X-post from oil painting!
This is a drawing I did for my new painting that I'm starting. I'm starting to do some legends from Hawaiian mythology and this is my first attempt. I usually do an outline drawing like this, then colored pencil, then I get it onto canvas.
This is the story:
Kukaohia'aka'laka and his sister Kauakuahiwa came to the island of Hawaii to live with their families. The brother and his family by the sea, and the sister and her family in the uplands. One day, Kauakuahiwa came down to the sea to bring her brother's family fresh vegetables from the mountains. Her stingy sister-in-law deceives Kauakuahiwa bye telling her that there were no fish. Saddened by this treatment, Kauakuahiwa transforms her husband and children into rats and herself into a spring. She appears before her brother in spirit form to tell him of her fate. He finds the spring and dives in, transforming himself into an ohia lehua tree that flows blood if broken.
I think I'm going to take off her lower legs from just below the knee and arms just above the elbows so that she looks like she's a part of the water instead of popping out of it. I also might break a branch so that a little bit of blood comes out.
Oh, and they don't have clothes on because ancient Hawaiians little kids didn't wear any. I might put a skirt on the woman, but the skirts are so ugly and stiff, I'm still debating it.