FINAL | ARTWAR 2 | 2D | Eryl the Hidden Guardian | clarief

clarief 2018-01-08 06:42:55 UTC #1

Name: Clarissa Ferguson (Clarie F.)
Email: ferguson.clarissa@yahoo.com
Website: https://www.artstation.com/clarissaferguson
@Twitter: N/A
@Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clariesartpage/

Okay, guys! I am finally finished with both the concept sheet and the final illustration! I am so nervous, but thank you all for your feedback and motivation. I think being around such a nice and helpful community really encouraged me to keep going. I felt more accountable for my progress and I didn't want to let anybody down. I hope everything looks okay and that I followed the instructions correctly! Again thanks everyone for your helpful advice and comments, this was really fun to do! <3 <3 <3

EDIT: Feb. 27, 2018: So, since the deadline is in March, I had some time to look through my work and see if anything needed changing, plus I received some really helpful feedback on things they noticed too. Enjoy!

Concept Sheet

Final Illustration

My first original post below:

Hello everyone! My username is Clarie F. but on the forums, for some reason, it is ferguson-clarissa, so I hope no one gets confused! Anyway, I wanted to try and enter the contest with a character I am working for the light-side! Eryl a humble guardian lol.

I am still trying to figure out what I want for this character, but I want his personality to be confident yet still humble. Strong composure and assertive! An ancient being from a long time ago, possibly one of the last few of his kind, peacefully trying to his life among the humans, never wants to a part of any conflict...not after what happened to his kind. However, this war was too massive for him to ignore and he needed to sacrifice peace to defend his new home.

So, here are a few concepts I had in mind that I really wanted to draw out, I am still not 100% on colors, or outfits (I apologize if they are really rough looking outfit designs) but hopefully everything will be resolved in later sketches.

Even his weapons I was unsure about, I think a sword is a very common weapon, so I wanted to experiment with other things like metal cards, or marbles, or a belt that turns into a weapon of some kind. Since he is a peaceful type character, I don't want him to be actually carrying visible or obvious weapons since he doesn't want to use his powers to hurt anyone, but in this war, he has no choice!

I hope I followed the rules correctly, if not please let me know XD. Thanks guys! What do you think so far?

Anatomic 2018-01-08 06:58:41 UTC #2

nice sketches! your style is really neat and your process is solid

clarief 2018-01-08 07:07:30 UTC #3

Thanks! I'm glad these came out okay XD, I feel like these sketches came out kind of rough but I do try to be as clean as possible in the beginning.

kabochacreates 2018-01-08 10:06:15 UTC #4

Love your concept - light radiates from the inside ! Looking forward to seeing your final piece!

rgdraw 2018-01-08 11:29:01 UTC #5

This looks interesting, can't wait to see more !

mdashow 2018-01-08 13:21:49 UTC #6

Great sketches so far! I especially like the face and all of the hair-styles. Looking forward to seeing where you take this. Good luck and have fun!

clarief 2018-01-11 02:45:09 UTC #7

Hello guys! I am not sure if this is the right way to do it, but I made some new little doodle ideas. I liked some of the ideas that I had in the first little layout of what I wanted. I apologize for all the black and white stuff, I usually start this way heavily before moving to colors. So I tried to render out some of the ideas I like here. As for how he uses the cards, I was trying to see how he could. He could put his energy into the cards (or even any other object, but he prefers his magic cards). He can make shields, use his cards as like magic shards maybe, and probably do other cool things with them just my imagination right now is tired @.@ but if you guys have any ideas that would be cool!

rgdraw 2018-01-11 11:45:02 UTC #8

Looks nice! I like his true mode design
For the way he could use his cards take a look at Gambit from the Xmen and also Konan from Naruto she uses paper but that can give you more ideas maybe

mdashow 2018-01-11 14:39:16 UTC #9

Nice design work and the cards definitely give you a direction and focus. I agree with Robert, you should definitely look at Gambit, but not to get ideas from him but to make sure you don't inadvertently copy him and differentiate yourself as much as possible.

The glasses feel odd to me but that's because at the moment we have no context for the rest of his costume or temporal/spatial location. From your earlier costume sketches, I had assumed this would be a fantasy character, so the glasses feel out of place. If most of his costume looks contemporary than they definitely fit. If he comes off more as a fantasy character or a superhero then they might not.

As for process, absolutely no reason apologize for anything. It's not recommended to rush into color before you even have your design worked out. And there is no "one correct way" to develop a character. Some people start with story, some let the design dictate the story, some work from silhouette, some start with pencil sketches. And some people just start painting and evolve the illustration as they go. Just look around the other contest entries (you should!) and you'll see many different valid ways to progress. Yours seems perfectly conventional, no need to doubt if its "the right way."

Good luck!

clarief 2018-01-16 05:52:10 UTC #10

Hey guys! I am still trying to figure out his powers, however, one of my friends suggested adjusting his hair a little bit more and adjusting his look as well. So I did subtle changes to his appearance and then I started to work on his outfits more since I have something forming in my mind so these are more detailed sketches of the outfits designs that are floating in my head at least.

I wanted his appearance to represent how he is, he is leaning towards more of a fantasy character (maybe even scifi, based on some of the styles of the outfits, but definitely a fantasy type character. I wanted him to appear clean, wear kind of bright colored clothing, I wanted him to appear approachable, but at the same time he doesn't look overall goodie-goodie bubbly, he still looks intimidating. Plus I wanted his energy to like show even when he is wearing his outfit, so some of the styles I made show his energy, because I would think if his energy is glowing or shining brightly it might shine through his clothes (maybe even burn through his clothes) so it might make sense to have an opening for him. What do you guys think? Any thoughts are welcomed!

mdashow 2018-01-16 06:30:29 UTC #11

I love everything about #2: The curvy sinuous collar and neckline, the oversized cuffs, and the asymmetrical flap in the front. Plus is shows the chest, which fits in with your desire to show his energy even when his clothing is on. I also like 3, for a lot of the same reasons: The cuffs and asymmetrical flap and the exposed chest. It doesn't have the fascinating neckline of 2, but it is more white, which feels more on the side of light. (I love the black in 2 and how it contrasts with the white, though I wonder if it'll read as too Dark?)
Anyhow, some nice stuff in all of them, but the elements I like in 2 and 3 seem the most original.
Cheers, and good luck, whichever you pick

clarief 2018-01-16 07:21:12 UTC #12

I actually like both 2 and 3 too! I also liked 5, because the coat was more open so his energy could run free, but I think dressing more conservatively for him would make more sense. So, definitely might pick between 2 and 3. Or even combine them! I could take that curvy neckline of 2 and combine it with 3.

Also, you are right about 2 possibly reading too dark, another reason why 3 might be a winner for me. I also might change the pants part of 3 as well, but I don't know we'll see XD. Thank you for your comments! They were helpful

cammie555 2018-01-16 07:34:24 UTC #13

I love all of those outfits, but my favourite has to be #3. I really like how the light from his chest area seems to "seep through" #4's outfit. I really think there could be something nice to be done with that.

I'll be looking forward for more.

rgdraw 2018-01-16 16:17:24 UTC #14

I agree with @mdashow i really like 2 and 3 for the same reasons
Nice work! Keep it up!

clarief 2018-01-17 21:56:48 UTC #15

2 and 3 for the win then! I will focus on that design and see if I can make any refinements

clarief 2018-01-22 03:12:42 UTC #16

Woot! I did a few things today, I apologize if I am not posting enough >/< ! I feel like I need to make up for that by doing more concept exploration and such in my sheet. Down below show my color concepts and my composition exploration!

Anyway, here is my color concepts for his outfit (I combined 2. and 3 together so I think this might be the final design for him, I have been leaning towards the blue hues and tones for his outfit because blue I think is a friendly color, and it is also a calm and peaceful color. But I still experimented a bit with other color combinations too that would work for his character, but since his character is a calm/intuitive/observant type person I don't want a color that "screammssss" you know?

Down here are my composition ideas! There are a few that I like that have a nice direction, mostly the compositions where Eryl is trying to protect people. Creating a weapon in one hand and a shield with the other using his card powers. But what do you guys think so far? Which direction draws you more? I kind of like: 4, 6, 7, and 9.

Thanks guys for the flow of feedback! Really appreciated

thefrenchguydraws 2018-01-22 04:38:11 UTC #17

The top right corner color palette seems to work really well but it probably would need a pop of color to stand out like on the second one on the bottom. This is really good work!

rgdraw 2018-01-22 09:59:47 UTC #18

You're welcome!
About the colors I like the first and second one and the first of the second row
For the composition, "Back off" is cool, "Defense" is nice and "I had no choice" 1 and 2 are great
Keep up the great work

mdashow 2018-01-22 13:59:26 UTC #19

Nice compositions! I like all of them except 1 and 8. It looks like you cut out the bottoms of most of them... In some cases, like a mid-calf cut in 3, it feels like a decent place to crop, but in a lot of the others, cropping at the ankle makes it look as thought you just don't t like drawing feet. (Also, keep in mind we need to show at least 80% of our characters in the final illo.)
Good luck whichever you choose!

rel68 2018-01-22 14:06:42 UTC #20

My personal favourite would be 2 i think:) I can already see a nice flow to it. But it is a tough choice.