[Riot Creative Contest 2017] Lieutenant Riven Splash Illustration
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Hello everyone! This is my entry for the Riot Creative Contest 2017.
My name is Radoslav Topalov and I am new to the forum. I just heard about the contest a few days ago and thought this would be a great occasion to practice on my illustration skills and finally join the Polycount community.
I will be doing an illustration of Riven. I wanted to come up with my own skin for this one as an exercise and also because I just love designing characters. I figured exploring a bit of Riven's backstory would be a great opportunity for that, so I decided to depict her as a young lieutenant in the Noxian army way back, before she decided to go in exile. Now I know this contest is all about execution and not so much about ideation, but I like to use every opportunity to come up with some story and design because its exciting.
My general idea for this piece is to show Riven leading a squad of Noxian soldiers into battle. I wanted a strong composition which serves to empower the main character as she is supposed to be a leader and her personality is one of a dedicated, uncompromising and fearless warrior. At the same time, I wanted to have a nice action packed dynamic pose, so the image doesn't feel too stiff. So what I came up with is a triangular composition with the character pretty much centred to emphasise power and stability, but then having her launching forward with her sword facing the camera to add some action and drama to the scene. Below is the initial rough sketch I came up with. I tend do leave my sketches quite loose to avoid getting bogged down with detail and getting precious about editing big sections later on.
When I decided I was happy enough with the sketch, I carried on with adding the first colour pass. Sometimes I do a greyscale value pass first but most of the time I like to jump straight into colour and figure out the values at the same time. I find this way of working a bit more intuitive and it helps me see where the image is going in terms of mood early on.I put some strong lights in the far background and then progressively darkened and greyed down the sky as it came closer to the camera. With this I wanted to suggest dark times coming along with the Noxian army and light and hope fading away in the distance. It also makes the lights in the foreground pop up a bit more. I also added a bit more foreshortening to Riven's sword to increase the depth of the image. I will try to illustrate the composition elements I have used below.
The main one was the big triangle formed by the whole group.
Since Riven's sword seemed to stick out a bit too much I thought I would try and balance it out with the soldier's sword on the right. Maybe it needs to be a bit bigger to pull more weight to that side of the image. Tweaking the values later on will also help with that, Riven's figure itself forms another triangle which adds to the effect further.
Then I looked around for some big lines which would keep the eye
inside the image and not let it wonder off outside the frame.
My next concern was to try and keep the viewer's eye going back to the main character. I used a couple of curves and straight lines to see if I can do that.
I also wanted to make sure there are some lines leading towards her face which is always a focus in a character illustration.
Here is a clean version of the image so far. I am sorry for the big composition rant.I think analysing my work like that helps me see a lot of things that I can improve on. I hope some of it makes sense at least. Thanks a lot for looking and reading and good luck to all contestants!
Replies
Great so far, esp the face.The face is soo good.
Anyways uspeh
Thank you guys! I will try to keep more notes as I go, I am glad you find the process interesting!
Thanks! Yes was planning work on the face a lot more and in the same direction that you mentioned. I tend to work out a lot of stuff on the go when I paint and most things go through a lot of transformation after the general colour and values are laid down
Thank you very much for your support everyone! I really appreciate it
Thank you, guys! I glad you find the process interesting! I will try to keep more notes as I go
Thank you! I was planning to work a lot more on her expression in that direction. I tend to transform a lot of things on the go after the initial colour is laid down.
Thank you very much for the support guys! I really appreciate it
Thank you, guys! I'm glad you find the process interesting! I will try to keep more notes as I go
Thank you! I was planning to work a lot more on her expression in that direction. I tend to transform a lot of things on the go after the initial colour is laid down.
Thank you very much for your support guys. I really appreciate it!
Thank you guys! I will try to keep more notes as I go, I am glad you find the process interesting!
Thanks! Yes was planning work on the face a lot more and in the same direction that you mentioned. I tend to work out a lot of stuff on the go when I paint and most things go through a lot of transformation after the general colour and values are laid down
Thank you very much for your support everyone! I really appreciate it
Thank you, guys! I glad you find the process interesting! I will try to keep more notes as I go
Thank you! I was planning to work a lot more on her expression in that direction. I tend to transform a lot of things on the go after the initial colour is laid down
Looks extra hot, but I didnt recognize Riven , at first I thought that it is a some of LOTR inspired skins))
Good luck ^3
Also I agree that it's a bit difficult to read her as Riven. I'm thinking the sword isn't chunky and large enough to read as Riven's sword so it's throwing off the silhouette. Riven's sword is supposed to be almost as tall as she is.