This client wanted a full body portrait of his D&D character, an Aarakocra Blood Hunter. this project gave me some challenges with lighting due to the fact he wanted two swords imbued with lightening. this gave me two light sources, bouncing off of leather armor and feathers.

The line work and pose for this Blood Hunter, scream honor and valor. That was exactly the point, a tall action line with a medium stance shows this bird is ready to fight. The client was specific in the fact that his character doesn't back down from a fight.

Flat colors here were referenced from a Golden Eagle; deep brown feathers with a sort of 'muted' tone. The color of the armor was specified by the client: "Dark acid washed leather with gold buckles and red under cloth," and i think they work together well.

Now the fun part. I imbued the scimitars with lightning using a white brush stroke over a light blue soft edge line, creating that blue glowing effect around it. Next, I emitted a soft blue light off of the swords. Using color dodge, I was able to use that same blue, lay it on top of my flats, and have it react as actual light would depending on the color it hits. This made my job easier, besides the fact that with two light sources i had to be careful and very specific where my light hits the figure, and what shadows are cast where.