104 - Sketch of the Month - Top #3 (4) - Warmonger (Patreon)

This piece got finished after the Wisp, Valkyr and FemGhost works, made for the first Sketch of the Month, held back in 2022 December. I actually had a different (and most likely easier) idea for this drawing, but cuz of some discord chatings, my plans have changed.

Warmonger (from the "For Honor" game) received 2 votes from the overall polls next to 4 others, making her placed on the 3rd standing of the podium, and sharing a spot with Wisp.

As I've mentioned above, I had another idea for this project (maybe I'll do that later), but things happened, something like this:

I was a bit confident here, cuz on this day I finished my FemGhost sketch, and I knew I'd work on her next, and 3 days later I indeed started sketching and finished on the 5th day.

Obviously, I used that same SFM picture as a reference for the pose, mirrored cuz I liked it better this way.
Since Ubisoft's characters cannot be ripped out of their games, there were no available 3D model I could have used for helping in this. So I went into game and recorded some loadout checking out rotation movements. I kinda got a hang of it, magically. I think the only thing that I've changed on her desing on purpose was to bend/form her chest plate a bit, so it would have a slight shape of breasts... or you can say I just made it a bit wavy.

This drawing overall was quite of a challenge.
I also couldn't decide first what text I should add as some oneliner she's saying. Thought of the phrase "Who's your daddy?" and change it to "Who's your mommy?", but that's totally not my style and it's emberrassing imo (altho, I bet I'll get comments like that if I publish this.. so I kinda wanted to reference that in the drawing prior, that's why I thought of it). Later I was checking my reference folder for ideas for the actual dialogue, I had almost given up, then I found a similar text like the one I used.
I got the recommedation to say something like the "Wake the fuck up, samurai" kinda thing, but changing that phrase to fit for the game, I couldn't decide if she should have said "wolf" or "sheep"... then again, that's Apollyon's lines anyway...
Writting "sextoys" wouldn't have fit either, cuz... did they have something like that in the medieval times?... or "toys"? Anyways, I kept the simple "toy" word there to make the line short, so it would actually fit in the size of the drawing (without bothering the other details there).

I haven't settled with the "story" of the picture either. It definitely can be a threatening scenario, having her sword there. I imagine she's sitting on someone, and having that sword next to either the person's neck or torso (with a fast movement, she could use it to cut things with it. I imagine she could manage that while reaching to it with her other hand to make the slicing quickly). So yea, it's a tough situation.
Also she actually wears a "chain mail" skirt, but I couldn't make it look good. Besides, idk if it's only me, but this way it looks like her leg only has some plates and belts around, nothing else. I also added some bruises or stains around that opened part, so if someone sees the "pants" there, there'd be more details. But because of the way this is coloured, there's no way to tell whether she wears any pants or not. I'm okay with both variants. :]c

- The whole sketching/lineart part roughly took 3-5 hours to make, with all the check-ups, edits and re-drawings, not including the colouring. I kinda like how this was coloured, I was not holding back myself that much, not caring that I should keep the sketchy type this time. xd
- I used textures to keep the sketchy style tho. I think looks pretty neat. 8)
- Also, I usually make those strokes (aka "hatchings") at certain parts of the body in a bented angle. After seeing an art that was doing those lines vertically, I wanted to try it out aswell, so I did it on this.
- I was debating if I should go for a fav look of mine for her at first (Sabaktes), which I think is the easiest to draw out of all the characters in the game, but to have people easily(?) recognise her, I used the default look for this character instead.

- The pic did go under some photoshop editing, adjusting the contrast before getting to the final form(s).
- I did 2 basic versions of the pic where the character has different colouring, then the background is different aswell for both. I think I'll go for the very first drawing as the one that'll be public, the rest are just for showcasing here.
- Speaking of showing, that 4 bright variants near the end are the result of clicking on the "Auto Tone" in photoshop. I really like how that makes the whole picture look different and still look good and interesting (in my opinion).
- The very last picture in the list is the look I thought I'd go for, before the later experiments and adjustments. The background there is mostly one dark coloured. I especially wanted to keep the greenish look, cuz the character uses some poison in the game that's coloured green and shows up in clouds/steams around the character when it's ready to be used. So I wanted to stick to that characteristic trait. But then I found the more detailed background more interesting for the scene. Also the contrast that there's some white (and dark) behind the character, who's dark in the front, I feel like it makes the pic more dramatic, menacing, even threatening if I can use that word too.

Eventho the lineart took it's time, I'm satisfied how that came out. This work became just one example for myself, that makes me fear my own power of creating; I'm indeed amazed how this turn out.
and I kinda love it.

Also: Wow, I actually made another For Honor piece! :0 I'm glad I did it. B]