Uliana Gostysheva lives in Vladivostok and works as a Lead Artist at Game Forest Studio. Here, she takes us through the making of Fluffy.

Idea

When the concept of my character was ready, I already knew how Fluffy will be presented in the final illustration. Fiercely swinging her electrified chain around herself, she's destroying all the enemies around her.

Pose

The pose I chose first looked too closed and not expressive enough. After searching for a more suitable reference, I found one which shows her dynamics much better.

 reference, I found one which shows her dynamics much better.

It was important for me to check her pose from all angles so I can choose the most interesting one, that's why I used DesignDoll program to make her pose more suitable.

It was important for me to check her pose from all angles so I can choose the most interesting one, that's why I used DesignDoll program to make her pose more suitable.

Then I exported .obj file to Marmoset Toolbag to try out different light setups. And the light from below was the most dramatic and appropriate one, so I went with it.

Composition and Tone

I've made a composition based on some pictures I've made at Marmoset Toolbag. The initial composition looked not dramatic and dynamic enough to me, so I decided to strengthen this effect with close-up: in the middle of fight, she flies by standing on the backs of her enemies while torturing them with chains.

The difference between the pictures here is in the dynamics and emotions of the main character. On the first shot she looks pretty cute and all her facial features are kind and smoothed out. This contradicts with my character's nature, because she's a negative hero, she's arrogant and she's experiencing a strong passion for what she is doing at the moment. Therefore, I think the second option is much better.

I also used golden ratio here to make the composition more interesting.

Mood

I always try to make as many color schemes as I can. Do you know that feeling when in the middle of work it seems that everything could be 10 times better if I used different colors in the artwork? I really hate this because it slows me down a lot in the process. That's why the wider the search of colors made, the better.

Cleaning Up

At this stage, all the noise and such that appeared during the search for colors is being cleaned.

Just trying to fit the form of the main character closer to the original concept and build the form.

Along the way, I adjust the colors to be more saturated and contrasting. This happens in several stages. The main thing is to find the primary colors (for me it is blue and shades of warm), and then carefully select additional ones, depending on the material and lighting. My character has a lot of white, so the hair and legs were the most difficult here.

In addition to that, I've tried to keep initial emotion from the final sketch.

Detailing

Gathering the references is very important at this stage. Sometimes I couldn't find suitable references on the internet, so I just used my photos.

Yes, this is a bit creepy with black eyes and glowing cheeks - in fact, I'm with a phone in my mouth here... And the flash is on. My husband was really terrified while I was taking this photo. I do not recommend doing this to people with a weak mentality. ;)

To build the face of the enemy, as a reference I used a model of the skull from Anatomy360 and several references to emotions from the Internet.

As a reference to the pose at this stage, I also used my own photo. But I'm not including it in this Making-Of, because I don’t like how I look.

With the next step I've corrected Fluffy's smile, because it seemed to me not bloodthirsty enough. Orange colors have become more pink, because they're much more harmonious here. And the hands of the enemy in the front got a more interesting gesture.

I also added a 3d rendered chain. In fact, I would spend forever drawing this repeating element. Initially, I made a brush for it, but I really didn’t like the result.

Final

I slightly increased the curvature of the enemy's body to show how difficult and painful it is for him, poor fellow. Some feathers appeared flying around. I also added more contrast to the eyes of the main character, in order to emphasize them. I added blur effect along the line of motion to give a sense of speed. I also added translucent skin with visible veins inside for the enemy's hands and cheeks.

Before the finale, I compared how the picture looked on different monitors and mobile phones. After a little color grading, the result was fine to me, even though on my monitor it began to look less impressive. I also made some tweaks to the hand with which Fluffy holds her electrified chains.

I still see a lot of things that could be fixed here and there, but I've made a strong-willed decision just to complete work at this stage, since the last week of the competition was occupied by a business trip.

This is my first illustration of this kind and I'm very pleased with the work done. Before this contest, I did not know that I could paint in such a way actually. Thanks a lot to Cubebrush for the opportunity to participate in this challenge and to everyone who commented and supported me all this time. I hope you’ve found something informative reading this post!

See more from Uliana here-

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