I have a soft spot for the FGC, even though I don’t actively play it that much (maybe a game in a blue moon) but I find they always have hype moments and trailers. If you’re not a big FGC (Fighting Game Community) player but are interested I do suggest watching Maximillian Dood (always entertaining and can be educational in regards to Fighting Games and their history).
Tekken Spoilers
So Heihachi has “died” several times throughout the series and has been positioned as the big bad several times as well. However it looked pretty final and climatic at the end of Tekken 7 when Kazuya finally kills him sort of pushing past his trauma as well as fully giving into every ounce of devil gene in him. Tekken 7 also explored Heihachi’s past and well he started seeming more anti hero to me and I admired the fact that in his family of crazy, he actually is the only one without devil gene or relying on demonic possession. Or maybe I missed something…
Anyway, for the next sprite, still got quite a few options I am contemplating to draw… Maybe another villain.
I’ve updated the third main post with the below entry under F2E - Non Fire Emblem Properties (Other Game Franchises - Tekken - Heihachi Mishima)
Tekken - Heihachi Mishima
So one of the most iconic fighting game characters was announced for the DLC for Tekken 8 last month during EVO, the feeling was pretty hype so I felt compelled to draw him but couldnt at the time due to other commitments. You know at first I wasn’t sure I could fit in his hair, but it ended up surprisingly easy. I decided not to shade match his eyebrows because I couldn’t get the silver grey eyebrows to work quite right. In the DLC trailer the lighting makes him look like he has black hair, which I decided to make an alt of. His design and outfit is based on a mix of shots from the DLC trailer (Volcano scene and the monk garb). Overall pretty happy with how he turned out.
EDIT: Forgot to save with his hands, so I’ve kept his handless ones here as well if you prefer that.
Here is another buff dude and I suppose technically a villain. Also coincidentally a fighting game character (if you consider Dissidia a fighting game). I think his dynamic as the antagonist to Tidus’ protagonist status and their relationship development over the game of Final Fantasy X, helped play a part in why its my favourite FF (up until then I hadn’t really experienced foreign storytelling so most of the games, movies and TV shows I had watched had straight forward good vs evil plots with happy endings).
I’m considering a couple of options for my next few sprites, maybe some OCs, maybe finishing off the Fates Royals (Sakura and Elise), maybe even a FEH character (haven’t done one in a while). Then I think I have a few more non Fire Emblem characters lined up as well.
I’ve updated the third main post with the below entry under F2E - Non Fire Emblem Properties (Other Game Franchises - Final Fantasy X - Jecht)
Final Fantasy X - Jecht
This is my 2nd attempt at Jecht much like Tidus. I did attempt both of them once when Dissidia first came out (Auron on the other hand as seen before has been attempted many times (even pre Dissidia)) I like Jecht’s character and kind of isn’t really a villain in the traditional sense either. Just more like the game’s antagonist. This time his design was done with a mix of elements from both Nomura’s Dissidia design and his original artwork. When I was working on him and didn’t have his facial hair done yet, I could kind of see the familial resemblance to Tidus, however I still wonder how he and his wife (Black and brunette hair respectively), had Tidus (blonde). Jecht is a more darker tan skin colour than Tidus, which I can accept since his wife is more fairer skinned. Overall pretty happy with how this turned out. If I were to revisit this one, probably look at his hair again, I used to use dark blacks like this on sprites a lot more in the past, however I moved away from it because I felt like it clashed often with the border colour which is supposed to be the darkest colour. I also did an alt of his without the shoulder pad and strap, because it covered up the Zanarkand Abe’s tattoo.
Also in the third main post, Observation Only - Final Fantasy X - Jecht (Old Version)
Final Fantasy X - Jecht (Old Version)
So when I first did Jecht (left side), it was after Dissidia first released. The first attempt was mainly based on that one, however I wasn’t quite happy with how his proportions turned out back then. His hair was also quite more blockier done back then too. Later on I came to realise it was probably due to how I was trying to reinterpret Nomura’s colouring and shading style too much into the portrait. Which you know if every portrait is sharing that style its not bad (I think consistency in style can go a long way for looks and cohesion of a rom hack or art piece). Still its always nice to see what I’ve done compared to my abilities now and the choices I made.
Well I decided to do the next two Fates siblings, so you can tell who is coming next. I don’t know if this gets noticed, but I don’t always try to fill the hackbox so to speak, but I like to use characters especially if they’re from the same series to scale with each other. Which you can see in the collation of the 4 Nohrian siblings next to each other or in my Awakening portraits (although looking at this, maybe I’ll touch up Xander at some point since he is the oldest portrait here).
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE 14 Fates - Elise)
FE 14 Fates - Elise
The last of the playable Nohrian Royals, Elise. This one required a bit of theory crafting on how to colour her and utilise the limit of 15 colours (16 including the background). Even though her outfit is predominantly black with pink highlights, you need to remember she has a white shirt under her cloak, a white pinkish flower on her chest and she also chose to have purple highlights in her hair to take after her older sister Camilla. So for Elise I used only 2 unique colours for her blonde (plus 2 skin tones), 2 unique colours for her black clothing (plus the border colour), 2 unique colours for her purple highlights and for the white flower and ribbons I used 3 unique colours (plus 1 skin tone). Overall I’m pretty happy with how this one turned out, however I do find her two ponytails a bit more blandly coloured, but when I tried to add some texture like I did Mariabelle’s I think the limit to my colour palette made it difficult to look any good.
And as I said before that is the last Hoshidan Sibling done. So now we have the collection of Hoshido Royals. Like with the Nohrians I decided to put all my Hoshido Royals together too, looks kinda neat. I don’t know if I’ll do the Corrins and Azura, they’re definitely not the next few sprites I’ll draw, and with the Corrins I don’t know if I’d do the same thing I did for the Robins.
I’ve updated the main post with the below entry under F2E - Fire Emblem (FE Fates Saga - FE Fates - Sakura)
FE 14 Fates - Sakura
The last of the playable Hoshido Royals, Sakura. This one was much easier compared to her Nohrian counterpart, far less colours to try and balance. Looking at references for her design was enlightening. For example I didn’t really notice she had a like a hairbow behind her hair. I did originally try colouring her with the same skin tones I gave her siblings, but that turned out a bit too yellow or dark for her look (more like the FE8 standard tones for males), so I gave her a more fair skin tone. Overall I’m pretty satisfied with how this one turned out. If I were to revisit this one, I might add her staff.
So its been a few days and I’ve actually been sitting on this latest portrait half finished for like a week. However I got distracted with Black Myth Wukong which has been fun to play (currently doing a 2nd playthrough). Its one of the games that one of my close friends and I have begun to play in common (we used to play more games in common, less so now) so its fun to play and discuss about it together, which is why its sort of taken a lot more of my time than I expected.
I’ve been meaning to do Astarion for a while now, I was unsure how to approach his hair and face for a while. However I ended up with what I’ve got now. I’m currently undecided on what to draw next. I’ve done quite a few other game franchises recently, and I have just done essentially 4 Fates portraits too. I was also on a villain kick for a while, so maybe something different next.
I’ve updated the third main post with the below entry under F2E - Non Fire Emblem Properties (Other Game Franchises - Baldurs Gate 3 - Astarion)
Baldurs Gate 3 - Astarion
Its the party vampire from Baldurs Gate. Neil Newbon honestly did a fantastic job portraying Astarion in Baldurs Gate and even though he wasnt usually one of my party members (I usually made a rogue character), he was always fun to have around for dialogue. He was a challenge because his hair is kinda hard to convey, but after looking at a few references this is what I settled on and I think it turned out pretty well. I do wish I had a few more colours to work with. It took me a while to also get his eyes, but I think I got something I liked in the end. Because he has a pale peach skin tone, I couldnt use his skin tone for the trimming and embroidery on his clothing, which meant I was down two colours. His outfit colour varies depending on what you’re referencing. His cover art’s main colour is red, however in game and other artworks make his clothing more purple than red, so this is sorta the colour I settled on. I think if I were to revisit this one, his clothing would probably get re coloured again and maybe I would experiment again with the colours and see if I could squeeze out another tone or two somewhere.
I’ve finished BMW (Black Myth Wukong, a friend of mine pointed out that acronym and it amused me) 3 times through now (thats to pretty much unlock everything in it) and thus got around to drawing this latest portrait. Coincidentally the way his pose turned out makes him kinda complimentary to the Cloud portrait I’ve done as seen below. My next few months are looking kinda busy, so we’ll see how my pacing goes for drawing, it is kind of slow at the moment partially because of artist block and partially because a lot of IRL commitments are coming up.
I’ve updated the third main post with the below entry under F2E - Non Fire Emblem Properties (Other Game Franchises - Final Fantasy VII - Sephiroth v3)
Final Fantasy VII - Sephiroth v3
So this is my third attempt at Sephiroth, something to go matching with the Cloud I did. I wanted to do him in a different pose to his Dissidia and Smash poses as those are the ones I see him the most in usually (sort of his refined and calm look). So I was aiming for his more head tilted, hair strands over his face, slightly deranged Nibelheim incident look. Overall, I am pretty happy with how his hair shading actually turned out. I think if I were to re do this one, I may re do his face size because I used Glen as a basis for my proportions, it turned out on the bigger side (Glen’s hair style sort of masks how big his head is (same with Caellach and Linus)). I may consider doing another pose of Sephiroth down the line, but that will be a while away. I also have a shirtless alt up as well, because well I am pretty proud with how his hair turned out (although because you need some outlining, it does make the strands behind his face a bit thicker).
EDIT: I slept on it and decided to do an alt without the hair strands in his face.
I have considered that, since that is how he is usually depicted in Nomura arts, however most people do versions of him with that haircut with the exaggerated bangs, so I decided to go a bit closer to his modern (AC)/remake designs where its a little softer in design. I may do one with more exaggerated bangs in a different pose later down the line.
In other news have another OC from me. I do have something lined up next so, less decision paralysis.
I’ve updated the third main post with the below entry under F2E - Non Fire Emblem Properties (OCs - Saphyre)
Saphyre
So I wanted to try making a character with a darker skin tone and something with a bit of blue, since I haven’t done a portrait with some in a while. So that is where Saphyre came from (that and I didn’t want to name her just Sapphire since its very similar to Saphir). I got stuck coming with her hairstyle for a while. I knew I wanted a shorter haircut after doing some more complex haircuts recently and then was looking at different references and found it hard to convert them to the more side on face pose like Selena, Ismaire and Elphin. I wanted to portray this character is a more serious and refined look, so I went through several iterations on her clothing, but sorta had to settle on this design due to my limited colour pallette (can’t use her hair or her skin tone to make trimming so, had to double down on the white to make silver/white trimming). I like the idea of epaulets and cravats as noble clothing, but lacked the colours to make external epaulets for Saphyre, so I kinda cheated and shaped her cloak as if they’re over epaulets.
Recommendations:
I originally envisioned her design to be one of the following class types
Mage/Sage/Mage Knight, Noble/Lord.
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