_{A bug, a warrior, and a little sparkle of chaos 🌿}

Today, I want to share with you my latest digital painting: my fan art of Cinella, a creature inspired by ladybugs—but with a far more imposing and wild twist. The idea for this fan art came thanks to @zellypearl, who asked me to create “some girlie stuff” after my previous illustration of a cute little dragon. A while back, I drew Cinelarala, which had a design more focused on battle and brute force. This challenge was different: I had to create a character with a softer, more playful and colorful vibe, while still keeping the essence of a powerful fighter. In my version, I imagine Cinella stands about 1.2 meters tall (around 4 feet), making her imposing enough to command respect on the battlefield—yet without losing that adorable charm that makes her unique within the Holozing universe.

🐞 CINELLA: CUTE, DEADLY, AND READY FOR BATTLE 🌿

In the Holozing universe, appearances can be deceiving. Though Cinella may look like just a cute ladybug-like creature, her size and strength make her a fearsome warrior. Her reinforced wings and gleaming exoskeleton grant her speed, defense, and strategic mobility. In my interpretation, Cinella goes straight on the attack—practically tricking enemies who expect her to be a simple, adorable creature. But she’s the complete opposite: a holo who adapts seamlessly to her Healer’s decisions and mindset.

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🧠 TOOLS USED:

Photoshop (as always, my digital salvation).
Brushes: my trusty brush pack, with a few new ones featuring glitter effects
Soundtrack: The recommendation is "Impose" by Bad Omens. It just dropped literally as I'm writing this — go listen!
Resolution: 1080x1920 px

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

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⏰ CREATIVE PROCESS

✏️ Phase 1: Sketch & Lineart

From the start, I knew I wanted Cinella to feel both adorable and powerful. I began by creating a dynamic sketch that stayed true to the original design while keeping a strong sense of movement. The cool thing about Cinella’s compact design is that I could use the symmetry tool, which made the holo look dynamic while still being flawlessly rendered!

🎨 Phase 2: Grayscale

Something I almost never do is paint in grayscale before adding color. I’m not really polished or experienced in this technique, but with Cinella, I felt it would work well since I had a fairly clear idea of the result I wanted to achieve. That’s why I rendered it almost to what you might call “perfection” using only shades of gray.

🌗 Phase 3: From Gray to Color

To add color, I used a Hard Light blending layer to apply color without altering the work I had already done in grayscale. This immediately gave me amazing results, which I paired with a radiant blue sky that complements Cinella’s red color perfectly.

🌟 Phase 4: A Sidelined Healer and a Star Bug

I finally got around to working on the Healer. I didn’t want her to be the main focus—to me, she’s a secondary character in this scene. But even so, I think I went a bit overboard with the level of detail and focus I gave her. I ended up detailing her and spending more time painting her than I had planned. So in this piece, she ended up weighing me down a bit, especially since Cinella turned out amazing in such a short time. Still, I picked up a soft brush and used Overlay, Soft Light, and Color Dodge blending modes to bring the spotlight back to Cinella and make her look really striking again.