I would first of all definitely do more research into the subject (I don’t think this is an actual Wu-Shu stance), as well as use more photo references. I would still add in the thread details into the dress, however, I would take a different approach. As opposed to just throwing a pattern-fill later on it (as it doesn’t really follow the form of the dress as it is). I also wouldn't use that doyley pattern in the background either (what was I thinking).

Although there a lot of things I would do differently today, This is still one of all time favourite pieces of all time. It is also by far my most popular piece on Deviant Art (back in the days before it became Deviant AI).