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

[sparksofdawn]

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]

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

[sparksofdawn]

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]

You're welcome. Looking forward too see your progress

[sparksofdawn]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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!

[sparksofdawn]

Thanks It was definitely fun to work on this one (and there's still a step or two left). Good luck with your entry as well!

[sparksofdawn]

Ok, I'm finally done with the illustration! I added some more subtle atmospheric elements - some dust and some god-rays coming from the star on her back. The biggest change is the addition of more phoenixes behind her and some more details on the one in the foreground, because I realized the fog behind her was too undefined, compared to the rest of the image.

Now I'm gonna work a bit more on the character sheet and call it a day!

[sparksofdawn]

I'm done! I've changed the entry title to match my character (Let's face it, 'Queen of Sun and Spear' was quite the creative gem )
Here's the final character sheet (pretty minor changes but for completion's sake):

It's been a really fun challenge! A big THANK YOU to everyone who helped me with advice and encouragements! And good luck!

[lunasmoon]

Wow absolutely stunning!! I love the mood and action within your artwork. It's really cool to see your character not actually hold her weapon! Gives her so much personality.
Love it =D

[sparksofdawn]

Thanks a lot for the kind words!

[sparksofdawn]

Oook, after seeing some entries with images together in both the first and last post, I'm just going to play it safe
Final Images:

[kantan]

Wow ! Great painting ! but i think your background is to long

[sparksofdawn]

Thanks
As for the background, I needed the space to develop the two sides and the feeling of 'no real opposition before her', the sky's change of tone (signaling the darkness in front of her) and the eclipse (there may be only one sun at work :P) without them being crammed together. I tried a more square-ish canvas but it didn't quite work. And then again - thanks for the critique, it's always a good food for thought

[konhgard]

Great concept and lighting but I will have to jump on the bandwagon, the canvas is way bigger than it should be and hides the fine work you've done on the character.
Amazing vibe and spell effects though!