February, 2003 -- The Project -- These are the steps I took in the creation of the first in my "Defining Moments" series. I have in mind the creation of an adventuring group of three characters, and doing a series of illustrations that follow them from their first moments as novices through gaining of great power and experience. As I get more of them complete I'll put greater effort into explaining the whole concept, but for now, this is the first defining moment for Leandra, a mageborn warrior. Growing up the daughter of a humble village woman, Leandra always knew there was something unusual about her father...that's why he was killed when she was only seven. Her mother tried to keep her from learning too much, but one day she stumbled across a chest hidden beneath the floorboards. Inside, she discovered her father's books, and suddenly the unusual abilities she had made sense. She had magic in her.

Here's a rough sketch of the basic pose. I had thought about a number of different ways to show this scene, and took about 5 or 6 different reference poses of my model. Although I know this is the pose I want for the character, I am still not sure what I want to have around her.

(right) I've done a tighter sketch and scanned it into Photoshop. I now have an idea of what I plan to do in the background, but I haven't sketched it yet. I'll do that separately on another layer so I can move them around indepedently.

Here's the picture after I've done a little bit with it in photoshop, laying in basic values.

(right) Started doing some detailed rendering. Did some work on the face and shoe.

Some additional work. I'm more than half-way done, although the book is going to be something to tackle.

(right) I've added a rug that was covering the hole. Still work to do on the floor.

Click to see the final version

© Eric Pommer, 2003