This project started as a small art challenge with a four-colour pen, inspired by the YouTuber Jazza. I wanted to create five distinct elemental characters with unique styles and personalities and spent time planning out each of them before I began drawing. Once I had a solid sketch though, I decided to scan it to the iPad so that I could do a full colour version later. I realy enjoyed shading with the different colours on paper, and think parts of the original look better than the digital version, like the water. However, the tools available on the painting app I used did allow me to add much more colour and depth to the piece, with interesing details and effects.Recently, I actually did a redraw of this old piece as I really liked the concept but wanted to improve on the shading and anatomy. This time, I spent much more time planning out the proportions, colours and poses of each character, as well as how to visualise their elemental powers. Below you can see some pictures of the development, from sketches to colours and shading with backgrounds. Even though this project took many weeks, I'm extremely pleased with the result and am glad I took the time to carefully plan and detail each aspect, try out different approaches for the fire and water effects to best fit my style, and even add some backgrounds to hint at further depth to the characters.