This is a painting I made of Tiki from the Fire Emblem series for my sister as a late Christmas gift. 

This project is a simple art piece. On top of the painting is a small 3D print of a crystal I found on Thingiverse. I adjusted the size to about five centimeters.

I painted over the gem with a light coat of blue paint, as to not obstruct the NeoPixels from shining through.

I really enjoyed making this piece. I have not painted in a while and I have been looking for an excuse to get back into it. I also was happy to make a gift for my sister. She really likes Fire Emblem and Tiki is one of her favorite characters from the series, so I was happy to make a piece that she would love to display in her room.

- Assorted acrylic paints

- Modeling paste

- Brushes

- Water

- NeoPixels

- Arduino Nano

Earlier in the day before I created the piece, I made a rough sketch of what I wanted the piece to look like in terms of composition on my iPad using Procreate. I also downloaded reference images of Tiki and her dragon form.

When I started the project, I immediately started to sketch the piece based on the concept art I made earlier in the day. I also made a mark on where I wanted the gem to be located and made guideline marks in pencil so I knew where it would be on the finished product.

After sketching Tiki, I drew her dragon form behind her in pencil. At this point, the easel was covered in lots of graphite marks but I was hoping that with the eraser/paint later they would not be as visible.

I then lined Tiki with a Sharpie, and then lined her dragon form.

I then started to base color Tiki, starting with her hair.

I then slowly moved onto the rest of her body, including her hair details, skin color, and cape/dress.

I then continued the process by coloring her dragon form. I used different shades of blue and green acrylic paints along with modeling paste to add texture to her feather details.

I also continued to shade both versions of her to add more variety to the piece.

Next, I decided to reline any of my old sharpie lines that had been covered up by using black acrylic paint.

During this time, I also covered the gem (her dragonstone) in a light coat of blue paint so the NeoPixels would still shine through.

After finishing my shading and lining, I added a dark purple (almost black) background.

I decided I wanted to have more variety in the piece so I added some stars using some white paint. I also signed the piece.

I cut a small line through the canvas where the dragonstone would go, and folded over the canvas enough at the bottom to let the NeoPixels shine through. I then hot-glued it to the canvas.

To add the Neopixels, I cut a strip about six pixels long and glued it to the back of the easel. I coded a quick program that when the Arduino Nano is connected to power, the lights will shine blue.