It's been years since I last participated in Zingtober

Hey everyone! I was traveling and couldn’t keep up with the Zingtober drawings, so my goal of completing all the October prompts went straight down the drain. But I at least wanted to draw a couple more prompts, so… I’m back!

🔅 Twenty-first Prompt: Blast

Even though I have a few half-finished sketches for earlier prompts still sitting around, I decided to pick one closer to the current date to catch up a little. So here you can see Emberox setting off TNT everywhere! 💥🧨

🧠 TOOLS USED:

Photoshop (as always, my digital salvation).
Brushes: my trusty brush pack, with a few new ones featuring glitter effects
Resolution: 2048x2400 px

_{(Thx to @holozing for such adorable creatures to bring to life!)}

⏰ CREATIVE PROCESS

✏️ Phase 1: Ibis Paint for Sketching

I used images of bats in flight as reference, since Emberox's design is that of a Wyvern and its flight closely resembles that of bats. This helped me achieve a dynamic, action-oriented movement.

🎨 Phase 2: Lineart

Of course, I had to refine the sketch, though without making it perfect, as that would actually enhance the character's sense of movement. To make my life easier, I did use the symmetry tool for Emberox's face

🌗 Phase 3: Ink

I filled in the character, separating the face, body, and wings into different layers. I didn’t aim for perfection, but I made sure to respect the line art. I also added highlights using the Overlay blend mode. Since Emberox has two main colors—red and orange—the lighter tone simulates the orange color.

🌟 Phase 4: Final Touches

As always, to create that motion effect, I applied motion blur, leaving behind Emberox a cloud of smoke along with flashes from other TNTs it has already launched. 💥