Ahh nice it's coming along great! I would suggest to change the colour of the background/sky though and either make it cooler in tone to offset and contrast with the fire or have it harmonise hue wise. I think with it being so dark just behind her as well she's blending into the background and has lost silhouette and detail.

Your advice is appreciated as always!
I was thinking a lot what bg colour I could take and couldn't settle on one yet. I think I will make it darker. Maybe take some reference as to what area she is in and go from there.
I will def make it cooler now tho and try to make her more the center of attention!
Thanks once again (:

Well, going on colour theory I would choose a muted teal or green. A blue could work too since it's complimentary to the orange. And for her to stand out against an even darker background you should give her more focus and light bounce from the fire! I don't know if you just haven't added any yet, but with fire so close it would reflect a lot on herself. I did another quick paintover just to show you what I mean!

I honestly LOVE the teal. I feel bad for you giving me so much advice here. That I didn't think of teal myself ... Ahh.
But thanks. Yes I will make it reflect more and maybe make the gear way more reflective as I like when there is bright highlights. I just have to see if it would fit to the whole composition....
Will continue working on it soon.
As always: Thank you for the great advice and feedback!

You shouldn't feel bad for me offering advice, I enjoy it. I want to see the best out of others and promote the growth of artists. An art forum like this, regardless of it being a contest is the perfect place is it not? xD
I can only apologise if the feedback is unwarranted, but I want to see people do the best they can with help others offer! It's no problem :smiley:

That's really nice of you!
Well I am doing this mainly to gain experience so any advice is really good.
I'd always tell someone if I wouldn't want/don't see the point!

Going to continue working on this cutie this weekend! Didn't had much time due to rl obligations!

Applied some of the advice I got today!
Next'll be more rendering and focusing on the gear aka. make it look realistic in perspective!
\o/

Aaaand a bit more rendering has been done!
Couldn't spend as much time as I would have liked on this the weekend!

Aaaand mooore rendering done, I am actually close to being finished!

Thanks! And only thanks to your great advice!
Your piece is coming along great too.
Who am I kidding, I think it is absolutely stunning!

Haha there's no need to bring mine up but I do really appreciate that thank you! <3

9 days later

Ah I am not having much time lately. But i tweaked my picture a little bit more and I think I am done now.
The project was a ton of fun and I hope to participate in many more to come!
Thanks for the help on the way too. (:smile:

I am really happy with how my Queen of Flames turned out.
Definitely one of my favorite characters I ever created!

You should keep her as a character and draw her from time to time too xD It looks great, grats on finishing!

Thank you! I am definitely planning to keep her!

Ok! After fixing something I noticed yesterday I am REALLY done!
I am so happy with how my Flame Queen turned out.
She looks fierce, powerful but also very regal and composed!
Exactly what I wanted.

It has been a very fun project. I have never participated in a large scale contest like this before so it was definitely something new. I liked however that I actually really had a "Reason" to work so long on a very big piece. I am usually the type to either sketch or make very uncomplicated artworks! So this was a bit out of my comfort zone but I really really enjoyed it and had fun. I streamed parts of my progress too and those stream have been fun too. It's nice to see something like this take form over weeks.
From Idea, to concept, to final illustration! It showed me again that this is what I want to do in the future. Design Characters and make them look cool!

Thanks to everyone who helped and gave tips, criticism and ideas!
Special thanks to nesokaiyoh! Your advice helped me a TON and I am sure I trained my eye a bit !

Feels a bit bittersweet that it is over so soon, but I am sure I will be back for the next contest!
Just a bit of story about my Flame Queen....

She is the Leader of a Matriarchy that worships the sun!
They believe the sun to be the reason for their flame magic and strength.
Compared to a normal human, they are very tall and their strength is incomparable.
They train hard in any kind of melee battle and magic. But they aren't a very battle happy folk. It's all just for defence or pesky monsters looking for trouble.

She is not only the Queen but also the leader of their millitary.
The horns symbolize the strength they carry, the more the more powerful the person is. She has the most horns in their tribe which makes her automatically the leader.

Here you can see her defend herself against an unknown enemy... A war that just recently started has the tribe feeling unsafe... But they know they can depend on their Queen of Flame for she is allmighty and blessed by the sun as her ruler!!

I hope you all like my Character! Hope to see you next time.
Greetings,
Krysta

I'm a bit sad it's ending too, but you've honestly done such a great job with this piece and your consistency in your work! I'm glad you found my help useful, as well as actually made use of what I said! Very very good job in completing and I wish you all the best of luck in the competition! See you next year eh? xD

Thank you for the praise!!
It was a great opportunity to learn x)

I hope to see you next year too! c:
Best of luck to YOU too! Honestly amazing what you did !