ART WAR 3 | 2D | Villains | Snowman Villain | dt_nova

Now I have my base snowman I am trying to establish mood and tweek lighting details.

I have this one

This is the same thing although I have added some light blue to the body of the snowman, I think it gives a more majestical touch to it but I have had some people say they think it is better without, so I am unsure.

I think my biggest problem right now is the snow and maintaining readability. If anyone has some ideas or pointers, please tell me! Thanks.

Added some blur less important areas to bring depth and focus to interesting areas while also providing rest areas for the eyes. Completely experimental at this point, sure about it at the moment I will likely tweak it.

I was afraid to give true depth to the face as it could lose the expresson but here it is, I don't think it takes away too bad since his eyes are still have a piercing glow.

I have decided to forgo the blur for depth right now and have decided to bring him out of the background by giving him an exaggerated blue ice color that you would see in a bright day. I see it used a lot in other great artists work to help emphasize cold icy materials and it seems to read well in my opinion.
Less frost
More frost
most frost and what I think would be more accurate to freezing air based on looking at dry ice.
Again, if anyone wants to comment, on feedback or ideas or anything, please do! Thanks

Softened transitions on shoulder and stomach as well as an atmospheric occlusion effect from the decay of reflected light on the torso in comparison to the trunk which is closer to the ground and the viewer. I still feel like the transition is too subtle.

A front, almost 3/4 concept of the character I knocked out in an hour real quick. Best I could do without photo textures as per the rules. New around here and somehow I read a page that did not give the size requirements for the final piece so I am trying to figure out how to salvage my work without starting over. But I kind of want to just because I love to do this. Will post the back of the concept tomorrow.

Due to some new tasks I had to complete I was busy working all day on something else so this was pushed off to 1am. So I tried to throw together the back concept real fast. It's pretty simple I know... Hopefully I will finish up with my other art stuff so I can put more time into this competition.
Most importantly, I removed the sky image I started off with after reading the rules which say no images allowed. As I kept working toward a darker atmosphere it really wasn't necessary anyways. I decided the best remedy for the improper dimensions was to add a foreground between the snowman and the "camera". I think this will work out better as I can add more into the image to make him appear "villainous". I already have a good plan for that. Still playing around with a color scheme that may make the snowman more interesting but I starting to drift back towards the more realistic color scheme which is essentially colorless with the lack of light sources with the snow storm blocking the light. I also think it brings out the claw more which is the most important part of the piece. The claw is communicating his superpower, which is that he can remove heat from anything he touches as his fingertips are causing the particles of already cold to become even colder! Should have another update tomorrow that will make the image even more interesting.

Also, if you are interested in the story of this evil snowman then stay tuned as I will be posting the story to this behemoth at the end of the competition with my final post!

Working on the composition for a tragic scene that will hopefully vilify the snowman even further.

Still playing around with the snow and frost effects on the people as well as the snow being created from the cold of the snowmans hand. Not sure if it's too much or if it really adds to the image. Guess I'll have to give it another look tomorrow. I've woken up many times embarrassed at the previous days "brilliant" work. Pulling an all nighter for the final concept sheet though so hopefully it still has the same effect. Looking at it a second time, definitely have to do something about that long hair fellow dunked in the snow.

Working on the concept sheet finally. Had some crazy issues with my software and computer so I lost a whole day. I'm back on track and here is the potential front view of my concept sheet. I am tempted to play with the mood and add snow and what not but that would diminish the visibility and the illustration doing that so I am keeping it rather plain for now to focus on the structure of the snowman.

Playing around with the eyes. Not sure...

Current progress. Will eventually figure out a composition for the square pixel dimensions they want for the competition. I clearly made this hard on myself by making such a large creature he practically takes up a square rather than half a square due to his huge wingspan.

So I am mostly done with the concept sheet, I really struggled with the composition since both front and back at full size take up the entire workspace for the 2048 x 2048 dimensions. I still have a few days so I will come back to it and maybe touch up a few things here and there.

Out of time, these are the finals.

Decided to make some last second changes.