Dominant (Hi-Res)

A piece for Rakuenwolf of FA! A friendly spar between Jaredin and Ifrit to test their strength, one dominant against another. 

Jaredin!  What a good bean. Was an absolute pleasure to get to work with his big  robot dragon guy again. And while I haven't played Final Fantasy 16 yet  (i hope it comes to pc some day), I could not turn down a giant robot  AND a giant beefy fire eikon at the same time. c: This one was a bit  tough in spots, adding in some castle architecture and dealing with a  whole lot of red, but I'm very pleased with where we landed! 

Thank  you again to Jaredin for letting me work with you again! And thank you  to everyone for looking; I hope you all enjoy! Cheers!

And a bonus little WIP of my kobold monk. Playing around with painting and with brushes on this one.

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I recently got to catch up with Jaredin! Those who have been following me for a while might remember him from around 2017, doing a portrait, a big city mech, and a quick sketch of him with a minigun. He's an absolute sweetheart, and it's been great to hear from him again. When he enjoyed Final Fantasy 16 so much he proposed this idea to me, I knew I absolutely had to jump on it.

Red is so difficult for me to work with. Honestly, all warm colors feel awful in one way or another it seems, but man. It's very easy for me to feel overwhelmed with it, or for its saturation to feel splotchy or overwhelming. I think that mixed with me worrying and thinking about values and lighting more. There are some spots that I think I really enjoy, but there's a few spots that -- while I AM proud of it -- definitely show I was painting and repainting over and over at times.

I've had thoughts about my values and saturations on my mind a lot lately. You've probably seen it in other ramblings. I have a habit of making things very contrasted and, while I can sometimes rein it in and still make it look nice, it definitely makes things feel... I don't want to say "childish" but when I see other artists working with soft edges and careful bounce light and so on, it makes me want to try harder. So I'm trying to get there! Got a smidge better here, but gosh. It's hard to break habits!

Anyways, things have been tight still. Goolashe got his internship, but it's been stressful as he has come in during a chaotic time of the company. So just keeping our heads down, trying to keep things moving, keep things covered. I really appreciate you all sticking with me. Your support is greatly, immensely appreciated. I love you all. Thank you. I hope your Thanksgivings were good, if you celebrate, and I will see you again soon! I have a celestial dragon coming up soon. c: Stay safe out there!