FINAL | ARTWAR 2 | 2D | Aurelia The Starforged | sparksofdawn

sparksofdawn 2018-02-04 17:58:20 UTC #1

Hi everyone! I'm thrilled to participate in the art war! Even though I'm joining (very) late, I'm going to do my best to finish my entry.
My character (after a long and gruesome internal conflict :D) will fight for the Light.
Name: Georgi Madzharov
Email: gmadjarov@abv.bg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Georgi.V.Madjarov (for personal use)
Website: coming soon, this is my first art upload (and it's a contest...impeccable timing on my end)

Idea: An ancient queen, faced with a superior enemy, prayed for help and a living star answered. With their minds and souls merged, immortal, they walk the world, purging it from all darkness.

Final Images:

sparksofdawn 2018-02-04 20:01:23 UTC #2

One of the first things that came to mind, when reading the topic, was the Sun and I decided to find a way to incorporate it in my concept.
At first, I started fiddling with the idea of deities linked to the Sun/stars. I scrapped that, as I felt the already established lore could be too restricting. Thus I started imagining scenarios in which to incorporate a star into the story. Here are some of my first sketches:

P.S. I've looked at some of the other entries and all I can say is - They're amazing ^^

sparksofdawn 2018-02-05 15:25:15 UTC #3

So here's a composition sketch and a color/mood test. Although I liked the composition at first, looking at the mood test, I feel like it doesn't really capture the feeling of royal annoyance at having an adversary. I want the character to have a rather 'oh, they're dead and you're definitely next' stern look, absolutely sure of herself.
Soooooo yeah - time for me to try some more things

colorido-medio 2018-02-05 22:30:11 UTC #4

This looks already awesome ... I can´t wait to see it when it´s finished!

sparksofdawn 2018-02-06 20:54:13 UTC #5

Here's the new composition. I feel it represents the feel of the character better. I was pretty happy with how it turned out as a rough sketch and decided to build it up to a rough illustration So now the rendering of everything awaits.
Also, I decided to change her hair a bit and remove the big pauldron on her left shoulder as it wasn't really adding to the design and felt strange in the new pose (the backpiece gives her a clear enough silhouette imo)

sparksofdawn 2018-02-08 09:12:32 UTC #6

I realized it might be a good idea to upload the composition thumbnails as well (after promptly forgetting to do it with the progress image for the illustration).
I felt the first one had the potential to capture what I was going for - overwhelming character with broken enemies (think of Pompeiian victims), so that's what I went with.
№5, however, also seems interesting with the allied soldiers. A combination of allies AND enemies, I think, is gonna be too cramped. Any C&C/advice are obviously welcome

deivcalviz 2018-02-08 16:05:38 UTC #7

just dropping by here.. Colors are great! I think the pose can be improved though.

I recommend making it a bit more dynamic. She can use her right arm to sort of have a magic casting pose as well. Right now her right arm is just too static and doesn't add anything to the image.

Be wary about her belts. Right now her torso is too long.

They are mostly anatomical issues. The best way to solve this is by taking pictures of yourself in that pose in the same camera angle. That will greatly help out I promise!

Keep it up! I'm really liking the feel of this character especially the star/sun behind her.

sparksofdawn 2018-02-08 16:25:40 UTC #8

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated
I've yet to include some of the dynamic visual elements (or rather yet to upload the version with them, working on it atm). Thanks for the belt/waist correction, bugged me as well, seems it nigh time to fix it.

sparksofdawn 2018-02-08 18:03:02 UTC #9

Here's the new progress image, fixed the positions of the head and waist (hopefully :D) and rendered out some of the upper body. Also added the effects on both arms.
I'm gonna think of different positions for the right arm, yet I kinda like the sense of a stroll in the park (mostly might make it a bit bent, as if she's winding up a sucker punch :D)

sparksofdawn 2018-02-11 21:25:58 UTC #10

Here's another progress shot, I'm kinda close to finishing the character. The hand with the hawk glove still feels a bit off, so there's that. I also decided to add some phoenixes to go with the hawk glove, to emphasize the fire/sun theme and to add some fitting minions - suggestions are welcome.
Afterwards I'm gonna work on the background and the character sheet (and hopefully finish by next sunday).

Tesat 2018-02-11 21:38:08 UTC #11

Nice rendering but the composition feels a bit empty because you have lots of space on the canvas.

sparksofdawn 2018-02-11 21:45:49 UTC #12

Yup, I still plan on playing around with petrified enemies (like Pompeiian victims) in front of her (like in the first illustration thumbnail), so that's gonna take up a bit of space but we'll see. In any case - thanks for the advice.

Tesat 2018-02-11 21:48:05 UTC #13

You're welcome. Looking forward too see your progress

sparksofdawn 2018-02-15 21:30:31 UTC #14

Almost a full (hectic) week later, I started working on the background and added the sketch enemies in front of her (who created some indeed very unfriendly tangents here and there, I'm still moving them a bit until they find their right places).

sparksofdawn 2018-02-16 17:37:51 UTC #15

Here's the almost finished illustration, just a couple of things left to tweak here and there, comments and critiques are welcome!
And now I've to do the character sheet, let's hope for a productive Saturday

sparksofdawn 2018-02-17 21:17:47 UTC #16

Here's the (hopefully) final character sheet, I might fix the face a bit... maybe.
Off to finishing the illustration!
As always (even at this stage :D) - critiques are more than welcome

sparksofdawn 2018-02-19 11:24:13 UTC #17

Ok, I redrew the face (it looked way off in the last version) and added some minor details here and there. Almost done now

Yeetaaaa 2018-02-26 17:18:36 UTC #18

Yo m8! Can you please help me? I was the one, who made this and i hope you can assist me with the lightning on my next picture since you gave me some pretty great ideas. Can you please tell me your method of taking care of lightning and mainly rendering, since mine is only works well if i can actually handle these stuff well enough. Thanks!

sparksofdawn 2018-03-02 20:40:22 UTC #19

Finally a supposedly final illustration update!
After being away from the drawing for a couple of days, I've given it a fresh look:
I've tweaked some details here and there, some values and lights/cast shadows and fixed some inconsistencies in the background. (Also, I tried making a third phoenix, emerging in the midground but it was crammed and didn't look good so I decided against it.)

Any comments/critiques are still more than welcome (we still have like 2 days, right?! :D)!

And a possibly stupid question - we are allowed to edit our character's names in the topic's title, right?

Yeetaaaa 2018-03-02 22:02:53 UTC #20

Wow! I really like how she turned out. She is like straight out of the Diablo III. I really like your style, and I think you have very nice chances of winning this competition. Good luck!