Hey there, everybody. I hope you're doing well. It's that time of the week now, and I have chosen to draw Runemancer Kye for this week's Splinterlands Art Contest.
Runemancer Kye is a water element monster, so naturally, blue comes with her color palette one way or another. I'm not too good with color theory and what goes well with another, so I always try to mix and match to see what goes well with whatnot. But this case was a no-brainer since she has red hair and purple skin - y'know, the "red + blue = purple" thingie.
So, again, I took the original art's color palette and shifted the focus more on the red part by using a brighter and more vibrant variant of red, the one that is mesmerizing to watch. One thing I avoided doing this time was using too many white highlights in her hair. Because it's already a bright color, I felt like using too much white in it would make the entire image glow too much and kinda bad on the eye.
Anyway, this is it for this week's contest. Looking forward to your thoughts and opinions about this piece, so let me know what you think about it in the comments down below. Also, I added some notes here and there above and/or below each step, so if you're into figuring out more about how this piece was made, by all means, feel free to check them out.
Good luck to all participating in the contest, and I'll see you all in the next one... cheers
The Process
I first started off coloring with the three main colors I mentioned before. At first I didn't intend to use the bright red color for her hair - that's a thought that came later in the drawing processs.
Then I added the cyan gradient in the background, and that's when I realized it was feeling too dark in my drawing, so I modified the red to breathe more life into the drawing.
Then I added her facial colors and eye details. At first, using the purple in her eye felt somewhat off (especially since I added some shadow in her upper face to make her give out predator vibes), but then adding the white glows and highlights to her eyes made the result more beautiful and that's why I decided to keep it that way.
In the original art, she has these tiny spots on certain parts of her skin that make her skin look somewhat unique, like a signature trait from her race or something (aside from the odd purple skin color that she has). I thought it'd be cool to make them glow a little bit, so I used a bright white color on top of them to give off that feeling.
Just imagine she's approaching her prey in the deep, dark ocean, and the only thing that can be seen from a distance is parts of her body that are illuminated by the light from her staff's magic ball or the glowing parts of her skin that strike fear into the prey's mind.
The Result
And, I finished off by adding some glows and bubbles here and there in the background to give off a more positive vibe. The last step looked somewhat dark and gloomy, like it's at the bottom of the ocean, where everything is dark and scary - notice how this time we don't have sunrays coming from the top as usual, and that already is a minus on the scary meter.
Original Game Art
