"Here, I'll do a sketch for you."

And thus, this was born.

has been designing pretty ball gowns for everybody for the MC Shout Box Ball. I don't know what it is exactly, but I do know that I love pretty dresses, so when she asked to make one for me I was pretty excited. I offered to do a quick sketch of my idea so she'd know what kind of thing I wanted, but the sketch turned into a full-blown drawing XD

I really wanted to try to stick with a Victorian theme for this. I normally sacrifice this style in favor of giving outfits a more punk or gothic feel, but I think I managed to stay on target this time. The colors and the hidden eyes give it the darker edge I wanted, and the top hat adds a little fancy while not making the whole thing unrealistic.

That is my actual hair style XD It does spike out like that, if I put the effort into it. I was too lazy to include my new highlights, though >_>; And even though several people already know what I look like, I wanted to keep at least part of my face in shadow to make it mysterious. Not that this actually looks a lot like me, anyway, but still.

I'll upload the original scan to the scraps, I think, because I like it, too.

Overall, I'm actually really happy with this. I like how the ruched skirt turned out, and the ruffles at the collar and on the sleeves, and the bows and ribbons. There are parts that still kind of bother me, of course (that hand, for instance, I still don't think it's quite right), but it's one of the few pictures I've done in a while that I can look at and really think that my practice is getting me somewhere.

What I learned doing this piece: Practice more shading, and don't get lazy near the end just to get it done. I need practice on hair, too. I think I'm getting better, but I've still got a long way to go.

PS Be sure to check out Anime-Princess-Fa's version of my dress!