Reflection of Kiki-Jiki

Fable of the Mirror Breaker and Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, two sides of one card done for MTG Kamigawa Neon Dynasty. Reflection of Kiki-Jiki was relatively easy, as it is a direct reference to the original artwork on Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, done by Steven Belledin. Fable of the Mirror Breaker however was very challenging and went through many iterations. The task was to show two sides of Kiki-Jiki in conflict. Naturally the most obvious solution was to have vertical symmetry, with the two of them in profile facing off, but for whatever reason I never lean towards perfectly symmetrical compositions, not to mention the tall aspect ratio would make it difficult to squeeze the two of them into the frame. Instead I decided to make an attempt at point symmetry, like that on a playing card, revolving around the spiderweb shatter in the center of the mirror. Achieving this while actually showing the two characters facing off in a believable way, while making sure to show the face of at least one of them took a lot of finagling. but ultimately I like how it came out. The frame was fun, and a nice break from typical realistic paitning that I always do. It was achieved with by painting the diffuse, opacity and bump layers in photoshop and applying them to a fame I made in zbrush.