Sera

Color has always been a challenge for me, so I've been spending some time studying skin tones as a place to start. I've often heard a color rule saying that the face is divided into thirds. The forehead is yellow, the cheeks and nose are red, and the chin is blue in tone. It's more pronounced in fair skintones, so what do I decide to start with? One of my darker characters! XD

The effect is less pronounced here, since her skin has darker pigmentation, but I sort of thought that would be a good thing to let me start practicing--I could start by introducing more subtle hints of color variation and see what it does. I decided to use soft ambient/studio type lighting for my color studies because of this; until I have a better grasp on using color in skin tones, I probably shouldn't introduce more complicated lighting--especially since done right, light has colors of its own.

Anyway, this is Sera! She's a mage of elven descent, and one of the most skilled mages serving in the Northern Triad's militia. Enlistment is unusual for mages, but with the Gift of magic alongside her tracking and survival skills, her baby brother--the Captain of the Royal City Guard--convinced her to join the city's guard and primary defense, swearing he couldn't manage without her. She appeared in one of my writing prompts I did last year, which you can read on my blog.