Development Diary #18

A CREST FOR THE CRYSTAL KING

The Crystalynn crest is done, all hail the king! Bask in its royal crystal glory.

The Crystalynn crest took a little longer than I was expecting since I spent so much time agonizing over whether or not I wanted to have the face in the crest look like stone or a natural flesh tone. I finally opted for the flesh tone as it helps break the look from some of the stoneish Spectral Mother assets I have already done. I wanted to focus heavily on the crystals, and the crown emphasizes that the Crystalynns once ruled Immacus. I also hint at a few of the Crystalynn types on the Crystalynn crown, which shows a orange, blue, and purple gem. Maybe there's another type on the backside of that crown? ;)

Although there are always things I can nitpick about my designs, I'm happy with the end results. The asset is important, but it doesn't make or break the game, so my focus should be on the game, not on whether or not this vector shape is as beautiful as it can be or maybe this color is too saturated etc. The crest is pretty, and pretty is enough. I know myself too well where if I allow myself to do it, I will spend months agonizing over little details that do not matter.

In some ways, the Kingdom Crests have been an exercise of distraction from what I really should be doing, which is digital painting. However, now that the Crystalynn crest is done, I am officially more than halfway done with this process. Despite their distraction, the crests have allowed me to explore some new things with Illustrator and play with my work flow a bit. It has also allowed me time to draw, get better at art in general, and enjoy the world that is slowly building around me. I'm looking forward to talking about the next crest when it is complete.