Splinterlands Art Contest Week 303: Medusa

This is my entry for the weekly Splinterlands Art Contest found HERE

Here is the original card art:

From the Splinterlands Wiki: (https://splinterlands.fandom.com/wiki/Medusa)

Every water-breather in ΛZMΛRÉ knows that Gorgons live in their waters. A simple trip to the ocean floor reveals the statues of the unfortunate Merfolk who crossed the path of a Gorgon. Medusa is the only Gorgon to reveal herself to others without turning them to stone. At least they have a choice.

Created in Clip Studio Paint Pro on a Microsoft Surface Pro 7+. Here is the timelapse video:

https://rumble.com/v57ul31-medusa.html?mref=18dagn&mc=d3obe

And here is the step-by-step drawing process:

Step One: Rough draft. I use a 40 px pastel pencil to block out the rough shape

Step Two: Line art

Step Three: Flat color layer

Step Four: Separate color layers for cloth and gold. The cloth layer is just plain white at about a 25% opacity to make it look like transparent cloth.

Step Five: Shading!

Step Six: Overlay layer for some highlights

Step Seven: Snakes! I just used a wide gPen to make dull green lines then made a black 3 px outline for the whole layers. Then made a separate clipped shading layer to airbrush some shadows to make it look like a volume not a flat mess

Step Eight: Background. I've been getting a lot of mileage out of just using a huge watercolor wet brush to splash the background into place

Step Nine: Sign it! Rare piece where I signed my intitals in white instead of black. A new day has dawned

Step Ten: Victory over our enemies!

Enjoy your week everyone!