Mistral was undoubtedly the character that was at the forefront of me getting into Bionicle again; an outcast, a lone surviving Iron Tribe Glatorian, eking out a living in a world where time itself seemed to have lost its meaning. She was my first attempt at a MOC in years, and for a long time my last picture of her was in my opinion the best in my gallery. I’ve moved on a bit since then. Either way, I decided to have a go at working with a much warmer palette for a change, and drawing Mistral again with a Bara Magnan sunset in the background fitted the bill. Drawing her sitting down was very tricky due to all the angles involved, but I’m quite satisfied with it all the same.
I like how it looks, but the overly organic style is unsettlingly akin to the monkeys in the tim burton planet of the apes review. Essentially, it’s a tad to human end ends up in the uncanny valley.
Love the background.
Well, she is a Glatorian, which I recall from somewhere were like 85% organic, so beyond the armored face I’ve always seen them as being more along the lines of humans with a few mechanical enhancements than the full construct nature of the Toa. That said, if this style is close enough to actual organic beings to be in the uncanny valley, I’ll consider it a compliment.
I love the warmer pallet here, it really stands out. Your rendition of a Glatorian is also kind of how I envisioned one to look like- primarily organic with some scraps of armor here and there.
Quite honestly, there’s no question to me that she falls squarely into the uncanny valley; however, I could see why that would be considered a compliment, as nearly all fan illustrations of Glatorian that I have come across are either completely human or completely robotic.
If you wanted to keep the organic balance, I would suggest dilating the pupils on her eyes and altering the color of her hands to match that of her face; unless they were gloves, of course.
