Himeko

Been wanting to draw some Star Rail waifus and Himeko was the obvious first choice.

This is what I spent most of the week on, while trying to survive the heat wave (high 30s and no AC is a bad combo). It actually went pretty smoothly, it was just time consuming to get all the details right and all the shading/lighting passes, including the couch which Im particularly proud of, lol.

The background is loosely based on the astral express, as you can tell from the couch design, but I didnt like the fact that the in game couch is orange which clashes with her red hair, so thats why I made it "white" instead (or light brown if you wanna get pedantic). And I was also not sure about doing a space setting so I went with something Im comfortable with, to make her stand out as much as possible.

As for Himeko herself, the only thing that gave me trouble was her face/expression when I was sketching. It took me so long to get it right, not because it looked bad but because it just didnt feel like her. I wanted that womanly, charming, elegant look she has in game, adapted to my style. Fortunately after a while it just fell into place and in the end I absolutely love how she looks.

I also tried giving the hair that "in the wind" look rather than having it just fall down as usual, for some reason it worked so well here. Should probably try it especially with outdoors scenes, could help with making them more dynamic. Still on the hair I love that she naturally has that gradient I love doing, from bright red to dark red at the tips, so I didnt even have to change anything.

Then for the dress once again I took the in game dress and simplified it, giving it a summer dress feel maybe? Plus adding more cleavage because she has the assets to pull it off. Actually, for some reason the dress and the whole scene in general give me vintage vibes, lol. Well technically not "vintage" as in 20s but you know what I mean, maybe 50s or something, it feels like its from another time and I really like that, I feel like it just adds to the charm.

So yeah Im really happy with this, easily my favorite since "Riverside". And this definitely wont be the only time I draw Himeko. I already have another idea I wanna do which will be another full body but probably with more nudity, and Id like to do more of a bust as well for obvious reasons, lol.

As for other Star Rail chars, Id say the highest on the list are Kafka, Tingyun and Jingliu. But I still havent decided what to do with any of them, so we will see.