Heya all! Welcome to another installation of Fanart Friday! This week we take on everyone's favorite super spy. No, not that one, the OTHER one - yes, this week we tackle Solid Snake. Snake first appeared a long time ago on the SNES, but only really rose to fame during the Playstation era with Metal Gear Solid. That's why we're so excited to turn our brooding hero into a sexy femme fatale here at Xmashed.

Sketch



Initial Sketch

We begin with a sketch as usual - it's probably my preference, but I enjoy sketching on a tablet - it makes the process of iterating simpler (and cleaner) than using pencil and paper. The lineart took about roughly 40 minutes, with most of the time spent on design. I wanted to have the armor reference Snake's original armor in Metal Gear Solid, but of course, edited to fit the female version. I opted to remove Snake's shoulder pauldrons in favor of a halter-styled bullet proof vest and epulette-ed shrug combination. This way I retain the silhouette of the original armor, yet introduced a feminine flavor to it.

I took some liberties with the torso armor, cutting to show some skin. But seeing that Snake was half-naked for much of Snake Eater, I doubt his female reincarnation would find the lack of armor too much of a hassle. It might make her move faster even. Some belts and straps were introduced to break up the plain skin and give a more tactical feel to the whole get-up. Rest of the armor was pretty much left vanilla. Moving on.

Colors



Blocked in colors.

Colors are referenced directly from Snake's original outfit - blue and grey and everything in-between make up most of the armor, contrasted against the pale skin for a striking combination.



Added lighting and shadows.

When the lighting and shadow were introduced, I made a decision to render a red side light to pick out the details on the side that remain in shadows, so that the image remains interesting on both sides. Red is also an effective warm complement to the generally cool hued armor (and even skin).

Finishes



Finished piece.

The finishing saw me create a plainer background for the phone wallpaper and a more complex textured background for the desktop. I added edge glows to the desktop wallpaper because of excessive blank space that feels very empty and unfinished. This is a simple piece, but I enjoyed working on it a lot, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do. Thanks for your patience yet again! Here's a HD phone and desktop wallpaper for your kind attention. Till next week, game on!