Ariel, Guardian of Balance
repaint (2025, gouache) of an olddd art card (probably ~2014??)-- progress pic + original card under the cut!
I honestly don't recall if I ever posted the original ACEO (if I did it was probably only on @legacyofdefiance); it was an experiment in doing 'limited palette' art (like those palette memes) traditionally by using only a very small selection of copics, buuuuut I don't think the technique was all that successful & I never really liked most of the final products xD;;;; (the thicker nibs + lineless look just made the style feel like a downgrade when viewed alongside the inked or painted cards that had much more detail/interest in the same amount of real estate... and for some reason I never seemed to fully utilise the availabe space either? whatever reasons Past Me had for that are lost to time.... maybe i just didn't have the skill yet to dive straight into inking without a pencil sketch??? who knowssss)
...anyway, this Ariel in particular always felt especially bland to me, a plain headshot with nothing interesting going on & just a lot of random strokes that don't really have any direction to them & were just kind of There to fill up the space in place of any real detail.... so when I decided to do a paintover I brought her hands into frame as well!
