Guardian Forces

Oh man, this picture.

I decided that for my 100th deviation, I would try and do something special and ambitious. I've always loved art, but it wasn't until I joined DA that I became motivated to draw (or at least try) every day. I'm not sure at what point I lost my way with art - real life gets in the way, I suppose - but I have this place and all the amazing artists I've seen here to thank for getting me back into my art groove.

SO, 100 seems a nice number, and I wanted to draw something BIG, and that had some meaning to me; FF8 is without a doubt one of my most favourite games of all time (I've completed it around 7/8 times!); I have some awesome memories of playing it, and I STILL make it my mission to play it every year (but usually turns out every second year). I can't imagine this game not being in my life; and damn - the GFs are so cool.

Anyway, enough of the soppy stuff. I can't guess how many hours went into this, but it took nearly 2 weeks or so. I tried to draw 2 a day. I went for different techniques; painted some in greyscale first to gets my tones right, then some I painted straight away in colour. I've learnt more in Photoshop with this piece than anything else I've ever done - which I would hope so considering the time that went into it!

So, hope any FF8 fans out there enjoy this! Hope you can see enough detail.

Tools: Bamboo tablet, PS CS6
Time taken: So many hours. 40+