_{"She fought for hope... until hope abandoned her."}

Hello Splinterlands summoners! Today I bring you one of the most tragic and imposing figures in the game: Heloise the Hollow, the warrior who once led the Dawnbringers and ultimately became what she feared the most. My goal with this piece was to capture that exact moment when everything breaks—when a hero, marked by loss, decides to embrace the darkness.

🩸 SHADOW MAGIC BORN OF SACRIFICE

I wanted her pose to convey immense power, but also an unbearable pain. The shadows pouring from her eyes represent a soul that has seen horrors and endured too much. She’s not a villain out of malice—she’s the echo of a desperate choice. A warning.

🧠 TOOLS USED:

Photoshop (as always, my digital salvation).
Brushes: my trusty brush pack, with a few new ones featuring glitter effects
Soundtrack: The Death Of Peace Of Mind by Bad Omens — the perfect theme for this character
Resolution: 3500 x 2000 px

_{(Thanx to @splinterlands for such intense stories to illustrate! Read Heloise the Hollow
's lore here)}

⏰ CREATIVE PROCESS

✏️ Phase 1: Sketch & Lineart

From the moment I started sketching, I knew this would be a time-consuming piece. Just look at the number of layers I had to build to position the character perfectly in front of the camera. And “perfectly” might be an overstatement—there was always room to improve. But I managed to get Heloise facing forward with a well-structured armor layout.

🎨 Phase 2: Base Colors

You know the routine by now—first comes the Pen Tool. I used it to meticulously separate each component of the character into its own layer, which is always my go-to method for keeping everything organized and manageable. This time, though, the armor was particularly intricate. It had a lot of overlapping plates, layered textures, and tiny details that needed to be outlined with care. It took a while, but I know from experience that investing time at this stage saves me tons of frustration later when I start painting. Once the structure was laid out, I moved on to rendering her skin. I was especially proud of how her abs turned out—it’s one of those small details that brings so much personality to the character.

🌗 Phase 3: Darkness & Atmosphere

I started refining Heloise’s armor piece by piece, aiming to show it worn and battle-scarred. Then I moved on to her hair, thinking: "Once I’m done with this, I’m almost finished!" Foolish me. Still, I worked hard to detail the strands individually, painting lock by lock on separate layers to keep full control.

🌟 Phase 4: Magic Time!

Something I’ve always loved—and hated painting—are octopus tentacles. That’s actually what drew me to paint Heloise. Maybe with one more day I could’ve rendered the tentacles how I truly wanted, but no way was I going to stretch this project any longer—it took me a week! I tried to merge the tentacles from her magic with her dark sword to amplify her powers. And those glowing white runes? That’s where I wanted the viewer’s eye to go, so I made sure the purple lighting was striking and vivid.

One last detail: the black bands around the final piece. I borrowed that from the artist fanfoxyya, who uses them to make the character stand out. I did it... because I didn’t want to paint the background anymore 😅

Yes, I love how it turned out—but it was many hours in front of a screen. My back will thank you for every upvote or comment this piece receives!

And that’s it… another fallen soul joins my growing collection of Splinterlands fanart.
Enjoy the GIF (Fair warning: the file's a bit heavy, so patience appreciated! 😉