Witchblade Tribute (Fan Tier)

Something I've wanted to do since I was a kid but never had any real grasp of how I'd do it until recently.  I vividly remember the first time I saw the page this illustration is based on.  I'd been shopping with my family and found a Tomb Raider x Witchblade graphic novel in WHSmiths - being a growing lad I had a fondness for anything Lara Croft related so I begged my Mum to buy it.  She relented and got it for me.

On the bus on the way home I opened it up and eagerly read through the Tomb Raider portion of the book, it was a crossover story where Lara and Sara fought some crazy ancient demon that was murdering people all over New York (it's pretty cool and worth a read, the art is INSANE)  This was my first introduction to Michael Turner, and my first introduction to "cheesecake" art, where the women aren't necessarily objectified, but they are SUPER pretty and capable (and usually wearing some kind of extravagent clothing... or very little clothing... so maybe they are objectified... fuck I dunno, I digress!)

Once the Tomb Raider story was over, the next page was this wide shot of New York City at daybreak, the text boxes describing some kind of slaughter at a huge venue.  I was like "wtf is this?" then I turned the page and found a full page illustration of Sara in her undies asleep on golden sheets with the Witchblade in glove form on her hand.  It was breathtaking, and more than a little naughty to me at the time.  I snapped the book shut and put it back in the bag to read later.  It left a real impression.

Ever since then I've wanted to do some kind of tribute/homage piece, but in all honesty I wasn't good enough to do the original justice, let alone put my own spin on it.  That's until recently where I figured I'd levelled up enough to draw it competently, but I also had an idea for what I'd do differently - the lighting!

You know me by now, golden hour is one of my favourite things, whether in illustration or photography, so it made perfect sense to me to add that to this image.  I wouldn't be so egotistical to say my illustration is better than the original, but I do love the added atmosphere I've brought to it.

There's two colour versions, both with and without text, and I've included the original illustration at the end of the carousel just for reference.

I hope you don't mind my little ramble there, and I hope you enjoy the illustration.