This time Radaquest's fan art is for an artist I'm a fan of 😊

Today is a special day because two things have come together that rarely happen. First, it's the first time I've created an illustration with good results while still preserving the outline. Second, today I had the opportunity to paint a character designed by an artist I greatly admire.

From the moment I saw this character named Kira on Radaquest's Twitter, I had no doubt that @yanes94 was the artist behind it. Her style is very recognizable, and I've admired her art for years. I was thrilled to discover that she's now creating characters for Radaquest's coliseum. I couldn't pass up the chance to paint this character, even though it turned out to be quite a challenge due to the numerous details and adornments on her armor. I focused on painting her from the waist up, while Carmen painted the entire body twice!

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Tools:

Gaomon S620
Photoshop
Brushes courtesy of Imad Awan: Download here

🔰Process🔰

_Reference

-Step 1:

Kira has two large wings—one made of water and the other of fire. To achieve a more symmetrical composition, I centered the character on the canvas. I'm sharing only a sketch because sometimes I focus on the character's pose in the initial stages and don't draw all the details at once. However, this time, it was necessary to refine the sketch gradually. I didn't want to find myself halfway through the painting adding new adornments to her armor. So, I meticulously polished the sketch until I achieved a well-defined outline with all her elements.

-Step 2:

When applying colors, I primarily focused on filling in the shapes of the metal adornments on her armor, using the pen tool. I chose vibrant colors to demonstrate how I divided each area into separate layers. This approach allowed me to paint with greater confidence, ensuring I didn't accidentally ruin another section. Since about 65% of the character consists of metal elements and adornments, each with different lighting, I carefully worked on the color transitions.

-Step 3:

Of course, the metal of her wings isn't pink, nor is the halo around her head yellow. Once I had all the elements separated and clearly differentiated, I filled the shapes with a bronze color for the metal. From there, I added highlights, aiming to simulate how the exposed metal would shine under the brilliant blue weapon in her hand and the illumination from her water and fire wings.

-Step 4:

Typically, I leave anything related to magic in my paintings for the final stages. However, this time, I needed to establish the magic's light from her hand early on. It would significantly impact the overall color of the surrounding elements. Additionally, I wanted it to stand out more than the fire from her wing. So, I experimented with how bright this energy beam could be.

-Step 5:

Thankfully, the energy beam became the main focal point. If the wings had taken center stage, detailing them would have been a headache. I could have spent hours shaping the water and fire into feather-like forms, but I couldn't afford that much time. It would have detracted from Kira's body, which already consumed a lot of my attention as I painted each intricate detail. To add a more aggressive touch and convey a constant flow of water and fire in the wings, I applied a motion blur effect. I also elongated Kira's jawline slightly, as her face seemed a bit disproportionate to her body size. And yes, as I mentioned earlier, I left the outlining until the end. While it wasn't my initial plan, I managed to define those lines well. The thought of covering them all for the final result was already giving me a headache, so I made minor adjustments where the outcome looked too raw. In the end, I completed what is undoubtedly the most heavily armored woman in all of Radaquest.

Certainly! Here's the translation of your text into English:

Oh, by the way, something I had forgotten to mention is that as I noticed in the card, Kira always appeared with the same arm raised, while the other side only showed a long tunic sleeve. I thought she was missing an arm, but this is a magical world, so I found it more interesting to paint only bones in that hand. This gives a bit more meaning to her need to conceal it. @Radaquest team, tell me the story of why she hides her other arm.