Man, when I took my break from the game back in September you had just finished the first Swain vs Jarvan image and started the Veigar one. First day really coming back to lore forums. Looks like it has been awhile since you posted in here but just gonna say, you've made a lot of great stuff since I last looked here.

@ Siyamak: Hey there and welcome back! Thanks a lot, I'm kinda surprised at how much I've created haha.

Very very rough sketch for the Dragon Master Swain skin concept. The lineart is next.

Despite Swain being my main man, I've always been kind of iffy on the idea of dragon swain. Mainly just fearing the dragon skin would come off as generic, like something out of Oblivion from the Elder Scrolls. A bunch of red and black. Personally I love the toxic greens and the gold of Swain's basic color scheme, with Beatrice bringing a bit of black. It just seems like everyone and their mother would be demanding typical, generic red-black shenanigans for dragon swain or just straight up red dragon. Mattcom's version of the skin in the Swain - Dragon Master thread is exactly what I'm talking about, that's what I don't want to see. Sure, the shapes and design are cool, but the coloring is generic as all hell. All the other colored dragons in that thread are also red. Shyvana already fills the sort of typical dragon mantle as it is.

Dunno what your plans are for colors, but I like the ideas you have going with the line work. The membranous look to the lower section of the robe/skirt (the tasset? whatever you would call it,) is a pretty cool touch. Scales scattered throughout the armor and the transmogrification of his arms are pretty neat to. Is that a fin coming out of his back? Kinda seems odd though that the chest plate skull would have 2 eyes given Swain's whole six eye thing, but whatever. Regardless, all your stuff winds up looking **** good in the end, will look forward to seeing this completed.

@ Siyamak: Thanks again. I definitely see why the color scheme can be problematic. There are some reasons as to why it's popular. Swain's default is mainly green with accents of yellow/gold, whereas the other two skins are white/gray tints (Northern Front skin) and black/gold (Bilgewater). Combined with the theme of fire-breathing dragons, a red color scheme (inevitably) makes the skin concept stand out from the other skins. In the end, I'll be working with red, but different shades of it; it depends on how one works with the color red.

@ Jarvan IV: Haha, oh man the conspiracies. Anyway, thank you, good sir!

Completed the line-art for DM Swain. Base colors next. As mentioned before, the base colors never represent what the final image will look like, since the shading/texture and lighting always create drastically different results.

Dang, sweet stuff. Can fully make out the little dragons now to. I like the choice of the bipedal dragon form over a quadruped. Added another set of eyes to the chest piece too.

When you do coloring, do you start with flats and do burn, dodge, etc layers on top of it or go other routes?

bump

@ Siyamak: Thank you! And yes, I basically start with flat colors and use a combination of the burn, dodge, brush, and selection tools for shading.

@ Summoner Abyss: Thanks for the bump!

Added in the base colors and simple gradients. It might look odd right now; base colors always do that haha. The shading will make the image look a lot different. Colors subject to change. Next, shading the background.

The color base scheme looks a lot like one of garen's armor sets, by the way I have a idea that might be fun in the light of Rivens battle bunny outfit, why not make other famous Noxain women work at the battle bunny club also have them run around with a bunny costume and carrot weapons if it applys.

@ Summoner Abyss: Now that you mention it, I can see how the colors match haha. The bunny outfit suggestion is pretty funny; could be a group picture.

Shaded in the smaller dragons. Next, ult form of Swain.