I just realized it's been almost a year since I made this painting! About time I made a blog post as well, so here we go!
The commissioner of this particular painting had earlier ordered a large 70 x 100 cm print of "Firefoxes" and wanted to have something that would go well with it on their wall. Thus, they commissioned me this painting that I later titled "Sakura". In addition to the original painting, they also got that 70 x 100 cm print of it.
On the right, you can see the initial sketch the commissioner was happy to proceed with.
Above, there's a more detailed pencil sketch that the painting would be based on. There's also a digitally colored version of it, to give the commissioner an idea of the color scheme I had in mind. They were happy with it, and so it was time to grab the brushes!
The commissioner requested to have me color the foxes in a similar style to "Firefoxes". This meant that instead of blending different shades smoothly together and making soft shadows, every layer of color has a sharp edge, with no blending. For the cherry blossom petals in the background, I was allowed to use my usual style and make the colors blend softly and smoothly.