Commission - Aurora (Patreon)

Note: the first/featured image in this gallery is the full-size version of this piece! It's Very big-- around 14" across. The last image in this gallery is the piece at 30%-- a much more manageable size.

A rather complicated recent commission! The commissioner asked for their dnd character sitting at a campsite under the Northern lights, carving a little gnoll figurine (aww). I sent them a couple pictures I found on google showing the kind of perspective I was thinking of using in the drawing, then did a couple of rough sketches for them to choose between. From there, I refined the various parts of the background and the character, trying to keep the colors and lighting harmonious.

This picture had a lot going for it to test my skills: nighttime, snow, the aurora, the perspective. The second-to-last image in the gallery shows how I arranged all of the many reference images I used. I can see areas where I can improve the next time I tackle a scene like this, but I think I did all right-- and the commissioner is happy with the final piece, which is really what matters the most.

The name of the inking brush I used is written at the top of the screencap with all the reference pics in it; I did that at some point so that I wouldn't forget which brush I was using. All of the brushes I used in this piece (apart from my old pal the classic photoshop default variable opacity hard-edged round brush) are from Kyle Webster's various brush packs, which I highly recommend.