[Riot 2017 Art Contest] Aurelion Sol: Dark Star Splash Art
Hello there! My name is Nathan and
after thinking long and hard I decided on designing a new skin AND create a splash for
our favourite space puppy, Aurelion Sol. We've seen a few Dark Star
skins already, and what better way to honour our star's fall from
grace, than by transforming his ethereal being into a literal black
pit of salt! The thought of having the creator of stars and light go mad with
hate and longing for his freedom and control of his own power, to the point of corruption, it's frankly too hard to say pass to. I
will explore a few conceptual ideas and compositions to set the mood
and see what direction I want to go in before settling on a
design and keep going from there.
This is my first ever art contest that I will be joining, so I hope I'll be able to update
frequently and give it my all!
Replies
_______
Right so let's kick it off!
I had a few hours to spare earlier this morning so I got right to work.
First off, I started toying with a few basic shape ideas I had in mind to see where I want to take this. Although, I know what shapes and forms I want to try out next, I feel that the current concepts that I made did not fit within the themes of the Dark Star skins, however I can take inspiration from then when I continue working on the design later this evening. I'm going to be opening up his mid section and chest to play around with some dark matter or stars for the next ones as he feels more of a dragon with armor right now, rather than the destroyer of stars and the king of the singularity. I'm going to be aiming for a more atmospheric feel to his body and play around with more elements. As for his head I'm taking inspiration from the rest of the DS skins crew, I'm still working on more thumbnail options for the head as of now and trying out different shapes other than the square and boxy looking form.
Next off I have a few thumbnails I made to get into the mood, they're what made me want to design a new skin entirely instead of creating an illustration for his base design. Overall we're off to an okay start and I'll be updating this thread again as soon as I got more work on the design!
Update! Nov 11
_____________
Added a mood board for the colouring process. So far I'm not entirely satisfied with the design and colours tested, as noted down, it needs a little more detail work to make it more interesting to look at, but I want it to keep somewhat simple as to not overpower the overall form when I do add textures later on. Just needs a little bit more to make it POP! We're on the right path now I feel like. Hope y'all like it so far and tune in for the next update! Feel free to leave suggestions and tips, it's very appreciated!
_____
It's been a few busy months, so I have only been able to work on this every once in a while, but hopefully I'll have it finished in a few days. I changed the composition and initial values a bit so that Aurelion wouldn't be blending in with the background as much, rather than having the focus be entirely on the black hole he's summoning. See you in the next update! o/