My first concepts. I'm really struggling with this, but it is called "Art War" for a reason. One is more character focused while the other is environment focused. Both are key elements in my art so I'm looking for a middle ground. As these are the first I plan to create a few more before I settle on an idea.
Came up with a basic design for my elementalist. I usually try not to focus on rendering details so much. Especially for compositions where you won't see all the little details. I had to push myself back quite a bit on the color scheme. I really wanted some soft pastels and bright colors but my idea for the overall composition is going to be very lush and vibrant so I want the character to stand out against it.
Beginning to map out my color set up and lighting. Thinking that I will want the background darker than the foreground to put full focus on the character to frame them better.
These sketches look amazing already! The lighting in your last update is great :o
Thank you! I've been really itching to do some adventurous lighting. I tend to shy away from anything bold so I want to push it more for this 
Saame! I'm really curious to see how the character will turn out with details under this light 
Decided to take a step back from my original idea. As I was working on it I couldn't seem to get it to work out how I wanted so I drew up some more concepts. I'm really loving on the one the bottom right so I think thats the one I will take to finish.
Redesigned my champion so the robes had a better feel. And I wanted to go for something that made me think more "queen of narnia" for a warrior of the earth.
Rough sketch! Leaving out a lot of elements at this stage so I can just focus on the character.
Blocked out the colors of the background and realized I didn't want the character dead center. That may help or hurt me but commit! Started doing some rendering on the skin and blocking out the colors of the hair.
Laid down more colors and started rendering the dress some.
So I've been so caught up in the "war" aspect of art war that I realized I was stressing myself out. I must have have drawn and done at least 10 more concepts trying to capture the true feel of "art war" but I realized in doing so I was drawing from a lot of things that just wasn't my style or part of my "brand". I was fully committed to walking away from this challenge but if I did that I would regret it all year. So I decided to try one last time. I listened to some music and pushed myself to not think but to just draw the sort of piece that was true to me and that I could have fun with. So here is my final concept for the challenge. I will be working on this for the rest of the month to hopefully present by deadline Wish me luck
This is definitely an improvement over your previous composition. The low camera angle is more interesting visually, and the choice of colours harmonise more with your champion's regal appearance. Sometimes you just have to approach a challenge in your own way. You can do it. Good Luck! ^^
This looks great, and it's nice to see your development through all your iterations. The only problem i can really see with your most recent composition is that she isn't attacking or defending (or doesn't appear to be) but either way it looks super promising!
Ahh, you've got a point there about the lack of attacking/defending. Should be easy to fix though. Maybe form a shield around her or summon projectiles.
This looks so pretty. You could check out the painting The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, it kinda gave me the same vibe. Keep going, this is looking very promising and the colors so far are very beautiful!
I'm FINALLY truly happy about one of these. I have a lot more work to do on the background but this is where I am so far. Ideally I didn't want to spend too much time on it to start but I plan to have like a flood of spirits rushing from the swirl of magic. Almost similar to the bat demons from Anastasia
Just about finished with the base of the background. I want to add some more decorative embellishments a la baroque style later but right now I'm just concerned about getting everything shaped out and having the core done so I can start focusing on the character.
Finally rendering the character out now. I still have more work to do on the background but I just want to get the core done.
Render render, fiddling with the colors and planning out shading on the flowers. Started blocking out color on the dress.
