Commissioned Art of Spellbinder Casting a Spell

Commissioned Art of Spellbinder Casting a Spell

As the other commission of Spellbinder didn’t go so well, I craved to get Spellbinder done again to hopefully a better end—to make it right for her and for myself. So, I set my sights on an artist who seemed like they could do both the fantasy and sci-fi side of Spellbinder. I landed on AR Sullivan after looking into/contacting a few artists. I wasn’t sure if I’d find ‘the One’ at second try, but….I think did. Really happy with how it turned out.

But, let us wind back and start from the beginning, haha. I provided a ton of information up front, my Spellbinder drawings, the LEGO model picture, and pose ideas and then we were off!

My Pose Ideas

I roughly drew three pose ideas for AR Sullivan. All were more dynamic and clearly had her casting a spell. The ‘Concentrating’ pose was my preferred choice as it was more like what I wanted originally and it was easier to start with anyway. And that was what we went with.

Rough Sketch

Spellbinder First Sketch
First Sketch

AR Sullivan came back with this sketch. I felt SO good about it. There were a few areas that were off (curves, angles), but like, it was clearly and spiritually, Spellbinder. I did my usual ‘edits’ on top of the image, explaining angles and where the joints were. I had an existential crisis over joint placement on her legs, which led to me to subsequently adding a set.

I also asked for more yellow in the magic spell.

Rough Sketch Tweaked

They then returned with the updated version:

Spellbinder Updated Sketch
Updated Sketch

I only had a few minor comments on the foot area. But I was good to proceed!

Enhanced!

Spellbinder Rendered Drawing

It’s great. The only problem was the eyes were recessed when I see them more as flush, though. Very minor, all things considered!

Side note on the background: the abstract looked good to me and I didn’t have a strong enough alternate idea for it so that’s why it’s like that. I wondered on asking for the shimmering gray of the pocket dimension, but I couldn’t figure out how to articulate it/describe it so that’s on my visual ideation TODO list.

Final!

Spellbinder Final Drawing by AR Sullivan

And it’s done! Woooohhoooo! I feel so good about this. I feel cleansed of my suffering and it is thanks to AR Sullivan. It’s true to her form, has life, and there’s magic! This is Spellbinder. And Farrco is next!



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