Shalia - Warrior Woman of the Grasslands (New Character) | Splinterlands Art Contest Week 245

Shalia - Warrior Woman of the Grasslands (New Character)

The line ran twenty feet in Shalia's count on opposite sides of the trenches. To the left stood the battle weary Silver Shield soldiers with their shields and swords holding up their massive frames encased in their armor.

These warriors were the first line of defense. Their helmets covered in battle blood, had long dried during their march through the occupied knolls of Khmyeria.

Shalia strode up to the tallest of the warriors.

Pulling out a soiled rag, she wiped off his sword. Her brother, a Silvershield Warrior himself, had taught her well.

Proceeding to her brother's shield, she studied it carefully. It must be fit for the next conquest, she reasoned. She flipped it over. Suddenly, her brother fell forward. A loud thud upon the water mixed with dirt resounded in her ear. She moved quickly to the side.

Looking around to see if others noticed, she was surprised as they stood steadfast without a word, holding their position.

Without assistance and with great difficulty, Shalia wrapped her arm around her brother and dragged him from formation. Still no movement from the other warriors. She removed his helmet, then wiped his face. He was the bravest of all, she lamented to herself. Her family would be proud.

Shalia was young. But she was not inexperienced. Her brother, Pierre, ensured she could protect herself and their family while he was away in his duties as a Khmyeria warrior.

It was a struggle of wills at first to convince her brother to teach her the history of the Khmyeria silver shield and its importance. Even harder was her training in the battle tactics of the Silvershield Warriors.

Her brother, Pierre instilled in her that she was special above all other children in their village. She possessed a life strong life force that would enable her to see beyond what other children her age would be able.

Shalia embraced this life force. She knew that she was destined to be someone other than a village maiden in Khmyeria.

Taking up Pierre's sword, she stood in his stead, her height noticeable from that of her counterparts.

She already knew what must be done. She had trained these past two years. And her trainer was none other than her brother, a mighty Silvershield Warrior.

She would become known a Silvershield Warrior from the Grasslands of Khmyeria.

That is Shalia's Story.

In creating Shalia, I decided her character would be a Silvershield Warrior. The first of her kind, I wanted a unique image that would be female. Composing her would entail blending different art elements. I did just that utilizing the following technique:

Below is a summary of my procedures:

• Fractal Art. I used the popular fractal rendering program, Apophysis 2.09 and the advanced version, 7X.

• Stable Diffusion. I used the popular program Night Cafe to render this Image.

• Canva. This popular design program was used to blend all the art elements.

• The entire process for all programs took me four (4) hours to create all the elements surrounding the shield, the female warrior and the correct style I felt would be an appropriate image for Shalia as a potential female Silvershield Warrior.

• Documenting (including screen captured) my processes in each program and in the publication of my post which consisted of a short story for my entry took approximately two (3) hours.

• Total time it took to complete my project was seven (7) hours.

FRACTAL

I first created a pure fractal as part of her life element. A fractal is a visual representation of a complex mathematical formula. The numerous variations available to apply to my design takes an inordinate amount of time in trial and error.

If one variation does not produce the desired result, then I have to apply another one. Sizes, triangle degrees, colors, and variables are tedious to work with, but satisfying when I discover the perfect combination.

She is surrounded by earth forces. Her shield is encased in this life element. Here are the procedures I used to create Shalia's life force for her shield.

1st Transform: Gradient #436
Variables: Linear: .995/Exponential: .004

3rd Transform:
Variables: Linear: 1

2nd Transform:
Variables: Linear: .29190/Fan: .718209

4th Transform:
Variables: Linear: 1

Once the pure fractal was designed, I rendered it on a transparent background in order to blend it into the shield.

I then uploaded the fractal into my design program, Canva. I needed to duplicate it so that the images would fit on both sides of Shalia's face near her helmet.

STABLE DIFFUSION

Designing Shalia

I designed Shalia, the Silvershield Warrior in Night Cafe. Working with stable diffusion can be a starting option. I see it as an option just as 3D modeling is used as a starting point for drawing detailed body images at odd angles.

I rarely utilized the entire image as the final product, but combine with other elements to change the look and texture of the original image output.

For example, using Night Cafe, the image of Shalia I received, as you can see, was incomplete. Only half a face was visible, with only one eye and no body detail.

I wanted a fuller image. This required time, patience, and imagination as I would have to create it myself using different techniques taken from original diffusion image. I could construct her and give her an entirely different. One that would be fitting of a Silvershield Warrior.

But first, here are the steps to creating the face of Shalia using Night Cafe:

Text Prompt:
"Full face of beautiful female with head split in half from side to side with thorns growing out of it head and shoulders portrait."

Options:
8k resolution; concept art; portrait by Greg Rutkowski; Artgerm; WLOP; Alphonse Mucha; dynamic lighting; hyper-detailed; intricately detailed; Splash art; trending on Artstation; triadic colors.

Weight: 1
Initial Resolution: Thumb
Runtime: Short

Result:

To transform Shalia and create a full face with two eyes, I uploaded her stable diffusion image into Canva.

I duplicated her face. Next, I built the remaining features of her body with inverted portions of her face. That way, it looked as if she was designed with two eyes and shoulders.

Next, I repositioned the life forces near her eyes. I was pleased with the result.

Third, I duplicated the lower half of her face to give her the look of a lower body. This worked well.

Although Shalia was designed with stable diffusion, she was only half built. It took me adding onto her image to fill in and complete the entire facial feature profile.

I wanted her to be whole. She deserved full recognition as a brave warrior. I went through several processes to transform the face into a shoulder length image. The top portion of the face is still in the forefront, however, she now has a lower portion and a complete face instead of a partial one.

Below is the completed image of Shalia.

However, I still needed to design her shield.

Designing Shalia's Shield

I also designed Shalia's shield in Night Cafe. Here are my steps:

Text Prompt:
"An exquisite Shield and sword only facing front with sword crossing in front of shield. Epic cinematic brilliant stunning intricate meticulously detailed dramatic atmospheric maximalist digital matte painting.""

Weight: 1
Initial Resolution: Thumb
Runtime: Short

Result:

The shield was perfect as I envisioned. All I needed was to remove the background and duplicate it so that it could be placed in front of Shalia's face for protection.

Finally, to complete my project, two other pure fractals rounded out Shalia's profile. These pure fractals were completed in Apophysis 2.09. One I placed behind the shield. The other I included as part of her Earth elements near her shoulders.