This image is based on the first book “Mageling” out of the “Millenial Mage”-series by J.L.Mullins. The first 7 books of the series are available on Kindle unlimited, all further chapters until now are still up on Royal Road. Audiobooks are available on audible as well.
My initial idea doodle already had everything in it that you see now. The elements, the overall composition, the gold-material and simple foreground-background-seperation. However i struggled quite a bit with the execution, and learned (hopefully). I try to work organized and compartmentalized, especially with this new style I’m trying to establish a specific workflow to aid the idea of consistency. While I was working on this though, I felt limited by that workflow all the time and I feel like I lost roughness and expression in the end, due to it. As I gain confidence in the process I’ll likely also feel more comfortable deviating from it. I’m trying to stay positive, but since I have an idea of what the image could have been like I fixate on the shortcomigs.