Name: Gregory Mack
Email: jwcmack@gmail.com
Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/gregorymack
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtCasl/
Twitter: @artcasl

Thanks everyone for your support and advice, this has been a fun project! Going forward I might start a regular thread as it was great for motivation and keeping me on my toes. With that said here is my final entry for the :sparkles: Cubebrush Art War 2! :sparkles:

Concept Sheet

Final Illustration


ORIGINAL 1ST POST
Glad to be entering again this year everyone!
Name: Gregory Mack
@artcasl
https://www.artstation.com/gregorymack

The idea of the Light vs Dark as a theme is great. I choose dark mwhahahah! My agent of evil is Joliet! A puppetmaster who turns her enemies into her treasured marionettes to manipulate, what's more her dolls keep all the abilities her victims had in life. Some say their very souls are trapped within in unending torment!

Here are my initial sketches when I was trying to nail down the characters mood/motivations.

I also have a timelapse of me working on it as a test of sorts! I will upload tomorrow morning though, now that I know everything is working with my OBS>AE workflow I'm going to go pass out...

Hey! Nice concept, I think you make it really spooky/dark/ creepy. Keep up the good work!

evehartman6h
Hey! Nice concept, I think you make it really spooky/dark/ creepy. Keep up the good work!

unbeltedsundew5h
I agree, great concept. Looking forwards to it.

Thanks guys! Just uploaded my recording now! You know it's funny when you just consume YouTube content you don't think of all the little things you have to build, like thumbnail, setup twitter etc. took more time than I realized to just test out my workflow ahah.

8 days later

Another Update! I've spent a while mulling over the character and trying to understand the characters 'feel' materials and mechanics wise. To give context I'm creating Joilet for an imagined MOBA, so three lane hero focused game play.

My initial reference was from victorian and school uniform influences, but I believe that's a little too narrow. Up next is a lot more iteration/exploration focused on clothing and facial characteristics!

Great concepts so far! Nice costume sketches too. I love the jacket and hair of the first one, and wonder how she'd look with the longer leggings of #2. The idea of varying her skin tone is interesting, but I don't know about making her a full-on puppet as in #3: It gets confusing if she's controlling the puppets and is a puppet! (Neat jacket, though - I love the parts that hang down past the skirt and the huge cuffs.)
Good luck whichever you choose, and have fun! :+1:

Thanks! Yeah the puppet was in fact my first go, but I felt the same, a little redundant and confusing to have her be a puppet as well. >.<

I think you should go with 5, looks great!

Update! I'm continuing on with the painting process as I feel my concept sheet is in a fairly solid place now. My game plan is to work from grayscale to color using gradient maps and a few layer modes.

As of now I am also recording my painting sessions so that I may stitch them together in AfterEffects and show a full timelapse of this entire process!