Here's my entry for Splinterlands Art Contest week 263 and my reimagination on Lira the Dark. I wanted to give her a cartoon sort of spin to make her appear less serious.
You can watch the short video below for a quick look at the timelapse on how I completed this digital illustration.
The illustration is inspired by Lira the Dark. A legendary death unit that at max level offers a ranged damage of 4, with 6 speed and 6 health. She has the opportunity ability which allows her to target monsters that has the lowest health. Also included in her arsenal is the snare ability which removes the flying ability of monsters when hit. On top of that she has the swiftness ability that provides all friendly units with additional 1 speed.
Have a look at her lore below:
Lira was turned into a vampire as a young woman when she attended a party of the rich and powerful, only to later realize that the majority of the guests were vampires. However, Lira did not see her new self as a monster. Rather, she saw her vampirism as an opportunity. Lira was born into a high-standing family that struggled with maintaining their wealth, so she embraced the transformation and set to work building her power and influence.
After her parents passed away, Lira took over their ancient manor nestled deep within the mountains. It is a manor always wreathed in shadow, and it is there that Lira conducts her rituals. A pact with shadow itself gave Lira immense spellcasting prowess. It enabled her to traverse the Splinterlands by moving from shadow to shadow. It also enabled her to use shadows as weapons against her enemies, allowing her to attack from afar.
Over the years Lira has led a cult of vampires. With her guidance, they have infiltrated the sects of the rich and powerful. Lira can make anyone do as she wishes through exploitation and threats, but if those don't work, she is more than happy to feast on her prey.
Across the Splinterlands, the name Lira the Dark is said with fear and awe. Other vampires envy the power she has achieved. She has had to defend her manor many times against those seeking to unseat her. The corpses of those who have tried now hang from her walls as a warning to others.
Lira strode atop the high stone walls of her manor; the surrounding mountains formed a jagged line against the stormy sky. A wild wind rippled her black gown and even blacker hair, a stark contrast to her pale skin. The wind carried the scent of pine from the trees, mixed with the scent of death from the corpses that hung from the manor's towers.
She stared down at a lone figure on the bridge over her moat. Even in the darkness of the night his golden armor gleamed. He stared up with a look of righteous determination. She smirked down, one hand on her hip.
“Lira the Dark!” he shouted, sword held aloft. “You have been found guilty of vampirism, torture, murder, extortion, and a long list of other heinous crimes. I have come to bring you to justice.”
“Oh?” she crooned, leaning forward and cocking an eyebrow. “Just you, little boy? The people send one lowly soldier to battle me?”
“I am of the order of the Paladins of the Sun! All manner of undead and monsters have fallen to my blade. As will you.”
Lira rolled her dark eyes. This man had a great deal of bravado, as did every self-righteous holier-than-thou champion that came to her gates. She spread her arms wide and said, “Then come face me, Paladin! Let's see how strong you really are.”
The man rushed for the doors to her manor, but she saved him the trip. Lira twisted in the shadows and vanished entirely. She reappeared within the shadows of the great arched entry to her home. The Paladin pulled back in shock.
“Demoness!” he spat.
Lira chuckled. “You know nothing of the darkness yet, boy. This will be a very long night for you.”
He shot forward, sword arcing high. The blade glowed, but not enough to pierce the eldritch darkness that surrounded her manor. She flicked her hand, and the shadows materialized around her, forming into daggers of darkness. They shot forward and slammed into the Paladin. His sword was ripped from his hands and fell into the moat below. Cracks spiderwebbed across his armor where the daggers had pierced, and a line of blood trickled down his cheek where one of the dark spikes had sliced across his cheekbone.
Lira darted forward in a burst of inhuman speed and ferocity. Her hand snapped out and grasped the front of his breastplate. With a laugh she yanked it off him, snapping the various clasps and buckles that had held it in place.
The Paladin stumbled backward, thrown off balance. He twisted his stance to regain his footing, then came in for a punch.
Lira side-stepped, one hand grasping his wrist while the other grabbed his throat. She squeezed hard enough to leave him gasping as she pulled him effortlessly to within mere inches from her face. She could see the fear in his blue eyes and the realization that he had underestimated his foe.
“I… will not… become a vampire,” he choked out.
She laughed, and her lips stretched wide into a sharp smile. “Oh no, dear… you will not. You will be tonight's entertainment.”
So here's a walkthrough on how I went about completing this digital drawing. I would also like to mention that this was completed using the iPad pro and Procreate application. Now to start, the very first step is choosing a reference image. I went on the splinterlands website and browsed through many of the monsters and finally decided to draw something from the death lineup.
After creating a new canvas, this time going for a portrait mode. I started by sketching the guidelines for my drawing. this will help me find the right placements of features of the face and the body.
I am using thin strokes using a pencil tool. At this stage I'm just doing everything roughly and not really careful whether I commit mistakes or not. Whenever I draw I don't really have a final output in mind but rather just go to what I feel like doing.
After having the basic outline, I then proceed to refining my sketch by adding more details. I am using a darker pencil and heavier strokes above my rought sketch.
After adding details to the face, I proceed to draw the dress. Adding more and more details as I go.
I finished off the sketch by completing the hair, accessories and the features on the dress including this big flower ribbon on the torso.
Once all done with the pencil sketch, I would then add another layer and on top of the rough sketch, draw the final outlines using a black pen. This part helps in cleaning up the image and will be included in the final look
Here's a look after completing the outlines.
Up next we start applying the colors. I start off with the base colors to cover major parts of this digital illustation.
I like to play around with the colors but still careful not to stray too far away referencing the original art.
I finished off by adding highlights, shadings and texture by using colors with varying shades and contrast.
To complete the picture I added the background including the red streak lightning.
