Wish - Jack fan art

Last year, I made a Jack fan art entitled ‘Wish’.  This post is about the drawing of the artwork :)

For those who don't know... I'm a HUGE fan of Jack!  I think she's a very interesting character and definitely my favourite from the Mass Effect games.  Jack was, of course, voiced by the talented and equally awesome Courtenay Taylor, who I'm also a big fan of.  When I’d heard over Twitter that Ms.Taylor's birthday was coming up, I thought it'd be fun to do a little fan gift.

Initially, I had a few different ideas for the artwork.  After chatting with my bestie, Jayde, I decided to do a portrait of Jack holding a birthday cupcake.  I like Jack's new look in Mass Effect 3 but wanted her in casual clothes, like she's just chilling out, hence the t-shirt (with Hex on it, but more about that later).

Sketching it out

Like all things, I started with a rough sketch.  I like to draw the eyes first because I feel that if they're not right then the whole piece is already lost.  I then worked on her face and hair, shading and detailing as I went.  Screencaps from the game were referenced to help capture her likeness.  Her lips were a struggle to draw.  I decided to leave them for later and moved onto her hands and arms.

Uh oh... time for tattoos

 

I learned from past experiences that drawing Jack's tattoos can and will make you swear like Jack AND put you in a rather stabby mood.  In my first Jack fan art I ran into a problem where I was so focused on replicating every bit of tatt that I'd forgotten about her body - how the inks should wrap and stretch with her skin.  As a result her anatomy was, I think, a bit screwed :O  So this time I was determined to try and do a better job of it! 

Hex

So, why Hex?  As Jack would say: "Hey, why the f*ck not?" lol  But really, I just wanted to pay tribute to another character Ms. Taylor has voiced and felt that Hex would be a good fit for this piece.  She's a powerful undead sorceress  and I love her  "Fear the Dark! " catchphrase. 

Because the drawing was already so busy (with the tattoos) I decided to draw Hex as a simple stencilled logo.

Finishing up...

With Hex and the cupcake in place, all that was left was more shading and detailing.  I also revised her face a little because I wasn't happy with her expression (not smiling enough).  Bestie Jayde suggested a few more tears on her t-shirt near the waist.  I think that was a great call.  And this is the final drawing (which I later coloured in Photoshop).

Phew! 

Thanks for reading!

I can be found on Twitter @Tinkarooni :)