Did I make it at the last minute? Is there still time? ⏱

In my defense, it's still 7:15 PM as I write this—technically, it hasn’t even been 72 hours since October 5th, haha. I hope I’m not disqualified from the challenge! But anyway, the scene turned out really lovely. The last two prompts were a bit dark, so I wanted to balance it out with Naara, her evolution Shinaara, and a little healer in a scene full of love and herbs everywhere. 🌿💖

🔅 Fifth Prompt: Deer

For the fifth prompt, "Deer," I wanted to represent more than just a simple deer: I created Naara and her evolution Shinaara—two majestic creatures almost made of plants, their bodies seemingly woven with living leaves, flowers, and branches. Their connection to nature is deep and symbolic, but to balance the scene and add vibrant contrast, they're accompanied by a small ocean healer, whose presence brings a touch of aquatic light amid all the greenery (even though everything looks gray here)

🧠 TOOLS USED:

Photoshop (as always, my digital salvation).
Brushes: my trusty brush pack, with a few new ones featuring glitter effects
Resolution: 2048x2400 px

_{(Thx to Hive account@holozing for such adorable creatures to bring to life!)}

⏰ CREATIVE PROCESS

✏️ Phase 1: Ibis Paint for Sketching

For the composition, I drew inspiration from the way certain tattoo designs are crafted—ensuring that elements don’t just float randomly in space, but are filled with interconnected details that tie all the elements of the design together.

🎨 Phase 2: Lineart

While refining the sketch, Naara and Shinaata turned out great almost immediately, but the healer's face gave me some trouble. Even though I was trying to make her look cute and tender, she kept ending up with a rather disturbing expression. So I spaced her eyes a bit farther apart and used finer lines to tone down that "crazy" look in her eyes.

🌗 Phase 3: Ink

Something I thought would be super quick was adding all the herbal decorations—but no! Because it wasn’t just about adding things randomly (well, maybe a little), but also about placing them thoughtfully and varying them so it wasn’t the same plants everywhere. Up in the top section, I used the symmetry tool to speed things up.

🌟 Phase 4: Final Touches

I had to separate all the characters and the herbs into different layers to work on them comfortably. This time, the result didn’t have a strong inked style, but the lines turned out pretty clean. Since I was short on time, I shaded the way I usually do: using the airbrush and then smoothing everything out with the smudge tool. I also tried to improve the rendering by painting over lines that looked off and areas that appeared too flat.

I wanted to add more highlights to the healer’s face, but it turned out her face was already too bright, and I didn’t want to darken it further. So, no little sparkles on her cheeks this time.

And you? Are you doing Inktober, or focusing on Zingtober? Or maybe following a different prompt list?

Let me know in the comments—I’d love to check out your art and see how you interpret the prompts!

/┆\ My Zingtober Road જ⁀➴


				Deer	Pierce	Starfish
Reckless	Heavy	Sweep	Sting	Shredded	Drink	Trunk
Ragged	Blunder	Ornate	Deal	Artic	Rivals	Blast
Button	Firefly	Rowsy	Inferno	Puzzling	Onion	Skeletal
Lesson	Vacant	Award