Heya all, it's time for Fanart Fridays again! Last week we received a request for a female Isaac Clarke in the comments, so we decided to act upon it and dig deep into sci-fi space horror! We're taking on Isaac Clarke from the Dead Space video game franchise, and genderbending him into a hot female space vixen right here at Xmashed.

Sketches



Design and sketch.

This sketch took quite a bit longer than normal due to the additional step of redesigning the armor for the female version. Because there were quite a number of Dead Space installments released, I decided to go with the first one for armor reference because it remains the most iconic and representative of Isaac Clarke.

A design cue I wanted to keep were the iconic orange metal struts that can be seen on much of Isaac's armor in the game, yet somehow try to remove the bulkiness of the armor and conform it to the elegant female form. I tried several designs, and eventually settled on breaking the array of struts on the torso into two groups, one around the chest area, and another at the waist. This way, I can create a two-piece suit instead of Isaac's single-piece jumpsuit, showing off the female form better, also taking the opportunity to show some skin.

Blocking in Light and Shadows

Blocking in lights and darks.

The complexity of the armor prompted a different approach to my coloring - if I were to color it normally, the shadows might be inconsistent as I alternate between dark greys and oranges for the strut-ed areas. I approached the colors by first blocking in a lightmap of sorts, so I clearly mark out the areas of light and shadows without the distraction of color. Now I'm going to use gradient maps to block in color over this lightmap so the shading remains consistent.

Adding Color

Colors blocked in.

I quickly blocked in the colors of the armor using gradient maps. It's still quite loose and rough at the moment, but that's intentional because the priority in this step is to get the colors right. If you have a good eye for color, I added in some blue into the greys to compliment the orange of the struts, so the orange pops better. The background is also tinted with a bluish hue. Due to the process I've used, the coloring is quick and shading remains consistent. (Entire coloring process took only around 20 mins)

Finishes and Detailing

Finished piece.

The final step is to go through the piece and pick out the extreme highlights and shadows - edges of metallic objects, grooves in the armor, etc. When that is done the piece is complete! Thanks for staying with me throughout this article, I hope it has been informative to those interested in drawing out there. Here's a phone lock screen wallpaper and HD desktop wallpaper for your enjoyment. Till next week, game on!