I tried staying away from blues since it seemed like the ‘obvious’ choice, but the more I thought about it the more I realized blues and tans were ‘his’ colors. While his color theme are blues and browns, I also wanted to give him a hint of red to represent a passion that exists, but might be hidden away.

Originally I planned on him having different hair, perhaps brown or blond, but as I was watercoloring I had black and blond hair represented, why not red as well? Of course what is red hair without green eyes?

As for the armor, both he and Constantine are knights and it was important to get that from a glance. There are color meanings to gold and silver, but it was less of a color theory choice and more of a functional one.

Ermingild means all-giving.

Below is a time-lapse video of me working on Emingild. There are more videos about the process of this and other Three Lives pieces here.

Below is color information copy and pasted from a color theory site to explain why I chose this color theme for Ermingild.

Blue

Represents meanings of depth, trust, loyalty, sincerity, wisdom, confidence, stability, faith, heaven, and intelligence.

It can be strong and steadfast or light and friendly. Blue is used to symbolize piety and sincerity in heraldry. The color blue in many cultures is significant in religious beliefs, brings peace, or is believed to keep the bad spirits away.

Different shades, tints, and hues of blue have different meanings. For example, dark blue can be seen as elegant, rich, sophisticated, intelligent, and old-fashioned and light blue can mean honesty and trustworthiness.

Brown

The color of wholesomeness, reliability, elegance, security, healing, home, grounding, foundations, stability, warmth, and honesty.

While it is sometimes considered dull, it also represents steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, dependability, and health.

Beige

Is dependable, conservative, and flexible. The color beige is neutral, calm, and relaxing. The attributes and meanings associated with beige change based on the colors it accompanies.

Red

Is assertive, daring, determined, energetic, powerful, enthusiastic, impulsive, exciting, and aggressive. Red represents physical energy, lust, passion, and desire. It symbolizes action, confidence, and courage.

Background

Since this a single image in a series of five, I wanted to make stylistic backgrounds that had a clear uniformity to them, while still offering an option of character customization. I’ve always loved stained glass and decided it would be a fitting frame.