🦁 Rawr!
This arcane lion has tapped into the powers of Leo Finance and Zealy. Prompt was provided via the LeoFinance Zealy Adoption campaign (where anyone on Hive can compete for a $10,000 USD prize pool, all in the name of generating more activity on Hive!)
🛠️ Tools
I used some reference images on Google ("cartoon lion claws").
Illustration was done "freehand" (mousehand?) using GIMP software.
🎨 Process
This one's got a lot more pizzazz than my first illustration. It's also kinda weird, so I felt that Alien Art Hive was the right home for it. I used a reference image for the paws 'n' claws, created my own, then did the rest basing shapes off that last drawing. Got "brave" and added some shadow, which really amps up the depth and overall quality of the piece IMO.
Sharps came first. I made one then just duplicated, resized, rotated for the others. Easy:
Paw and paw highlights next. The shapes were pretty straightforward. I moved all the claws away and just made the lines. Then repositioned the claws. Not bad!
Time for the head. Mane first, then lion head. I did sneak a peak at a reference picture every now and then, plus used my first drawing. You can see faded paws in this picture, as I was using the height of two paws to approximate the size of mane I wanted:
Texturizing and colouring the head. I also duplicated and flipped the paw—easier than drawing two amirite?
Finally, incorporating the logos. Sizing them, the paws, positioning... then I had to do all the fancy blue magic stuff. It was some layering-fu plus strategic erasing. Around this time is when I got brave with the shadows. The glowing logos had to cast light and make things seem more spectral or whatever.
I'm pleasantly surprised at how much more "nice" this one looks compared to round 1. Dare I travel deeper into the art challenges for this big campaign? (👉 Join up here, btw. Open to all Hivers).
Thank you for taking a look and reading. All the images above are of my own creation. Art for the Hunting Midnight banner below was built by me in Canva, using the Hunting Midnight original cover art.