Sheriff Robert Torres had seen it all in his three decades of service Hudspeth County, a desert border town in southern Texas. But nothing prepared him for the sight of a huge and horrifying daemon emerging from a glowing pentagram portal shimmering in the dry switchgrass. The nearest local farmers had fled in terror, leaving Robert and his faithful horse Blister to face the monster alone. Despite being outmatched in every way, the sheriff stood his ground before the portal, cocked his rifle, and said to Blister, "If this is our Alamo, let's make history". As the daemon approached, cackling and casting spells, Robert aimed and thought, "You may claim this land by magic, but we Texans will defend our home and way of life". Whatever the battle's outcome, the sheriff was determined to show the courage and grit of the Texas lawman.
Affinity Photo Workflow: A few image prompts using Bing DALL-E to create the monster (head, tail, claws combined from multiple attempts). Grassy fields and clouds merged from multiple images. Cowboy, horse, and original flag from public image searches, fences clipped in from other pictures. Dust, particles, pentagram, additional cloudwork (IAMRENSI brushes), and sunburst beams are added by hand in Affinity Photo. Experimented with various brushes (clouds, particles, smoke) used as my masking tool to work out Fx (such as damage to the flag).
Hi-rez image link [3836px wide]
