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

[nina.leinwatter]

awesome mood! I love the composition! really good job

[nesokaiyoh]

Working on commissions today so I didn't get any work done for Phaedrus, but I did revisit the full body of him and took away all the painting basically and made it flat shading so I can show the design and colours off better! Any feedback is welcome! I'm thinking of making his floaty drapery more red to purple in tone as I don't like the pale fleshy kinda colour and I want to make it richer in colour. I did mess around with some but I wasn't really happy with much. I did maker it lighter with these flats though as I felt the value with conflicting and wanted to make it read better. Any suggestions?

[artwithtomjames]

I almost like this simpler version better, he looks so elegant and clear. I love how the drapery looks like billowing smoke, its so cool!

[nesokaiyoh]

Thanks! Yeah I tweaked a few of the colours and values so they purposefully read better and it is clearer too. I want to find this balance when i come to doing the final piece, so it's likely some individual elements will change (such as the colour of the rocks for example)

[artwithtomjames]

Well it's awesome so far and I can't wait to see the final!

[ryanchan10101]

This is very badass looking already. Can't wait to see more updates! Also, happy sketching everyone scrolling by

[obsidanite]

already looking a lot better on the side of readability. I agree on the color changes you have planned, the pale fleshy color on the drapery is almost unsettling to the eye, lol. Would definitely say to keep it if you were aiming for something more horrifying, but this guy, he's so majestic, he deserves all the richest and most regal of colors ;D

I think you could keep some of the molten lava coming out of his chest where the blade protrudes, as well on the hands, I think it'll read fine - maybe just be a bit more sparing with where and how you place them and I think it'll look awesome! Not sure how familiar you are with principles of design, but I'd take a look at doing a few studies on the principles of design to inform your designs in the future if you want. I use this exact document as a reference when I need to brush up on a certain element of design:
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-rgrXVLTUJoY%2FVLPunEtz_PI%2FAAAAAAAAAP8%2Fxm0DRmVhpSc%2Fs1600%2Fprinciples_design%252Bcopy.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Looking great, this is gonna be a delicious illustration, yum!

[tck]

I'm a bit late, but daaaamn I love the energy in your sketches

[nesokaiyoh]

@obsidanite Oh the lava will still be in the same places as was featured in the previous one, I omitted it for the sake of clarity and readable purely so you can see the colour of his skin! He will still be leaking so don't worry xD But yes, I will review his colours a little bit, overall happy with most of it, just the rocks and drapery that don't look right to me. Thank you for the link I'll be sure to read over it, and I'll be doing more sketches and mini paintings for Phaedrus so I can get him looking prim and proper for the final piece! Thanks again for the feedback

@tck Thanks so much! And nah, I've only really been here a few days, I still have so much planned for this challenge!

[aypersc]

OMG! I lovee the design of your character! The color palette is very vibrant!! Maybe change the color of the dagger to a cold one, to accentuate that someone else attacked him

[nesokaiyoh]

Thanks! Hmm I was considering making it a cooler colour, I like the idea of it literally being white hot from having been plunged in the heart of this fire god. I don't think it would really go well with the coolness of his skin though, but I'll mess around with that in some future colour options so thank you!

[captdiablo]

I am really looking forward to your final illustration, because all of these things look absolutely awesome so far, I love how just incredibly dynamic and flowy everything is, but yeah, as some have previously said, keep in mind the readability of the composition for the final one.
Your work is soooo good tho

[nesokaiyoh]

Thanks! Yeah, I think readability will be the hardest thing for me, I've made the same mistake before on complicated characters so I fully intend on changing that this time. I appreciate everyone's support too it really helps me a lot.

[nesokaiyoh]

Alright so, Im going to visit the design of the character a bit later. After having done these thumbs, it's going to be tough to implement it fully but I believe it's possible and can be done well. I put together a couple more moodboards for refs of volcanos and mountains at various perspectives, I know scale and perspective is big on my mind for this piece as I really want to push the godly and intimidating feel of the character. I also was thinking about whether pitting him against another god of a different element (it wouldn't be very obvious) or even his brother and exacting revenge (referring to something like the top right or bottom right with a body on the ground kinda thing).

Please let me know your thoughts! I will most certainly do more thumbs yet but I want to know your guys' opinions on what works best in these thumbnails. They are numbered and I did try to make them as clear as possible!

If you guys have any suggestions too as to what kind of situation this character would look good in let me know!

[Oceane_Roh]

I guess a very sentimental scene could work for your character. Maybe a scene where he is shown killing someone without any kind of joy ?
I'm not sure if this suit well his personality ?

[nesokaiyoh]

Hmm that's a good idea, sentimental would work, I want to show that he would be affected by what he's doing. Or even a sense of relief? Like maybe he finally defeated his brother and the burden of vengeance and hurt after all those years would be lifted? I'll write this down thank you!

[MrFancySnail]

This looks dope but I think you could push it!
I can imagine the wings were wrapped around him and formed the dormant volcano's cone, maybe have the wings wrapped around him more, like Galeo in the recent LoL cinematic, and have a lot of that built up debris falling off the wings to expose the feathers. To me, he looks like a young god compared to the more "ancient being that is finally awakening" vibe your previous posts were giving off. Good luck bro, can't wait to see more progress!

[tianlei]

hey @nesokaiyoh! i like these colors and gradients, very-very clean, waiting for more!

[rgdraw]

Oh! Interesting references! And those thumbnails are really cool! Do you have a favorite yet? Or you still want to push a bit more to find something better?

[artbrychko]

I like 9 , but they're all good