[Riot 2017 Creative Contest] Bard, the Wandering Caretaker

El_Sordomudo

Hello, everyone!

I'm Adrián Hernández, aka El Sordomudo, a spanish artist. I'm gonna do an illustration about Bard, my favourite champion, just reimagining his splash art. I got some thumbnails and some work about the details. I want to change it a little bit, I still don't know how, but I will figure out. I'm gonna drop the images here, also I used to stream and I think I'm gonna go back to it for this challenge.

Hope you guys like it and if you can, give me some strong feedback; I'm just a student.

LAST UPDATE!! FINISHED




                                                 



EDIT 2: I put together all photos so the post is readable.
              
EDIT: forget to upload this one




Thank you!

El_Sordomudo

I've been working some on digital now. I really like the 2nd composition, quite more dynamic and 'Bard-style', hitting quick and hard, relentless. Working on some shapes and values, wanting to search a color palette soon.

El_Sordomudo

Hey guys!

I make some progress, learning about line and AO (I'm pretty bad at AO atm). Line ready and AO unfinished.






I'm gonna try to finish AO this week. Having a lot of fun with this project.

El_Sordomudo

Hey, there!
I've streaming today some of the AO, I restarted it, I really don't like it (was horrible). You can see me here:
I'm liking the result and I'm gonna continue this way.
Hope you like it!!

El_Sordomudo

Hey guys!

I'm finishing my exams, so I expect to paint, draw -and stream- more. Today I did some hair, added the little thing on the head and added some color too, but this may change, just some testing. I may change something in the illustration too (maybe some detail).
Hope you're liking the progress!

El_Sordomudo

Hey there!

I'm continuing the process, now with some color. I'm struggling with the work flow, but I think i started to get it right. When i got the base, I'll polish more, maybe write a little story for the image. I know, the image itself must tell the story, illustration it's about that. but It doesn't hurt anyone, right?


I wanted to change some things in his design (I love it, but). His instrument and the materials of his face and horn are metallic, more smooth, but his instrument is more organic because It's where music comes from. I take ideas from original Bard concepts.

I want a high contrast piece, like Bard itself: metal/wood, light/darkness, not bad vs. good, only flow in its being. I hope I can bring to life my thoughts ^^

Hope you like it!

El_Sordomudo

Hey!

Happy new year everyone. Today I've been doing some painting and here's the next step!

Rough background sketch and glowy, shine effects. Maybe I went too far, I'll see.Done some of the beard/hair thing, more light effects on horn and face and i begun with the arms and rest of the body which I want to stay dark.
Do you like it? Any advice?

Thank you very much!

El_Sordomudo

Couldn't upload the image ("

• You have to be around for a little while longer before you can post links.

") and I can't edit, so... any help please?

El_Sordomudo

El_Sordomudo said:

Hey!

Happy new year everyone. Today I've been doing some painting and here's the next step!

Rough background sketch and glowy, shine effects. Maybe I went too far, I'll see.Done some of the beard/hair thing, more light effects on horn and face and i begun with the arms and rest of the body which I want to stay dark.
Do you like it? Any advice?

Thank you very much!

Hope I can post Images now

El_Sordomudo

El_Sordomudo said:

Hey!

Happy new year everyone. Today I've been doing some painting and here's the next step!

Rough background sketch and glowy, shine effects. Maybe I went too far, I'll see.Done some of the beard/hair thing, more light effects on horn and face and i begun with the arms and rest of the body which I want to stay dark.
Do you like it? Any advice?

Thank you very much!

Finally!, found the problem. Here's the progress from that day! Tomorrow I'll update with the next one.

enokone

I love the idea, though i would stray away from using the blacks so much, add some color to that shadow, that would complement the piece and make the detail in the shadow be the friend of the piece! Keep up the amazing work! 

El_Sordomudo

enokone said:

I love the idea, though i would stray away from using the blacks so much, add some color to that shadow, that would complement the piece and make the detail in the shadow be the friend of the piece! Keep up the amazing work! 

That's a good idea! I will look towards it. Tonight I will load the BG and the continued piece. I think I got 2 more process to finish.

Thank you very much!

RaivynMoon

Apart from enokone's comment, which I completely agree with, I feel like there's not much variation in value on Bard's body, and too much of a difference in value between him and the background. It's like there's a lot of very bright and dark spots on the image overall, but not too much of soft highlights and shadows. I'm not sure if I'm saying it in a way that's easy to understand, sorry about that! I hope it helps, good luck!

El_Sordomudo

RaivynMoon said:

Apart from enokone's comment, which I completely agree with, I feel like there's not much variation in value on Bard's body, and too much of a difference in value between him and the background. It's like there's a lot of very bright and dark spots on the image overall, but not too much of soft highlights and shadows. I'm not sure if I'm saying it in a way that's easy to understand, sorry about that! I hope it helps, good luck!

Yeah, I understand. There's high contrast and no midtones at all. I'm gonna upload the next one, but still got 2 more to go (I think). I'm gonna try to fix that, definitely a problem!

Thank you!

El_Sordomudo

It's here! I did it a week ago or so, background and more FX and details. I agree there's TOO MUCH contrast, more that I wanted to, so I'll try to fix that issue next days.

I wanted to make Bard more metalic in some ways, more cosmic, but its music more organic (maybe inverting the sounds in-game? dunno). I redimensioned the scale and make it more suitable for the whole frame,

Hope you like it, and if you can give more feedback so I can improve, better!

El_Sordomudo

Final piece! Lowered the contrast, but I don't really know how to continue it, so it's finished! (For my level, of course) Hope you like it! I post some overlay images too.

Final image



Loading screen



In-game



I really enjoyed this contest and this project as my own personal challenge and I like it, learned a lot. Love all the illustrators in Riot (Especially Suke ^^)

El_Sordomudo

InnocentDeaths said:

I think the saturation is a little too high, but it looks great! lots of energy in the piece.

Yeah, I managed it as good as i could ^^' Thank you!