Hello everyone! ^_^

How are you? Are you doing well? I sure hope that you are! It's been a little while since I've posted around here huh? Sorry about that everyone! I have been trying to keep up with messages though (which I'll continue to work on....) and I also hope to increase my art work productivity so be on the look out! ^___^

But anyways, I have here a piece I've been working on for a little while now; on and off for the last few months. I actually meant it to be a 50,000 hit gift for all of you, but given the lenght of time I've taken, it seems it'll be more like a 60,000 hit piece now. Ack! Sorry about that too you guys! >< Either way though, I did want to dedicate this painting to ALL of you, who continue to watch and support me. All of those who leave heart warming comments, that make me smile, and sometimes even blush bright red!! *^_^* Truly, it means so much to me.... I know I've said that many times in the past, and I know just saying thank you seems rather insufficient, but really, from my heart.... THANK YOU all for ALL of your kindness and encouragement.... Thank you. Thank you so very very much!

As for the piece itself, however, it seems like it's been a work in progress that manifested in various stages. I guess it can start with my original piece of this particular crossover done years ago.....:

[link]

Given that Sailor Moon and Yu-Gi-Oh to this day remain among my very top favorites of any anime that I've viewed, (the ones nearest and dearest to my heart.... ) I've come to make it a yearly tradition to do a crossover piece that included their main characters. However, this year I wanted to see if I could top the original piece in the link above. I wanted to go with a similar idea, Usagi and Yami Yugi "dancing" but I wanted to kick it up a notch. ^_^ I thought I'd go with a more fun and fluent pose; one with a full fledged background too!

Oh! Speaking of the background, I wanted to mention the little painting in the background. I thought it might be a fun little challenge trying to reproduce a famous work so I've painted my own little various of Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night."

I wanted to be sure to give credit where credit is due, of course! Though I DID paint the little version of "Starry Night" painting within my crossover painting myself, I of course must credit the original artist who did the real work so many years ago!! ^_^

As for why I chose that piece, originally, when I thought about doing a painting within a painting, I wanted to paint something with a moon and a pyramid in it but I couldn't think of any famous works off the top of my head. Then I remembered Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and I thought it would be similar to what I had in mind at least. And again, I welcomed the challenge of trying to reproduce the little painting too, as I stated previously. ^_^ In addition, I thought the title "Starry Night" was rather Sailor Moon-ish in reference, especially with the American song of the same name used in the dubbed version so I thought it would be perfect!

Aside from that, I thought I'd go with a simple yet hopefully effective ballroom for Serenity and Yami to be dancing it. I enjoyed painting the fabric for the curtains and of course as always, the intricate textures in the wall and floor! ^_^

Getting back to the figures, I originally designed Serenity's Tuxedo Dress with this piece in mind as seen in the previous work below:

[link]

Even then I knew that I wanted to complete the painting I'm submitting now. As I mentioned in the description of that piece, I wanted to design a sexy little Tuxedo Style Dress, a somewhat "Tuxedo Mask-ish" type outfit for her, all the way down to the rose design on her stockings. Of course for this work, I decided to push the "Tuxedo Mask" reference and add the top hat and mask.

As for Yami, I originally planned on using the outfit that I painted in another painting:

[link]

But I decided against that. Unlike, Serenity's Tuxedo Dress, the suit Yami is wearing in the link above, was something I stumbled across in an "International Male" catalog that I thought I'd borrow for the sake of the piece. For THIS painting however, I thought it better, to maybe get reference for a suit that I liked, and tweak it a bit, so it would be more like I designed it, or at least part of it. So that's what I did. I found a suit that I used as a base, but added a few additional touches to it. I can't say I designed the suit per say, but it's at least a little more original this way. Plus, I thought Yami would look more natural in a blue suit rather than a black one.

After that, I came up with the sketch that's in my scraps gallery:
[link]

And finally I was ready to go to the finish! Phew..... talk about a lot of work!

Well, I guess that's about it for this one. ^_^ As usual this piece was hand painted, using opague water color! Thanks for looking everyone and once more, thank you for all of your encouragment! ^_^ Take care now and best wishes!

yamigirl21