A Christmas gift to my good friend and moderator in my streams,  dax1

That white furred ottsel is a fan of the game and I thought it appropriate to draw him up in the title role- though I had sort of thought HE would end up the sidekick! Well fooey. What do I do now?

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Art Notes: I spent some time looking over the Jak and Daxter game graphics, box art, etc. Needed a good pose, but Jak doesn't take up heroic poses so much. Always a little bit of an underdog, challenged, ready to take the next step. His buddy Daxter stands atop his shoulder, supporting him where he can. This was an important part of the picture. Angle the body forward, show off those strong legs, put a bit of springiness in them as he is ready to leap into action. Get the outfit from the game and adapt it to fit his form. Surprisingly, Jak goes about barefoot, not something I'd recommend without rough thick pawpads or leathery soles. I did the roughs, then lineart on their own layers. Flat colors for each character and outfit. I did additive painting in Clip Studio Pro with painting at around 30% opacity with colors a few shades darker than the base color so I could lay in depth and shading where needed. I went a few shades higher than base for highlights at around 60%. Once I had the figures shaded, I looked again at the games and found they liked angled backgrounds. Alright, a horizon done of indistinct landforms, slightly blurred at the edges. Earth tones and reds in streaks from the horizon to the foreground. Some blurred, some stippled. Needed texture but nothing that would draw the eye away from the character. The background sky came in with yellows, reds, and blacks. Mottled brushes started the smoke plumes, with colors sampled from the rest of the sky. Everything is leaing left to right, drawing you into the scene and character. This is important as your eye 'reads' a picture in western culture, top left to bottom right like a page in a book. Let that eye flow through the scene. Don't fight it or it will feel disjointed and awkward. I was happy with the background, but the colors were still too bright. A multiply layer was applied to the figure with a reddish brown, then reduced to 40% or so. I 'erased' highlights and blurred the edges. With this method, you can airbrush or add more shading if you make mistakes. Playing with negative and positive levels, then adjusting the opacity to get a look that felt right. Your environment will reflect upon your character, so reddish browns are needed to blend it in. I did similar to the background, helping tie everything together.

The logo was designed with the original in mind, using the same styling and coloring effects. It was put in and then reduced in opacity because it too was too stark and constrasting.

Overall, this was a bunch of hours of fun playing with colors, shading, and technique. It's definitely not a quick project, but for something as meaningful as a holiday gift to a dear friend, you put in the time and effort. It's worth it.

What do you think?