ART WAR 4 | 2D | War of the Elements | On the wings of Fire | nesokaiyoh

[nesokaiyoh]

Oh that means so much to me thank you so very much!! <3 This character and project in general has been a bit of a life saver for me and working on it has made me really happy, was in a bit of a rough place when I started the contest but I'm so much happier after being so productive and having the pleasure of making great characters and see everyone else make great characters too!

[dreamsequenz]

I kinda like this lightning situation better than in your later ones

[nesokaiyoh]

@dreamsequenz
If by which you mean the melting hot sword coming from the chest rather than it being in the chest? I do think it suits this illustration more yeah

Work for tonight. I need to fix the scale and perspective of both characters, now having rendered them enough into existence seeing the flaws has become a bit more apparent. I need a break from looking at it so I can reset my eyes, so might have tomorrow off (or work on rendering parts of the image not affected by this such as the fire on Phae's head). Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, it's such a difficult perspective and it's been really challenging lmao

I also haven't colour or value checked on my phone so I know the darker areas are gonna be way too dark. I can't do much about it right now but I will look it over tomorrow! Either way, I'm not worried about the deadline at this point, although I'm still probably only halfway through the rendering. I haven't colour harmonised it yet, added any atmospheric perspective, floating rocks, painted the fire, sparks and lightning in the clouds yet (Idatrus was a lightning based God, hence the blue of his blood and eyes. But I also love seeing lightning in volcanic eruptions so wanted to give it a go). I moved the wing too as per @arhityom and I think it works better, though I might still mess with it later!

I also have the cracks and lava flows on his knees and legs to render in which I haven't yet started.

[Rasmun]

damn this is looking pretty awesome, so much detail as is, but i'm sure there will be quite a bit more

[morecado]

Holy hell this amazing!!
Such an ambitious piece and you're just charging through it.

[moirae]

Wow. Only just found this thread and your piece is very striking.

I'm no master of anatomy, but that bloodied hand looks a bit broken to me, especially where it connects to the wrist. Edit: they're both bloodied, so the empty hand.

[skullguzma]

That cloth rendering though

[Walleris]

Love the details, the drapery are amazing

[rgdraw]

I don't even know what to say now, everytime I'm just in awe of the progress you make on this piece! Such an inspiration!

[kriros]

So cool ! Nice job i really like the fire effects !

[krysta.art]

I feel sorry for the tiny men...
It looks so epic ! Good work!

[nesokaiyoh]

SO many replies, thank you so much everyone! I must admit my confidence is faltering a little. I had such a big scene in my head and it's been really difficult to work on, I'm hoping I can make it look how I envision in the end but I know it'll be tough. All the support and kind words really do help so much and I'm glad everyone is enjoying the process as much as me!

@rgdraw
Awh thank you so much <3 You don't ever need to say anything but I'm so appreciative of all the support and help you've offered in this journey so far! You've been a major influence and I really am grateful for that ^u^

@moirae
Thank you! Ahh yes, I've had someone else mention that hand before so I will take a look at it! I might actually redraw it, with the lava and everything it is also just difficult to make out so I think I'll redraw and paint it.

@morecado
It is yeah, and I've had my struggles with it. Trial and error mostly - although things I haven't shown like redrawn structure for Idatrus and Phaedrus' foot for example I've had to do to figure out the proper anatomy and perspective. Definitely worthwhile though, it wouldn't be nearly half as good I think if it wasn't challenging, been needing to push my limits for quite some time!

@Rasmun
Thanks! Haha yeah I really love incorporating detail. It will be balanced however, I tend to work in layers so a lot of this detail actually won't be visible, but to be able to work on upper layers I need to paint the lower layers so that in case I run into a problem I don't need to repaint major points regardless if that makes sense?

[nesokaiyoh]

I decided to work only on the easier things tonight as I still plan on redoing some of it to suit the perspective more. So I'm working on the fire and eruptions tonight, I like to think that Phaedrus is a bit of a volcano himself after having been imprisoned in one, like he absorbed its power. So the idea of mini explosions from the cracks in his skin and his fire turning into plumes of smoke would help me not only depict it as a more realistic source of that amount of fire, but also help with the scale! I only just started this part but already having way too much fun lmao

[sparksofdawn]

Go go team fire ^^
Your character looks awesome and as others have said - nice feeling of scale. It actually reminds me of a mayan deity of some kind (might be the headress and the exploding heart )
Can't wait to see it finished!

[Serfer]

The lava in his hands, the sword, the drapery, all looks so great! The skin color looks a little bit dead in my opinion, is that intentional?

[nesokaiyoh]

@sparksofdawn
Thanks so much! Go fire team
@Serfer
Yes and no, his skin is meant to be a gradated slate blue but I reduced the saturation of his skin to harmonise with the fire better, Idatrus' skin is definitely burned though (side of his face and the arm sticking in the fire) as he is not a fire elemental

[Motocrab]

I feel like the skin gives off a living statue kind of vibe. Greek god stuff. Like volcanic rock that forms when magmaflow hardens.

[rgdraw]

You're welcome!! Always happy to support artists that work hard, it kinda became my trademark over the years now, and glad it helps

The idea of the little sparks of volcano explosion on his body is brilliant! The smokes help give even more dynamism and depth to the whole scene! I love it!

[nesokaiyoh]

Ahh you said it perfectly! I actually already have other characters with actual grey skin to mimic the baroque statues I love so much, but I wanted to at least try and think out of the box a little lol I don't really really tend to paint or draw characters with abnormal skin colours so it was a little intimidating

[nesokaiyoh]

Oh and also I forgot to mention, the actual parts of his arms and hands that are cracking are breaking, is dead skin, but that's almost completely black and singed. His body can't cope with the intensity of the heat and lava anymore, not since he was mortally wounded