Mercy is one of the players of the popular video game series, Overwatch. Her real name is Dr. Angela Ziegler, a nanobiologist who acts as the field medic during team battles. Her Valkyrie Suit makes her look like a guardian angel, ready to provide support from the sidelines. Her wings emanate light and her Caduceus Staff shoots out healing beams.

The Wire Frame

This was my first time drawing Mercy, let alone any Overwatch character for that matter. Because of her imagery of being an angel sent from above, I wanted the composition to be looking up at her. That means that her chin, chest, and collarbone need to be curved in such a way to look like the camera was beneath and looking up.

The Sketch

Originally I had one of her legs bent and tucked under hip. But when I added the detail of her suit I noticed her foot was hidden by her skirt. I would later move her leg down when drawing the line art. I also noticed her head was a little too small, which is something I adjusted in the next step.

The Line Art

Drawing the line art is always my favorite part of the process. I always start with the face and spend a lot of time adjusting the position of the eyes, nose, and mouth until I am happy with how it looks. I free-draw most of the line using the g-pen but I will use the line tool for straight edges, such as her staff.

The Flat Colors

Adding the flat colors is the easiest part of the process because my line art is aliased and my resolution so large when I use the paint bucket tool to fill in every area, it may not be a perfect fill (some stray pixels remain uncolored in the pinched corners) but when zoomed out it becomes a non-issue.

The Finished Illustration

I use the selection from my flat color layer to create a mask my for shadow and highlight layers. That way, the additional colors are contains in their respective areas and don't bleed beyond my line art. I frequently use simply cel-style shading, but I have recently been blending the edges of my shadows and highlights using the blur tool. Doing this on the skin makes it feel softer, unlike the metallic suit.

A part of me certainly wants to illustrate the entire cast of Overwatch characters. I love their designs, bright colors, and personalities. I have no doubt that this is one of the reasons why the series is so popular. Who knows, maybe Mercy will be the first of a set of OverWatch fan art. Would you like to see more? If so, which character should I illustrate next?