FINAL | ARTWAR 2 | 2D | Elven Sentinel Glynnaera | Meonika

[meonika]

Name: Natalie
Email: nata.meonika@gmail.com
Website: DeviantArt | Artstation | Instagram

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Hi guys! This time i entered ArtWar much earlier than last year. One goal is accomplished. And now i just need to draw my work

So my champion is an ancient elf Glynnaera. She's a former priestess and now a sentinel.

Here's her backstory.

Elves of the Silver Forest have got a legend of a sentinel Glynnaera. It happened long time ago, when there was a war with a dark magister Denyaros. The Tree of Ancestors was corrupted by demon's blood. After this the water in Forest Rivers got muddy and began to stink like carrion. All forest creatures got sick and mad. Animals were dying and plants were withering. And only a young elven priestess managed to get to the sanctuary, which was placed inside the Tree of Ancestors. She sat on a sentinel's throne and merged with the Tree's spirit. She heard not voices of her ancestors, but a furious roar of a demon. And here
began Glynnaera's battle with the forces of evil. With all her pure thoughts and care for her brothers and sisters she managed to defeat the demonic spirit. But Glynnaera was so exhausted that she couldn't get back to her body. So she stayed sitting on the sentinel's throne. Maybe Glynnaera joined her ancestors and her body remained only as a shell. Or maybe she merged with the Tree's spirit completely and got the most powerful creature of the Silver Forest.
This legend is over 800 years old. Some elves believe that it's just a beautiful fairytale. But others believe that there is a sanctuary inside the Tree of Ancestors, where their favorite sentinel is sitting. She sees everything that happens in the forest and protects it from an evil. And someday she will wake up and bring the light into this world.

[meonika]

Let's begin with a silhouette. I've picked something between 3 and 4.

And here's a sketchy design. P.S. Her clothes won't be transparent

[meonika]

Here's a lineart progress. I've mixed 3 and 6 variant. And this black scribble is her hair

[NicoK]

shes seems so sad : (. Its funny that from the pose our characters look kinda similiar but are completly different from the personality

[meonika]

Yeap. High elves don't smile a lot And she's got quite tragic destiny Hah! That's true. An expressive pose But i think she'll be sitting on the throne on my illustration.

[meonika]

More updates. Tried to choose colors for my girl
And i see there's a lack of characters of Light side

[meonika]

So my choice of colors is something like that. Next step's a bw render of the concept

[gavnarrr]

Great design. You should consider shaping her ears differently so that it's clear that she is elf from the silhouette. For example look at Warcraft's elves. Their ears stand out from the silhouette and you immediately know who that is. Really like your color choices. Overall the silhouette reads very well, except for the elven ears part. It's a minor change that could improve it dramaticaly.
Also, don't worry C: Good guys always win. (However i'm not really sure if light side is for good guys)

[innocent]

Absolutely Gorgeous! For the character sheet will you draw some sparrows putting some clothes on her, sleeping beauty style? I agree with @gavnarrr regarding the ears.
Worry a bit. Good guys tend to loose.

[meonika]

@gavnarrr @innocent Thank you, guys! That's a good note about ears. Though i'm planning to do her more like 'classical' elf. But yeah, different ears will make her more obvious elf. It sounds so weird I'll try to find a compomise between 'classical' and 'readable' elf
That's because Light side is a little more boring than Dark Good guys are just... good. And we need to draw either light or dark. The most interesting characters are somewhere in between

[grafik]

Very nice designs!

[meonika]

@grafik Thanks!

[meonika]

I'm here! And here's a bw concept of my girl. I can't wait to add colors! And also i need to hurry up

[snakebearer]

Perhaps you could work in some repeating of her head piece pattern on some of the other elements of the clothing? The pure white dress parts feel very empty and un-elaborate compared to your other design elements. Perhaps you could work something in there to make it pop a bit more?

[meonika]

@snakebearer thanks for your feedback! She's got similar pattern on her shoes and hmmm... on her chest. I don't know how should i call it Hope in same color all details will look more similar. And i'm planning to add more ornaments on her dress on the step of coloring, and also a turquoise gradient on the bottom of the dress. So it wouldn't be just a plain white dress. I hope so

[meonika]

Some sketches of a future illustration. That's all i could imagine with a girl sitting on the throne While i'm finishing the concept i'll be thinking about the illustration. So all your comments are really welcome

[snakebearer]

Perhaps you could push the storytelling in the piece by giving her some telling emotions on her face? From reading your description, something like being asleep or barely conscious compared to just arbitrary smiling could give it some more interesting and unique narratives.

[meonika]

@snakebearer Thanks! That's a good idea! Also i've been thinking about making her waking up. Like first seconds after the sleep.
And something more or less finished It's time to begin an illutration. I hope there'll be time to edit the concept.

[Tesat]

Looking nice. I think if she had a darker hair color it would look better because your color choice needs a little contrast.

[innocent]

@tbrk has a solution! Here is another: stay with low contrast in colour so that you have a very visible "white" silhouette. An interesting thing with white objects is they have a better volume readabilty. Then you can bring back contrast with strong light/shadow on her body and pin point some parts.