Arma - The Iron Maiden

This was for the artbook I sent to print earlier in the week. I did this last week but never had the time to post it.

I really want to be a good paint-styled digital artist. That painterly look is awesome when done well, but I just can't seem to get the hang of it in a way that satisfies me... I guess I just have to practice more. Though, I've also noticed a lot of artists I like are turning to SAI, where blending colors is a little easier. That makes it hard to find good tutorials or videos, since everyone seems to be using SAI when I still use Photoshop.

This is my original character Arma, and as the title suggests she is a she. She's the main character in my original story FaLLEN, which will debut as a webcomic next month on my new website at ogawaburukku.com (nothing there at the moment, but I'll have something up in the next few days). Instead of a pretty lead or a sexy kickass soldier girl with a nice rack just looking for someone man enough to take her to bed, Arma is more masculine in appearance and pretty much a Regular Joe when she's not in battle. And she's flat as a board! I have other characters who are what most men would probably prefer their women to look like, but the main character is more of what I've always wanted to see in a heroine. I like my Sailor Moons and my Princess Tutus and any other number of cute but clumsy, love-struck magical girl leads, and I like my Utenas and Lina Inversers who are tomboys but still have their feminine charms, but this is a character for women who, sometimes, maybe identify more with men than other women.

I'll probably save the lineart and cel-shade color it for my website, since I don't totally like this and it feels rushed to me, but it was good practice, I guess.

Arma is mine. Art is mine.
Title is, obviously, a reference to a very famous heavy metal band.

Added this texture:
Added this effect:
Background was a touched up version of an image from this pack:
It's one of my favorite background/texture packs, check it out!