ART WAR | 2D | 婵玉（CHANYU) | mrstarcatcher

Name: Liz Sun
Email: furydesignstudio@gmail.com
Website: N/A
@Twitter: N/A
@Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LYYLS

Hello everyone! I’m new to this forum. I heard of ART WAR challenge from Facebook. And I decided to give it a try.

My entry is called 婵玉 (ChanYu): the Warrior of Darkness.

First, my final illustration:

A smaller size with a better view for computer browser users.

And here is my concept sheet:

A little about myself:
I am a graphic designer. But I have passion for drawing. I used to use mouse (computer mouse) to draw, my avatar the kitty cat is a product of it. ^_^

Now I’m using Wacom Intuos for all my art. I spend all my spare time on studying, practicing and trying to improve my art (I wish I could be a real illustrator so I can draw full time!!)

About my art:
I was inspired by an ancient book called The Investiture of the Gods when I was designing this character (婵玉/CHANYU).

In that book there is a female warrior whose name means “the jade of the moon” (that’s why I think she should be wearing dark armors). She is a servant to a dark king at the beginning of the story, and she grows and changes to a better person because she finds the light in the battles. She dies in the final battle and becomes a Goddess.

婵玉/CHANYU is a unique character. She is sad and gentle on one hand, fiery and very determined on the other. Unlike other warriors, she has no fancy weapons but a sling and small stones. And she was invincible and was the dark king’s best warrior until she chose to rebel.

She doesn’t have a special ride in the original book though. I give her one, which I name 炽焰/CHIYAN, with fire of jade. This tiger like fantasy creature represents the fiery side of 婵玉/CHANYU.

I am trying to tell the story of 婵玉/CHANYU and give her a soul. I hope whoever sees 婵玉/CHANYU can look into her eyes and feel the inner passion of her. And I believe this is the key to character design.

As I’ve been practicing, I was also trying to mix the old world and modern subject matters while planning the lights, colors and textures for this art. In the following updates, I’m gonna show my drawing process. I hope you will enjoy it!

Thank you!

HI jonathanfado2h, your words are sweet and you're too kind!! Thank you! I like your design, and here is a lucky token for both of us!

Here is my first sketch.

Rule #1: THINK before DRAW

I tried to comprehend/understand the character CHANYU in the book until I had her 360 degree alive in my mind. She walks, laughs, feels and struggles. It only matters which moment I want to show.

Initially I wanted to show the moment of her mourning. To show the delicate soft inner side of her. I wanted to draw her sobbing in front of some kind of broken wall in the battlefield.

Since I wanted her to be the focus point of the art scene, a front view of her was a preferred choice, with part of smoldering wall suggesting there was a battle.

With CHIYAN on her side, protecting her and expressing the rising anger against the brutal war waged by the dark king, I could easily fill in my canvas while let it “breath.”

Having those basic ideas about this particular illustration (scene) in my mind, I started to draw.

At this stage I used one reference art of a snow leopard for CHIYAN.

I draw very fast, no more than 10 mins. As you can see, the sketch is very very rough.

Keys of composition:

1. To show the relations between characters;
2. To create “movement” by lines;
3. To create “force” by contrast of shapes.

Rule #2, RELAX, RELAX, RELAX

The brush I used at the beginning was a semi transparent one with hard edges (it can be any basic brushes, square, triangle, round, you name it. Just make sure to set the transparency to be like 50%).

It helps to blend colors, but not blend too much like air brush does.

By doing so I can create very natural and relaxing kind of feel of brush strokes. Those strokes give the art a free-hand-drawing kind of touch and helps the art to look more “artistic” in contrast of being mechanical.

Here is a close up of my illustration at this stage:

Starting in black and white is always an easier way than painting directly in color. The only weak point of this technique is that it costs a bit more time, because there will always be an extra step next: to color the art.

Using Navigator to check the overall image constantly is very important, because I don’t want to lost in details too soon.

To color the figure, just create a new layer and change the blending mode of the new layer to "Color" and then, paint. Repeat this process till the whole image is colored.

Checking and adjusting shapes by flipping the canvas.

Thank you!