Holiday Illustration - Christmas Link (Patreon)

Oh, Christmas Link, oh Christmas Link...

Another installment in the "I spent longer to work on this piece than usual" series of works. By allowing myself more time on illustrations like these, I can produce them at a higher level of polish than you might usually expect from my quicker works.

It was good to draw a Christmas-themed illustration, since I really do so last year. One of the benefits of slowing down and planning something ahead of time is that I got to work on this before almost anything else this month.

I'd have liked to put a few more noticeable brush strokes in this piece, as something about it feels a bit too clinical at times. The rendering of the legs is the most natural-looking part of the piece, since you can tell that it was painted with a rough brush. The transitions of value (darks & lights) in the rest of the piece are really smooth, so they feel a bit artificial.

Included are a few additional variants for your viewing pleasure:

Various hair colours, a Ravio version (A Link Between Worlds), and a Moonshadow Elf variant (Netflix's Dragon Prince).

Don't forget to eat & sleep.