"Please, I insist"
I think this is one of those cases I ended up rendering a little too close to the sun.... Don't get me wrong, I like it, but the stage before this, without all the lighting and effects, just works better for me.
I'm still pretty stiff when it comes to the actual characters. The original sketch felt a lot more natural. This, while not terrible, definitely feels less organic and flowy. Something I'm still working on. My favorite part, obviously, is Solas. I just adore drawing him. Elanna... eeeeeh. She's ok. It's that fuckin' eye. I re-did that thing about 1,000 times. In fact, the final version is an overpaint. At least she looks like herself, I'll give myself that. I went, again, with cel shading. I wanted the lighting to really be the driving force here. And with Solas being mostly in shadow, I thought it would be kind of interesting to have his eyes reflecting the light bouncing off Elanna like a predator. As well, his expression is kind of sinister here. I didn't get everything right, and as someone who is constantly hammering my own over expectations into my head, I'm trying to just let it be. I think that feeling of "perfection" is what often causes things like over-rendering, such as this. It's another step in my art journey, and, and even if the step feels backwards, so long as I recognize the pattern, then I am making progress. Consider this on your own journey when it feels like you've plateaued.
Here's the zoomed in version, if you want to see his expression a little better.
