Viper 3

Here's a little story about a character from my book who, until a few days ago, was only a faceless figure vaguely described in the words of my  manuscript. Before I continue let's have a look at him.

This illustration makes use of advanced overlay layers for texture.

Viper 3 is his designation. He has no name and when you read the book you will understand why. Viper 3 is a soldier in the Elysian army. More specifically, he is a member of the elite division of the Elysian military called Viper squad.

Viper squad is the fictional equivalent of the British SAS, though much fewer in number. They train in all the combat skills that every other Elysian soldier does, but hold themselves to a much higher standard. That training is supplemented with advanced political and espionage training. These guys are not only dangerous on the battlefield, but also from the shadows and the crowds of any city in Giaos, even during times of peace.

They answer only to Emperor Tiberius Elystar.

The weapon that you see Viper 3 carrying is a type 1, variant 2, mass driver. This firearm delivers arcanium infused slugs at blinding speed. Before the invention of these devices the most advanced weapon was the bow and arrow. The variant 2 mass driver basically fires explosive shells, granted the explosive element is derived from the mystical element arcanium.

Now, for the development process of this illustration.

The drawing started as an doodle in Alchemy. At this point there was no goal with the design, just sketching random shapes.

Then my friend Dima, who was hanging out that night, saw what I was doing and asked to play with Alchemy. I let him, embracing the concept of not falling in love with my work. It was his idea to give the character 4 arms. At this point the figure had no place, just a continued doodle.

I imported the sketch into Photoshop. Here I threw in a photo of an overcast horizon I found via a Google image search. I then started painting in the value and refined geometry of the figure. I also removed the second set of arms. Sorry Dima. At this stage I had the idea of making this piece a supporting asset for my book. Thus the addition of the lion facade to the gun.

I added color through an overlay later, keeping the same value from before. I went with a bluish grey for most of the armor, with golden yellow accents and finally red for the fabric and top of the helmet.

Credit: The final piece has specific aesthetic elements from a steampunk rifle I found on DeviantArt. It's hands down one of the coolest guns I've ever seen. Check it out here: http://johnsonarms.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-Rifle-Outdoors-Photo-2-284228206