Rune Arcanist: Eryndoril Morth'lana | SPT Art Contest Week 366

Hello, dear creative community;)
Right after finishing my previous fan art, i decided to review the cards for inspiration again, taking advantage of these days off to continue filling my Splinterlands Sketchbook. As i progress through the pages, i feel like i'm improving the style i wanted for this series of drawings. Although sketchbooks are not usually for drawing very elaborate things, but rather books for study and practice, i prefer to use them as small traveling art galleries. I enjoy using them that way more. This time, i chose a character that caught my attention because of the colors and because i love elves. I also thought it was great that she is a creature of two elements, earth and water. So without thinking too much about it, i knew that this elven sorceress would be the star of my new page 💚🩵

Eryndoril Morth'lana, a sorceress from the Kingdom of Thanaloria’s House Morth'lana, is renowned for her mastery of runic magic and command of the elements of earth and water. When Rage's dragons threatened her homeland, Eryndoril joined in its defense. She accompanied the battle mage in their journey to Mount Redwyrm, and within Rage’s lair, she used her magic to protect her allies from the ancient wyrm’s magic, saving the battle mage’s life. If it was not for her, the rebellion would have ended here. Instead, she continues to stand alongside the rebels and their Riftwatcher allies as they fight back the tides of Chaos.Splinterlands

When the time came, i began to study the shape and characteristics of this character a little... I looked for some references to draw the angle of the face as i had imagined it. Although i always have several ideas, i did the previous fan art in profile, but this time i wanted to do it from the front. So i began to quickly sketch the silhouette and the rest of the details, first with a graphite pencil and then with a gray pencil to better define the lines for coloring later.

This time, the markers i used most were alcohol markers. I like to start by creating a good color base that makes the rest of the work easier. I often use markers throughout the entire drawing, but this time i did something different. I only used them for the base and to define the background well. I decided to leave the hair without a base, because when i started the drawing i wasn't quite sure how to color it yet.

At first, i thought i would use my acrylic markers or drawing pens as usual, but everything turned out completely different. As i was shaping this beautiful elf, i didn't want to ruin any strokes, so i left the possibility of highlighting some lines or outlining some details in black ink if necessary for the end, but this drawing would not have any initial outlines.

This duality was what caught my attention most about this character. I loved the idea that he commanded two elements at once. Normally, i focus on creating the main figure and then work on the rest of the details and the background. This time, as with the previous one, i decided to shape the background, at least to create the necessary base with alcohol markers, and then add small details at the end of the drawing. Something i like about alcohol markers is that, with care, you can achieve certain effects, such as watercolor. This is how i created the background with this style. I was really excited to do this part, with the two elements. I added a kind of leaves and foliage to represent the earth element, and on the water element side, i wanted to highlight the effect of silhouettes forming on the seashore.

I think that this decision to detail the background first gave me a better perspective of how the main figure would look, and in fact made it easier for me to color the entire drawing.

After creating the base, i did practically all the other details with colored pencils. I thought that at some point i would also use a lot of acrylic paint, but to my surprise, it wasn't necessary.

I left the hair for last because, honestly, i found it more difficult than the rest.

So i focused first on the clothes, using various shades of gray to create a metallic texture, yellow (alcohol marker) for the gold parts, and then highlighting with orange tones using a pen. I used two shades of blue for the rest of the clothes.

For the skin, i started shaping it with a lilac color and then with a peach and pink tone... I highlighted some areas with turquoise and cream. I wanted all the parts of this character to blend in with its elements to create that ethereal and magical effect.

And that's how this beautiful elf turned out. To be honest, this is my favorite so far. Normally, when i'm in the initial stages of a drawing, even when i've already worked out all the details, i often find that there's something i don't like or that i'm not completely convinced about. But this was an exception. I liked it a lot from the start, and when i finished coloring it, i didn't want to ruin it by adding any outlines. I just added some black details to her eyes to accentuate them and finally, with a cream-colored acrylic marker, even though it looks white, i added those lines and dots in different areas of the background to create the effect of sea foam and other elements in the drawing... I always find these luminous details at the end to be beautiful. I thought about adding other details to the earth element, but i left it as it was. Maybe it would have been too much, and i didn't want to ruin it at the very end.

And that's it for now ;) i hope you like it. Have a nice day or night. 💚🩵