El's Canvas

[El]

First post for my first SL character: Gao Lynn! Self-proclaimed monster zoologist.

My attempt at a portrait for him to use as my forum PFP:

Initial sketches:

And also my mood/inspiration board! (All rights go to their respective owners of all these images. Only a veeeery small handful of them are actually mine.)

[Emily]

It's Gaaaaaaaaaaao!

[Sav'saaba]

Woof! Gao my man, let's go hunting. The face paint is such a neat little touch and throwback to the bokoblins. You managed to make a coherent design out of that moodboard, I can definitely see the inspirations coming back in Gao. Super cool!

[El]

Did some repainting of Gao as some stuff was bugging me. Probably harder to see the 'genuine colours' of his palette now because of the influence of lighting and wanting to make things look more punchy, but ahwell

The OG (left) vs. a plainer BG version I'll probably be using in posts

[AmJanky]

I like the more cell shading look of this new iteration! And the warm lighting gives it a Lurelin sunset-vibe. *chef's kiss*

[El]

Thank yooou~! 🥰 Likening the backlighting to a Lurelin sunset was never my intention but I love that!

[Emily]

The gold goes really well with Gao's complexion and general vibes. I think the introduction of the lighting and background looks great, and if anyone wants to see the original colouring and lighting work, they can always look at the other post =P

[El]

Thank yoooou! I'm glad other folks think it matches well too (And true! 😆 There is a whole 'paper-trail' of him at this point.)

[El]

Some portrait art of Ciel!

[Emily]

Wow, what an enchanting look. I love the colours you use, blues and violets are always really interesting, and add to the mysterious, magical vibe Ciel has going on. Excellent work as always =D

[Sav'saaba]

Ciel looks positively ethereal, very pretty. <3 Your colour choices are always so nice, and I really like that you upped the saturation on the terminator between the shadow and light, that adds a lot of visual interest. Ye gods, look at the filigree and frills and the haaaaaaair, damn, that must have taken time! ;n;

And the Gao edit, I can see why you went with this, even if the original was fine as is, this gives it just that little bit more punch. I have to draw this burly beefcake some day, because what's not to love about him!

[El]

😭❤️ Thank you both for all the kind words and compliments! I'm happy that I  managed to capture Ciel's vibe effectively! (She'll actually be getting an edit eventually too - this portrait - but I'll do that right at the end for everyone AFTER I've done one final illustration... 👀 complete the line-up and all that.)

You are correct though, Saba, the lineart took me a LONG time - I got super absorbed in the scribblesauce 😂 Many a noodlings happened. Probably more evident if I turn off all the colour layers:

Also- I would LOOOOOVE to see you draw Gao one day!!! Though it makes me really happy that you like him enough to even want to to begin with 🥰

[LuckyBlackCat]

Wow both of those are amazing! Such smooth lineart, and great use of varying line thickness, conveying light and shadow with or without colour. Speaking of colour, I definitely like the Gao picture with the warmer palette best! Looks like he could be sitting by a fire surrounded by Bokoblins lol.

Loving the level of detail on the Ciel pic too, and the way the reds and golds contrast with the colder colours. Really makes the eyes stand out. And all those frills must have been a nightmare to draw, but worth it!

You going to draw your newest character?