My submission for this challenge! I did it rather painterly than with line art. Was great fun working on this one :)

Hello everyone, here is my entry for the challenge. The character is "the fairy old general". His purpose in life is to protect a small village of fairies in the forest (no, they are not the Smurfs). Here are the different references used in the file for this contest : reference 01 : the design of the different swords were mixed into one simplified design and used for the character weapon reference 04 : the mirror shape gave the idea for the monocle and the saddle was added on the bug's back reference 06 : the armor served as a basis for the character's armor. One part of the handle on the spear was used for the smoking pipe reference 07 : the bottom parts of the jellyfish served for the beard reference 09 : the flower was inverted and used on the helmet reference 10 : the grasshopper legs and wings were used reference 11 : the beetle was directly added in the drawing as it is reference 13 : the yellow skin and parts of the beard and eyebrows for the character were borrowed here reference 16 : the animal eyes were used reference 19 : the trumpet shape was added to the helmet design Have a nice day

Aneliagos, Sun's blight "Journal of the Hunt In the far north, at the edge of Land, there is a Kingdom submerged in eternal darkness. A forever winter. Legend has it that in the old times, King Sun had a beautiful daughter, Ray. As he was so proud of her, he wanted to share her light and bliss with humans. So he sent her to the mortals. She was stunning, radiating joy and energy. Wherever she went she was welcomed and people were thriving of of her grace. But people grew greedy. When she arrived at the northern-most Kingdom , they captured her, as they wanted to keep her forever. They locked her in a dark dungeon , away from her father's eyes. She couldn't bear it. She died alone, tortured and cold. Then King Sun arrived at dawn. He couldn't believe it. He grew mad! Murderers of his daughter shall get punished! His rage materilized in Aneliagos, a giant warrior made of cold stone. The beast would hide Sun's gaze and bring unending winter upon the region . Now the Sun and the Gods are long gone and forsook the land of Man. But the giant still roams, unattended, forgotten, a relic of ancient eons. The abomination must be purged for it has plagued the Land for far too long..." -Steras Witchbane

Hi Proko !! There's a lot of tutorials and teachings on internet about drawing and paintings but there are basically no tutorials about Pre- drawing/painting preparations. (By that i mean, how to stretch a paper on a board for drawing purposes, what board we should use, what paper is to be stretched on that board, etc. ). I have learned a lot from you over the years i would like to take a moment to thank you for all the wisdom you have shared with us. You're A real life Yoda man !!

If you had to start your art career from the beggining, right now , what's the first thing you would do? (knowing what you know now)