Current state of the thing...
Subject: Illustration (?)
I kind of loosed the time a bit during Christmas. Mainly because the heat is pretty overwelming in Buenos Aires and it drains all my energy. So, I'm trying to paint at night to avoid that. Now I'm starting too speed up and really devote myself to the task ahead. So... here's how it is going...

yeah, the thing is that I want to give space to the Cauldron's misty reach also, I may end up making the image just a bit thiner. I'll take your advise and see what's the best option. Ty,
Sending warm sun vibes to you! n___n

Alternative idea for the Illustration. Going for a bit more of a action sequence. The first one seems too stiff for my taste. Also, I'm not streching too far from my confort zone. An that is, again, a big "nope" for me. So, pushing a bit some boundaries. And I'll have to do a quick concept for the fellow who's been torn apart and soul-harvested...
Because what feels better, than working against the clock to accomplish something whose success you are utterly uncertain?

Ok.... so... this is still not looking good, I know, I know.... I'll give it a few more tries before returning to the original....

Sketch for the (hopefully) final illustration.
If this doesn't work I'll withdraw myself from the contest. I would like to retire with at least some of my dignity intact... (?)

Ty. This is really reassuring. I'll put myself to work right now.

Lineart Completed. <3

TY. Saturday night is the perfect time for grey-scale painting ♥

I set the base light and shadow colors and started to render randomly in the chest and belly area.
Now I just need to keep rendering the best I can in the remaining time. I think I can accomplish a decent result around the deadline time.

Current stage:

Current stage. Finishing the character's rendering. Only the highlights remain to be added and then I can move on the background. I want to do something super atmospheric (which I feel this painting lacks currently). And I'm going to re-define the visuals in regard to the villain's super-power.

Current state. Atmosphere stablished and working in the highligts. I really like it's direction.

I'm thinking in use the sharpen tool on the smoke. The texture is very realistic and smooth. I want it to be a bit less clean. Also, I feel the Cauldron's face is competing the focal point with that of the character. So, I need to figure out how to solve that.

Illustration: Finished.
Now I have to update the original concept. Some minor changes took place while making the illustration and now I need to address them.