[Riot Art Contest 2017] Spectral Fiddlesticks splash art

Nilefar

Hi ya'll! 
This is my first ever art contest that i'll be participating in so I'm very excited to give it my all and try my best
What I thought I'd be doing is redoing the splash of a champ I love, Fiddlesticks. I might or might not rework his design a wee bit, but I'll still make sure to stay true to his original design only changing some minor things.

I'll be uploading my first batch of wips when I have a few thumbnails done

Nilefar

This is the thumb I landed on, and I decided to change to doing a splash for spectral fiddle instead of original fiddle.

MadameDaFunk

Nice  it feels on point ,  try to put it in a grid and set a point of view go for it and go on loading some really good stuff for us

Nilefar

Tried changing some things with the comp and I think I like this a little bit more. The first one I posted felt a bit too flat with having him in profile rather than engaging with the camera some what. 

Nilefar

MadameDaFunk said:

Nice  it feels on point ,  try to put it in a grid and set a point of view go for it and go on loading some really good stuff for us

Thx I'll try my best

Nilefar

Here's where I'm at currently, though I feel like this is too similar to his default splash, so I'm gonna go back and try a few more ideas before I decide on whether or not I want to keep this as my final comp.

MadameDaFunk

i really like the fact that you can get back and re-do it , go man !!!!

j.culp

Liking your sketching style a lot, very clean and easy to read.

Fiddlesticks is looking great, good likeness and strong composition. Excited to see what other sketches you may land on.

Nilefar

Here's where I'm at currently, have obviously added color and changed his silhouette a little bit to reinforce that he's spectral and added some more story telling elements to not have the image feel so empty.
Not too sure if I like the vibrant green on fiddle so I'll probably end up either making it more blue or de-saturate it a bit.

Innocent_Prime

Hello Nilefar!
Nice sketches so far.
You said the one you are currently going for is a bit similar to his default splash. Maybe you can post your thumbnails to get some inputs.
As for the light, i agree with you. To my mind when working lights it's easier to have a darker background and drawing with the brush in color dodge mode (not the layer), this way you will already have a range of color and a more spectral light.

Nilefar

Innocent_Prime said:

Hello Nilefar!
Nice sketches so far.
You said the one you are currently going for is a bit similar to his default splash. Maybe you can post your thumbnails to get some inputs.
As for the light, i agree with you. To my mind when working lights it's easier to have a darker background and drawing with the brush in color dodge mode (not the layer), this way you will already have a range of color and a more spectral light.

Hey buddy! Glad to see you here, your submission is looking great so far.
I'll try using color dodge, sounds like a good idea
I attached some other possible comps that I did today, don't have the initial one's I did before starting on this one unfortunately.
I like the middle one so I was thinking of doing some variations on it and possibly continue work on it and then decide between the current one and the newer one.

4paulpaa

awesome dynamic compositions!!

Innocent_Prime

Heya!
That was fast!

1. I like the strong composition. It remind me some propaganda posters with Fiddlestick as Uncle sam, birds as fighters airplanes and people as people. You just need Fiddlestick to say "we want your soul".
2. Happy harvesting! This one also remind me an old illustration. It was during the cholera epidemic in ottoman empire : this
Otto Dix can also be a nice reference if you choose this image. On the long run i wish you good luck with all those characters to draw.
3. This one appears more comic with fiddlestick stuffing his tongue into infortunate throats.
Fun detail: Your character is left handed.

Cheers!

Nilefar

Thanks for the words of encouragement
Did a quick material study to try and figure out how I'm going to paint Fiddle himself.. It's gonna be tough lol

Nilefar

Where I ended today, liking the direction where this is going, was definitely a good idea to go back and re-do the comp. 
It has a lot of tangents though that I'm gonna have to fix

Nilefar

Got a crit saying that the focal point appeared to be the lads in the bg, so i did i quick mock-up of how i'm probably gonna have everything placed, backround needs a lot of work so that's probably the next thing I'll start working on  

Nilefar

And here's a little re-design sketch, wanted the design to look more like a ghost 

Nilefar

Update, not much has changed but I've obviously added color and moved a few things around

Silvarspark

Since spectral fiddle is glowing , adding another lightsource into the picture seems unnecessary. That also means he's going to be the brightest and most saturated thing in the image and that his glow will likely shine into the rest of the colors.
Also, adding peeps should be secondary to presenting fiddlesticks. He is the focus, he needs to look good. When that stands, you can add people. Personally I like the idea of just putting him in a graveyard with noone around.

Nilefar

Silvarspark said:

Since spectral fiddle is glowing , adding another lightsource into the picture seems unnecessary. That also means he's going to be the brightest and most saturated thing in the image and that his glow will likely shine into the rest of the colors.
Also, adding peeps should be secondary to presenting fiddlesticks. He is the focus, he needs to look good. When that stands, you can add people. Personally I like the idea of just putting him in a graveyard with noone around.

Hey buddy thx for the gr8 feedback, really helpful
I made some changes after your crit and I think it's working better now

Nilefar

Last post (i think) before the final submission. Haven't felt like posting just because not much have changed, only some rendering and small adjustments. Hope everyone's submissions are going good

Nilefar

Here's what I've decided will be my final version
Learned a ton doing this and happy I could participate, best of luck to you all with your submissions!
Thanks for having me!