Sharing some of my process here while cleaning up HDD.
Below is a piece done for Midnight- Crown of Shadow
AD: Antonio Mainez
© 2022 Edge Studio. Midnight. All rights reserved

fantasy illustration, dwarf fighting, giant spider

For this piece I was asked to paint an underground fighting pit of a dwarf squaring off with a giant spider, with spectators surrounding it. I received a great amount of references, thanks to Antonio!
But a few ideas came to mind- Luke vs Rancor from Star Wars, image below. The set up feels similar and I remember vividly how terrifying it was to see it when I was just a kid.

I tried to understand the space first before making a composition.

Did a rough sketch to confirm with Antonio if this is alright.

Then I proceed to sketch the composition. * Click the arrows back and forth if you’re keen to see progress differences*

I wanted the spider to be like an ‘umbrella’ and we (the camera) are just underneath it. Okay, a patio/ large beach umbrella.

Though the previous composition- scale contrast, more dynamic visually.
Emotionally I prefer this where we are much closer to the main character, more in-the-scene. Also did line art where it will be beneficial to tackle tricky shapes and forms.

Once I have sorted out general lighting, I did main and secondary colour lay in. I remembered a scene from Game of Thrones where the hound fight Lord of Light. It was in a cave and some natural moon/ sky light? I went to revisit it and reference mainly the light and colour. love the cool tones reflected off the forehead.

Cut out the spider onto separate layer, fill up background, refine main character

more refinements

Curve adjustment, fine noise and sharpen filter