character design: Na'koral

Wanting a character to be some sort of shaman connected to nature. It was a little difficult to work out how he would look, wanting to give off a mysterious for people to wonder if he was human or something else. Wearing a mask to conceal his identity, with a staff and an arm being turned to wood.

1. Wanting a background with Nak'oral standing on a huge tree branch with a strong pose, having his hand made out of wood by some enchantment. Working on how he would stand on a branch so it would look near alright for his balance. Came up with some ideas of how the mask would look like, so I thought adding antlers would work and make a near-human face.

2. using different shades of brown for the trees, one side for direction of the light source and add rough lines for the trees, adding more texture by lowering the percentage of the hardness for the colouring.

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5. THe background I thought would have a dark greenish colour. 

The shaman's clothing would have an earthly theme since he's spent his time in the forest and wear something natural. Including the mask and left arm. 

6. Focusing on the arm, using both light and dark brown, wanting to make the hand look all morphed by the magic. Extending the fingers and making the structure of the hand to match the human hand.

7. Adding more lighter brown to the wood and giving him a fiery red hair with orange highlights, inspired by some celtic and viking folklore. Thought of making the staff look old and decorated with stones.

8. I thought of how the green moss would, starting with a normal green just to try some ideas for the colour before working on the lighter green texture using different paint tools. 

9. Using a different paint tool for the grass, adding another layer and lighter tone of green when exposed to bright light. 

10. Was working out how the colour of the water should have, not going towards a blue water in some artworks. Going through some tutorials and using pale blue to a whitish colour for the water streams. Once done, using the smudge tool make it blend together

11. For the casting a spell to have an energy gathering in his hand, using a narrow paint tool and using about 30% of paint and drawing faint lines. Once done, using the smudge tool to make the lines more faint. Going for a spiral or sphere in the hand where the sphere would expand in his hand. Also thought of adding more faint lines that entangle around his arm so it shows that his body was releasing some energy.

12. Using a lighter tone over it and make the centre more brighter and the furthest faint.

Completely finished and now done, really do like the way he looks with such a powerful pose and ready for action to defend the forest from threats as the magic being gathered by him from nature.