Protectors of the Realm 1 – La Bruja

Personal – La Bruja

I wanted to create a character who was in charge and still open in some way. I don't like the word "vulnerable" in this context because it also comes with other connotations such as "weak" and "defenseless". That was not what I wanted.

So, I came up with a series of fantasy genre paintings, which depict protectors of different realms. I always like bringing fantasy elements into the modern age because there is more contrast between the magical elements and the surrounding very secular world. I do enjoy fantasy middle ages like in the Game of Thrones series, but personally I find that mixing fantasy with our familiar world intrigues me more as an artist.

I started on the iPad and took it as far as I could. This was the first time I came up against the resolution limit. The iPad's 2048 x 1536 px do not allow much in the way of small detail in a full shot of a character, not to mention the background. After I had struggled with the limitations for way too long, I switched to Photoshop and suddenly everything was smooth and easy.

The background research I did was pretty interesting, for example, I did not know dried llama heads were a magical item in parts of South America.