[Riot Art Contest] - Soraka

refraction

Doing some gesture sketching - I want to spend proper time planning things out from the start because I always race ahead and make a mess of things :P

At first I thought something elegant with her standing and gesturing up to use her starcall ability, but she swipes her staff for that move so now im thinking something more dynamic like she just finished a big sweep of the staff.

refraction

Working out some pose issues

Rosendorn

really cool sketches! I like the standing pose where you can see a bit of her back and the middle one next to it (on the second sheet). You captured her movement very well. Looking forward to see you progress!

Kaninja

great dynamic sketches so far! My favourite is the same as Rosendorn's
I'm really looking foreward to see your next steps!

refraction

The standing poses eh? I guess she's a more elegant character and could be posing gracefully like those.. but I really want to try something more dynamic with this low pose. Maybe I'll have time for both?

A friend mentioned that what I have now reminds them a lot of Nidalee illustrations, she's always low to the ground like that - http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Nidalee_0.jpg

Been a busy week, haven't had much time to work on this - roughing in some environment and composition ideas

blue_skies

Yeah, she does look a bit like Nidalee... and not that I'm not guilty of drawing something like this myself, but I've seen this pose a ton in the last few days. Mostly though, I don't think it's representative of Soraka's personality.. however, I think that pretty much all the standing poses you did are much closer to her character (particularly the second one where she looks like she's casting something). To me, seeing a low to the ground kind of ninja stance like this tells me that the character is a very athletic, agile, probably close quarters or hand-to-hand fighter... and Soraka is none of these things. Though she's a bit tankier and more aggressive these days, at core, she's still a caster and a healer.

...ANYWAY! Just some thoughts to keep in mind as you work on this. Your drawing skills are absolutely fluid and lovely, I just think you've gotten ahead of yourself without possibly thinking through the character as much as you could. Hope this helps.

Odow

I do agree with blue_skies. Soraka is that soft healing mage who pray the stars and everything. Even if she's a goat think of her as a lady, a lady wouldn't stand like that a beast or a ninja would.

refraction

lol at "She's a goat" haha. Alright, you guys are totally right, she should be doing something elegant and lady like. I should have more time this week to work on it but think I'll be going with one of the poses with her back twisted towards the viewer - I like the one where she's on one foot because it's more dynamic.

Some of the other standing poses:



And the ones I like:

kittkatx

looks good I really like those last two poses, maybe you could mix them together a little even? like have her falling away but reaching up like the one on the right? that kind of pose would remind me of like how the bananas always get you at the last second xD

(if that even makes sense at all??) sorry I'm sick atm and am confusing myself a little :S

refraction

Haha idk what you mean by bananas, hope you feel better!

K trying to figure out some colours, shes cool blue/purple colour so I figure she should be against a warm background. All the current splash screens for her have pretty simplified backgrounds so I'm going to simplify too.

One of the legit splash screens also has her in a low action pose like my first idea, could have gone with that probably. I'll try to put more time in this week and maybe Ill be able to do both by the deadline. - http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Soraka_3.jpg