Kelp Initiate | Splinterlands Weekly Art Contest - Week 185

Hello Splinterlands Community and Fellow Hivers!

Welcome to another Splinterlands Weekly Art Challenge!

I am back after a week-long break. I was away because of a holiday here in the Philippines. My sketch and outline are already done last week but I was too busy to finish it. So today, I finished it and will show you my fan art.

My chosen card for this week is Kelp Initiate. I really like this card because it is really useful especially in a low mana cap and some rule battles. Even without attack, it has 5 speed and 5 health at level 1.

Without further ado, let us start!

Application/Material Used:

• Desktop
• Medibang Paint Pro

Character Reference

Kelp Initiate Lore

Sketch

In my computer, I used Medibang to make a simple sketch. I imagined it having a close up look so you would notice that I did not draw the full tail. For the posture, I flip the reference's image horizontally and tried to draw it facing forward.

Outline

After doing the sketch, I proceed to the outline for a cleaner look. I used pencil brush to make the outline. I also added the small details like the tattoos, eyes, mouth and earrings.

Color

For the base color, I used the color picker tool to select the colors from the reference. I separated the skin, frills and tail in different layers.

This time, I tried coloring it without using bucket tool or fill. I used pen brush with thick setting so I can have a solid colors. I colored it manually going over the outline and erasing the excess. I did this while simultaneously turning on and off the outline.

Shadows and Lights

Skin	Tail	Frills

I did the shadows and lights simultaneously. Using the separate layers for the skin, tail and frills, I put clipping mask on each so I can work easily.

I used a darker tone of the skin to made the shadow and define some parts like the abs, pecs and the depth in the arms. I used white and turning the opacity a bit lower for the lights and blend it using airbrush.

Same thing I did for the tail and frills.

Extra Reference (Eyes and Mouth)

One more thing, I forgot to make the eyes and mouth so while doing the shadow for the skin, I added it as well. Somehow I got a bit of a problem. I cannot make the face more human-like because of the mouth. Then I remember a character from Hellboy that is almost similar. I opted to make Kelp Initiate's mouth because I cannot do it right. I used the image below as my reference for the eyes and mouth.

Background

First thing I did is make a separate layer for the background of course lol. Then I used airbrush to paint the sea floor and the water. I used the base colors for this and blend it.

Next, I search on google how a kelp really looks like underwater. Then, I draw a kelp looking plant using pencil brush with low opacity so it looks a bit blurry.

I added some more on the sides. I don't know if you can notice it. Using tapered pen with low opacity as well.

I drew this last set of kelp. I made a separate layer for this one because I want it in front of the character. I put shadows and lights on it as well.

Output

After making the background, I put the character on it. I noticed that it is a bit lacking and some colors overpower the other. So I make some adjustments.

Final Output

For final output, I made two because I keep putting details lol.

On the first image, I adjusted the frills and the kelp to make it look like almost transparent by lowering the opacity. I also airbrush some black on very low opacity in front to have a vignette effect. I also added my name on the bottom right.

On the second image, I feel like it is still lacking. So I made another layer for the bubbles. I also added a stroke of light using airbrush.

And that's it!

I hope you like it! 😄😄😄

Feel free to comment 😉

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