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Falcolf — Prey

Published: 2009-09-01 07:38:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 1900; Favourites: 64; Downloads: 37
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Description This is another pic which was done a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. (As in, a week ago. It's been up on my website for that long.)

Special credit to who extracted Momentaru's lineart for me! Without her, I might not of finished this picture, which is in fact began as 2 sketches spliced together, then became two characters with a background painted underneath. I drew Mo first, inked him and then ~sindos extracted his lines. Then, once he was fully coloured, I realized I wanted to finish his picture the way I had originally intended - that is, by adding his horse Shivra. However, Shiv's sketch hadn't been inked, so her lines were drawn digitally. If you look closely, you can probably even tell the difference between her lines and his. (HINT: Mo's lines have a grainy texture to them because they were drawn with real ink, on real paper, traditionally.)

I had a bit of trouble figuring out the scale of this pair, mainly because I'm sick to tears of getting my horse-to-human/drakoon scales wrong in my drawings. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who gave advice on this dilemma, particularly who dug up an extremely handy scale chart for me. Thank you!

So, onto notes about the picture itself:

When I originally sketched this, I had the idea of doing a winter background, mainly because of Mo's manner of dress. However, when it comes down to it, Mo's a drakoon and is utterly oblivious to temperature - he wears fur, because it's easier to acquire than fabric in the early Rimarian human society he lives in and it goes with the category of his job. With the clothes Mo wears, he tries to blend in with human society, but he doesn't always succeed. This guy would be still wearing this furry getup in the dead of summer and would still be under the vague conclusion that his camofluage is working.

In any case, both Mo's and Shiv's gear are supposed to look mostly homemade, since the early humans of Rimer would not have much in the way of resources.

After I finished Mo & Shivra, I started thinking about the background and sketched it. For this picture, I wanted to put out something more than the usual generic crap I somehow end up with. First, I decided to pick a colour scheme, so in going with Mo's gold eye colour, I went with a sunset deal, having not done one in a while. I started out with a base gradient layer of a dark orange and a lighter one, then on top made a layer of simple blue fading into nothing. I finished it off with yet another layer of gradient, this one to lighten the corner of the picture to better represent the setting of a sun.

After that, the background was mainly a test of lighting. I used orange highlights for absolutely everything and used dark red sharp cell shading for the characters, with a transparent overlay layer of orange on each to make them appear to be more like they were part of the background.

Besides the attempt at making a better background (I really don't think I made much progress at getting better personally) I also had to of course make the picture tell a little story. I simply can NOT STAND pictures which don't tell some sort of tale! If you're crafty, you can probably figure out at least hint of what's going on in all my full scenes. This is concept art for the next book, Born of Fire in my series, so I can't tell you what's happening, but if you use your eyes, you might get at least a taste of the tale in this image.

And now I'm going to bed, because I haven't had a proper sleep in about a week. I'm looking forwards to my little week of solitude!

P.S. I apologize for the wad of typos in this artist comment. I'm tired.

P.P.S. If you're thinking of drawing Mo or Shivra, I wouldn't use this picture as a reference. If you've been paying any attention at all you'll know the actual colours of the characters are hidden under a layer of transparent orange.

Again, special thanks to everyone who gave me tips on horse to human scale, in particular and to who extracted Momentaru's lineart. You guys are awesome~!!!


(c) Rosanna P. Brost. All rights reserved. Do NOT copy, trace, alter, reuse or redistribute!
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Comments: 28

Murasaki99 [2009-09-04 04:33:35 +0000 UTC]

Mo's hair looks almost a bit stripy -- is he a stripy-scaled drakoon, too?

Nice work! I like the background and setting as well as the characters and their gear.

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Falcolf In reply to Murasaki99 [2009-09-05 10:56:17 +0000 UTC]

Nah, it's just the angle, Mo's hair/hide colour is the same as the rest of his kind. (But the style's different! All the drakoon have different hairstyles now to make it easier to tell them apart.) Thanks though!

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Ala-Rai [2009-09-04 02:30:58 +0000 UTC]

I saw this on the site a while back actually . The warm colors and clouds in the sunset are wonderful. It almost looks like a screenshot from an animated film.

Good job with the tracks by the way. They really tell the story.

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Falcolf In reply to Ala-Rai [2009-09-05 10:57:34 +0000 UTC]

Yay, somebody who checks the site! You get cookies!! *gives you cookies*

Thank you, I was trying to make it look sort of 'animated film'-y

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sindos [2009-09-03 22:57:32 +0000 UTC]

Amazing job. I love the scenery, very cinematic. I love how all the details come together and tell the story.
Haha, thinking of his inhability to perceive temperature.
Uh, the little star there! :3

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Falcolf In reply to sindos [2009-09-05 10:59:59 +0000 UTC]

lol yeah, Mo is hilarious. Zack (the human he lives with) is always having to tell him what to wear.

Thankies, I try

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AleriaCarventus [2009-09-03 01:29:53 +0000 UTC]

Haha, looking at this now it makes me think of Orenji no Taiyou

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Falcolf In reply to AleriaCarventus [2009-09-03 04:13:21 +0000 UTC]

Orenji no Taiyou is Moonchild's theme right? Is the song about the movie? *has forgotten*

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AleriaCarventus In reply to Falcolf [2009-09-03 19:33:53 +0000 UTC]

Yes it is the theme song. It's not really about the movie, it's presence in it was as a song from one of the character's pasts. Really, it was just an excuse to get Hyde and Gackt to do a duet.
You can read a translation here [link]
Your picture just reminded me of it 'cause of the orange sunset

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Falcolf In reply to AleriaCarventus [2009-09-03 19:57:08 +0000 UTC]

lol so thaaat's why

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AleriaCarventus In reply to Falcolf [2009-09-03 20:34:54 +0000 UTC]

Yup.

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Garovar [2009-09-02 02:02:28 +0000 UTC]

This is freaking awesome. I love your background(especially the sky) and I like your talent with horses and humans. The two things I have the most trouble with. They are amazing. Amazing job with this 8D!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Falcolf In reply to Garovar [2009-09-05 11:00:57 +0000 UTC]

Practice makes perfect y'know!

Thanks so much! I'm trying to improve my backgrounds right now. They're looking stale to me.

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Garovar In reply to Falcolf [2009-09-05 22:15:26 +0000 UTC]

bah. Nonsense.

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Wrennars [2009-09-02 01:39:30 +0000 UTC]

Gah! This is gorgeous!
The colors are wonderfully coordinated, and I really like how Mo and Shivra are positioned in the canvas. And the background! I am so so so jealous of your freehand grass skills, I fail at grass.

Now I really know what Shiv looks like! I need to get started on my half of our trade. She's such a pretty mare, I'm going to really enjoy drawing her!

I'm glad I could help! Drawing to-scale can be so irritating sometimes.

Anyway, lovely work, this is a really nice piece.

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Falcolf In reply to Wrennars [2009-09-03 04:35:42 +0000 UTC]

Awww grass is okay, you just gotta know how to make lotsa short lines I make my grass by starting out with a base green, then smudging the top of it so it looks grassy, then I lock the layer and using transparent greens, yellows, browns and sometimes oranges, I sketch in each blade really loose & quick. Easy-peasy!

Yay, I'm glad! I actually get worried that she's boring looking, since she has no markings. I hope this picture helps! (And don't worry about taking forever! Take as long as you want!)

Thanks again for helping me!

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Wrennars In reply to Falcolf [2009-09-03 05:06:57 +0000 UTC]

I need to practice it, thanks for the tips on how you do it! I'm trying to lower the amount of brushes I use in my art, and start making it more "me."

Are you kidding? I love black horses! They're all so gorgeous and I can really make them shine when I draw them. It does help, very much so! I've started sketching. Oh, and I couldn't find any good refs for a background, so I was wondering if I could have Shiv on a grassy plain, leading to the water, with some mountains in the background. Is that all right?

You're welcome! *is glomped*

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Falcolf In reply to Wrennars [2009-09-03 06:49:42 +0000 UTC]

Yeah sure, that sounds cool! It actually reminds me a place in my story which only gets a brief mention lol.

lol I'm so fail at technology that I don't even know how to use brushes. I'm terrible! XD XD

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Wrennars In reply to Falcolf [2009-09-04 07:25:13 +0000 UTC]

Okay, I just wanted to check with you first, 'cause I know you wanted the north sea side or something like that.

Oh, well if you want to know how just let me know!

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Nukilik [2009-09-01 19:56:11 +0000 UTC]

Looks awesome!

I'm especially loving the background

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Falcolf In reply to Nukilik [2009-09-03 07:06:38 +0000 UTC]

Thankies! I'm glad!

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Pyridene [2009-09-01 17:38:40 +0000 UTC]

Well for all that work, it certainly came out looking great.

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Falcolf In reply to Pyridene [2009-09-05 11:01:57 +0000 UTC]

Thankies kindly

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Kazzagal [2009-09-01 08:54:08 +0000 UTC]

I love that background! I love sunsets... I feel kinda bad for not reading the comment, but I'm feeling too lazy right now -.-

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Falcolf In reply to Kazzagal [2009-09-05 11:26:10 +0000 UTC]

Eh don't worry about it, I know I write text walls

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RoxanneMilson [2009-09-01 08:25:27 +0000 UTC]

I really love this picture! Everything about it is beautiful and just plain awesome!^^
The background leaves me in awe, great job! Instant Fav^W^

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Falcolf In reply to RoxanneMilson [2009-09-05 11:34:14 +0000 UTC]

Aww thankies! I'm doing my best to make my bgs more epic, so I'm happy you like!

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RoxanneMilson In reply to Falcolf [2009-09-05 14:08:30 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome^W^
Well, that BG is an Epic epic xD hehehe, So keep em coming!

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