A LITTLE BACKGROUND ABOUT THE PHOENIX
A phoenix is an immortal bird in Greek and Egyptian mythology that is associated with the sun god. Perhaps that's the reason why this bird is made of fire. It has been said to have a lifespan of approximately 500 years. It regenerates and reborn by rising from ashes after dying. Aside from immortality, it has been said that the phoenix has other abilities. It has superhuman speed and it can move above the speed of light. Being associated with sun, this bird can control fire too.
The desire to try and learn to draw mythical creatures led me to conceptualizing one of the beautiful birds we know, the phoenix. I was thinking of drawing a mythical creature for more variety since I've been drawing more on humans. I want to learn to draw other creatures for future needs in other opportunities and to cater NFT collectors who like mythical creatures. Phoenix came to mind because I want to draw something attractive. Its wings and tail alone make this creature look beautiful. I decided to submit this phoenix for the launching of Spice NFT project I am working for.
SKETCH
I did a colorful sketch for this drawing for me to easily distinguish the body and wings when I do my lineart later on. I came up with the idea to make its wings tricolored for a more attractive look. I divided the wings into three major parts then I used three different colors in this sketch so this will serve as my guide for the transition of its colors.
LINEART
I've done my last minute changes while doing this lineart. The phoenix looks a bit slanted so I fixed it then I flipped its head and changed its initial sideview angle to show more of its face. This also means drawing both eyes. For the wings, I choose brown, mahogany, and golden brown for lineart because they are the dark shades of the three colors I am thinking of. I want to make it subtle because it suits the wings more. I did the same for the body since it has a bright color and black lineart isn't that suitable when I tried it before. I also removed the supposedly markings on the tip of its tails because I came up with something better. I also added more tails, making it a total of 8 to close the gaps because the initial one with 4 tails looks sort of incomplete to me. Here's the final lineart that matches the colors I am thinking of.
BASE COLORS
Since phoenix is a fire bird, I included the shades of orange, brown, and yellow for this drawing. For the tricolored wings, I want a transition from the darkest color for the lowest part to the lightest one on the uppermost part. I figured that bronze, orange and golden yellow will be the best match for this tricolored wings and it did a great job as I imagined. Now its wings look attractive as I want it to be. I added gradient effects on both wings and tails so they won't look pale. I added some chilis on its armor because Spice project requires us to incorporate a chili on all our works since it's their theme. I also started to add a few basic rays here.
SHADING
For the shading process, I used blending for the entire drawing instead of cel shading. I find it more suitable especially on wings. I noticed that most drawings involving wings have more of a smooth texture so I applied this observation on this drawing. I did a trick to make it look more detailed by putting the highlights on the lines inside the wings. The light color showed the lines even more, making the wings look a bit glossy and with more layers. For the tails, I put the markings above its tips. I made it simple with ellipse tool then I tapped the basic brush to create a small circle inside.
BACKGROUND
I used a simple background on this drawing since the phoenix alone has a lot of details and its wings already covered a lot of space. A simple gradient background will bring balance so the drawing won't be over decorated.
I put more details to the basic rays. I added some thick white rays then I added yellow rays to give a bit of a look of sun rays since phoenix is associated with the sun god. This also made the white rays become more visible.
THE FINAL RESULT
For the final touch, I added yellow and white sparkles to give the phoenix a magical look since it's a mythical creature. I want to make it look as if it is rising in a magical way and the sparkles did the job together with the direction of the rays and the way its wings are spreading. The result is so satisfying to think that this is my first time drawing detailed wings which is the hardest part. What I appreciate most with this art is that I learned to draw creatures other than humans. I also learned to draw wings which became useful when I attempted to draw angels on my succeeding works. I will be sharing them here soon. This Spice NFT was sold out last month.
