ART WAR | 2D | Ignacia | jenniferbrincho

[jenniferbrincho]

Thanks @alykam! Now that you mention it, she does have a bit of an Azula look going, doesn't she?

Here's today's progress so far...in color! sparkle sparkle

I'm still using a desaturation layer to check the values as I work, though. Really struggling with how much light the lightning bolt should cast. It's not there yet, but I'm taking a break for now.

[jblunar]

Ooh nice, I can relate with how difficult it can be to render light that is often extreme and demands a lot of influence on the page. At the same time, it doesn't need to be incredibly bright as it can be a way to show that the energy is under her careful control, rather than appearing volatile. However, if you like the idea of a super strong light source coming from that light bolt, then I imagine this light can be so strong that it creates bright white surfaces on her armour where it is reflected and affects every curvature on her form that is exposed to the arrow, leaving some sharp shadows where the light ends.

[sheyenne]

Nice work. Congarts.

[rgdraw]

Great progress !

[jenniferbrincho]

Thanks @sheyenne and @rgdraw! And thanks for the advice @jblunar. I liked your controlled power idea, so I went with that!

Mostly worked on Ignacia's details today. I need to do the bow still. Hopefully I can do that and make some headway on the tiger gryphon tomorrow...

[jenniferbrincho]

Well, I ended up not having time to work on this yesterday! So here are two WIPs from different points during this afternoon's progress.

Here's the awkward phase when it's not quite flats anymore, but the shading is still...off. (This is my least favorite part of the painting process! I usually avoid showing anything at this stage because it's so UGLY. But here it is. Enjoy your rare glimpse, haha )

Here it is later, after noodling around with the composition (again), adding some more shading, and throwing in a few details. Lots more to do before it looks natural--those unfinished stripes are killing me!--but I have to stop again for today.

I'm thinking of adding some little flying drones for Ignacia to shoot. The lightning would be a great way to short them out, and that would add the "vs sci-fi" element I've been missing... What do you guys think?

[rgdraw]

Start looking really good ! Keep it up like that

[jenniferbrincho]

Thanks @rgdraw! And congrats on finishing your entry

I took yesterday off to watch the Super Bowl, but here is today's progress...

The tiger now has wings, fire, and rim lighting! Yay Now i just need to make foes for Ignacia to shoot. I decided against the drones after looking at the rules again. Anything look off to you guys?

[jblunar]

I feel that the overall warmth of the scene really fits with the colour palette you gave Ignacia, I definitely feel like this has come a long way and points in the right direction. I wouldn't increase any of the deep shadows as I feel they would make the overall composition a lot harsher, at least around the focal point of the champion as you could play around with deeper shadows in the outer regions, but she needed a sense of radiance to convey her personality anyway, so you hit all those nails on the head .

Try out a couple ideas for enemy characters to shoot at, they might help adding a little diversity to the space covered by the wings - you could even add a few in the background as shadowy figures, there's a lot of options right here ^^

[rgdraw]

This is getting really cool !

[jenniferbrincho]

Thank you @jblunar and @rgdraw ^.^

Today I tried adding an ice dragon...wyrm...thing. Do you think it works? Interesting to paint, anyway!

[rgdraw]

It could work but the tiger should be looking at the dragons head, so it would be much more natural
Great work

[jenniferbrincho]

Ah, true...thanks for pointing that out
I'm struggling so much with the composition of this thing! I may have to start over. We'll see.

[mr_dessin]

Nice progressions
Really like your bright colours !

If you restart it, maybe try to do 2-3 thumbnails (and more if you need), to have some really clear direction.
The thing that bothering me the most...is that she is an archer and well, she looks to be really close to the dragon to even have a good shot (I mean a bow/arrow need some distance to be efficient, no ?). Sure she is certainly a special archer - don't hit me I didn't read all your posts
And well, I second what @rgdraw said too ^^

This is just suggestion here, do as you please - and I hope I didn't offended you !

Anyways, if you start over, better to hurry !
I say that but...I still have a long path to render everything in my piece haha

Have fun & keep it up !

[jenniferbrincho]

Thanks for the critique @mr_dessin!

That is exactly what my brother told me about the shooting distance, lol I will try a few thumbnails and see if I can make her skill more apparent.

What is this about hurrying? There are still 20 days left, plenty of time for another painting, right? Haha I hope you find a good name soon!

[mr_dessin]

You're welcome ^^

20 days go really, really really fast
And I don't even have the character sheet settle - because I need to finish the painting first, and all these cool details to search...in my complicate/crazy/undecided mind haha

For the name, well, will see that later

[rgdraw]

You're welcome and keep it up you're gonna make it !

And actually about the archery skill, distance doesn't matter if you're good, you can shot arrows like you brush your teeth! I've watched a guy who did research on historical archery and learn it, it's just insane and very different from what we see on TV

[jenniferbrincho]

Three super rough thumbnails for the restart! So far #2 seems the strongest to me. Any suggestions? I feel like they are are pretty similar, but I'm having trouble keeping 80% of Ignacia in the frame when I change it up a lot.

That last lovely drawing is supposed to be her standing (sort of) on the tiger's back while shooting at the foe behind the camera...but yeah, didn't quite turn out how I was hoping

Anyway, thoughts & critiques much appreciated!

[kernelpanic]

Honestly, the flow and action of the first thumbnail is pretty solid. The directional movement is self contained in a nice circular pattern up the serpent's body to the hero. The second thumbnail is good too, but my eye doesn't really want to move away from the hero once it's landed there.

I think either 1 or 2 is a good choice, but I personally like 1 a bit more.

[Steve_Kim]

I like numbers 1 and 2
However, for most of your comps I feel like the character is way too close to the target. I know it's possible of her to fire from up close, but maybe you can try resizing your hero (making her a bit smaller) to create distance, and use that extra space around her to show some sort of environment?

I would suggest you try different sketches no need to be detailed, just like the way you have it already.