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Published: 2006-12-03 05:27:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 2399; Favourites: 30; Downloads: 55
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*dies*Bwagh! Finally! I've been working on this for about two weeks now. Well, this file for about two weeks. The actual concept has been in my head since sometime around early September, and I've been scribbling down ideas for two months. I'd grown increadibly sick of the plain grey Azus over the years, but never had the time or inclination to fuss with them much.
But now, after much hair pulling and gnashing of teeth, I give you the big honkin' chart of Azu-Nah color patterns! Huzzah! This is not comprehensive. There are lots more possiblities out there. The idea was more to give people a general idea of what they're more or less capable of.
Skin Color/Pattern: Patterns can be pretty much anything. In this chart alone I've got stripes, spots, patches, rosettes, and solid. Colors are a little more limited. They're more or less all earthy tones. Flaming bright stuff like neon just isn't in the cards. Muted blues and greens are possible, however they are very rare (recessive genes), and tend to show up mostly in sub-populations.
Tattoos and Skin Dyes I've already kinda hinted at this, but the Azu-Nah are very fond of tattoos. They're also big on dyes, both temporary and permanent. This is where one can go a little berserk with color. Neons still aren't in the cards, but if an Azu wants flaming red hair? Dye it! Bright blue rosettes? Dye! Purple skin? .. You get the idea.
Eye Color: Eyes are generally shades of yellow/orange or greens. Occasionally they can be shades of blue. Red eyes are found only in albinos.
Three of the pictured Azu are characters I've had kicking around for years, and finally managed to flesh out a bit. None of them are tattooed in the pictures, mind. The black one with gray rosettes is Rathanon. [link] The gray one above Rathanon, with the dark stripes is Smoke, and the bottom-most right one is Dreedaok (Redstripe). Dree is a female I've had running around for ages. The reason they're all rather gray is because I had already worked them out when the Azu were relatively monochromatic.
Special thanks to *Kaoshin for helping me figure out the logistics of dye vs natural colors.
Azu-Nah are © Jennifer Khoury
Do not copy, alter, or redistribute without artist's permission.
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Comments: 41
ssleepy [2010-03-24 02:25:51 +0000 UTC]
I love the facial markings of the bottom left one!!~~
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felineflames In reply to Unazaki [2007-04-07 02:14:39 +0000 UTC]
Thanks. ^_^ Many were borrowed and adapted from different birds.
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KatsuyaEXTREEME [2007-02-17 05:08:58 +0000 UTC]
Ahh! It's just like when your are trying to chose a paintbrush color for your neopet, but they all look so great you can't choose!
Though I must say, I'd have to go with the bottom left.
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felineflames In reply to KatsuyaEXTREEME [2007-02-20 01:00:49 +0000 UTC]
Thanks! The one on the bottom left was inspired by merging several birds out of my Peterson's guide. I think maybe it was a species of duck that had a run-in with a sparrow. >_>
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NerissaMatrix [2006-12-15 19:30:33 +0000 UTC]
Wow this is so cool! I love all the different colors....They really match together pretty well great creativity
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felineflames In reply to NerissaMatrix [2006-12-17 00:03:34 +0000 UTC]
I'm glad you like them! Thank you so much!
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Teh-Big-P [2006-12-12 21:23:10 +0000 UTC]
Variety be the spice o' life and this collection displays that quite well. That be a lovely variety o' Azu-nah. I can't wait to see some more is these various colors!
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felineflames In reply to Teh-Big-P [2006-12-13 03:28:33 +0000 UTC]
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy them.
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ShadowDragon252 [2006-12-03 22:26:33 +0000 UTC]
Ah! those are awesome! I love the top right one! Awesome stuff!! Now i can actually draw one the -right-way lol
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felineflames In reply to ShadowDragon252 [2006-12-04 17:53:50 +0000 UTC]
Hey, yours turned out totally fine. :-p Yours fits quite nicely into one of the sub populations I was talking about. I'm glad you like these, though! ^_^ I don't have the knack for making totally awesome color combos of eye-popping happy like you do.
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ShadowDragon252 In reply to felineflames [2006-12-04 23:05:44 +0000 UTC]
lol thanks ^_^ I just love colors o_o because i can't seem to make anything look desaturated or washed out and make it look right XD
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D-Bird [2006-12-03 21:29:07 +0000 UTC]
Verrrry helpful! I will definately be refering to this for future drawings! This is awesome!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
felineflames In reply to D-Bird [2006-12-04 17:54:00 +0000 UTC]
^_^ I'm glad you like them. Thank you!
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SadandAlone [2006-12-03 21:18:52 +0000 UTC]
i like the first one on the right and the fourth one on the left there pretty
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felineflames In reply to SadandAlone [2006-12-04 17:58:20 +0000 UTC]
The one with horizontal black stripes? That's Smoke.
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SadandAlone In reply to felineflames [2006-12-05 00:40:26 +0000 UTC]
There all awsome but those two are my fave
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dragon-architect [2006-12-03 19:27:16 +0000 UTC]
So, how does an Azu go about getting his/her skin dyed permanently?
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felineflames In reply to dragon-architect [2006-12-04 17:57:37 +0000 UTC]
I haven't quite worked that out yet. And I figure it would be rather rare for them, since, you know, dying yourself purple or something permanently might kinda suck after a while. They'd be more for the temporary type. But anyway, the way it was in my head it was more or less something like really big tattoos. I'm not solid on it yet, though.
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dragon-architect In reply to felineflames [2006-12-05 22:54:06 +0000 UTC]
Really big tattos!? That would... hurt.
I just thought of an idea, but I dunno if it's one you'd like. You can just forget it if you don't like it enough. It won't spell the end of the universe for me if you do or don't.
Here's my idea: they accidentally stumbled across a new class of biologically-unreactive, oxidation-proof/resistant dye that is nontoxic and also unmetabolizable; kinda like one of those happy accidents that revolutionizes the world or sumthin like that. [geek-speak alert! WOOP!! WOOP!! WOOP!! ]
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felineflames In reply to dragon-architect [2006-12-06 01:09:21 +0000 UTC]
*revels in geekery* Mwahaha! Interesting idea. I don't think I've ever heard the term "unmetabolizable" before. ^_~
Yeah, I said tattoo initially because of the whole bypassing the epidermis problem. Any dye would work fine to color outer layers of skin permanently, but eventually the current epidermal layer would fade and slough off to be replaced with the original geneticly determined pigment. x_x So I'd either have to make it so their skin never regenerated (generally problematic in the long run ) or think of some way of introducing pigment below the epidermal layer.
Bah. x_x This is where I wish I knew less about biology. I could just say they just dunk themselves in it so much that it permeates through to the dermal layer of skin. But that's kinda... lame.
Deep tissue ink massage! XD
That or I could just say "It happens. Question it and I stab joo!" ^_~ I might just do away with the permanent dye concept entirely.
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dragon-architect In reply to felineflames [2006-12-06 23:16:17 +0000 UTC]
No! No! I like the concept, but tattoo sounds a bit too... laborious and painful.
Perhaps something like a deep tittue ink massage would work. Humans already do it to get rid of age spots and wrinkles.
Can you answer a few questions? Just how intelligent are the Azu-nah? What's their culture like? What are some particular symbols of importance? (yes, I'm getting semi-obsessed )
Oh, and I did some pondering today during second and third block during school. To me, earthtone colors are a specialized spectrum of colors ranging from black to white that are found in nature. They can be floral, terrestrial, or maritime in hue. Some examples of each: jades, light greens, grays, golden yellows for floral; clay colors, tan, beige, browns, grays for terrestrial; and grays with slight greenish, bluish, or violet hues and other greenish, bluish, or purplish pastel colors for maritime. Of course, I'm bringing up "dull" blues and greens because I just figured that it may be possible that populations that have existed in maritime environments (near or on the sea) for many generations may have evolved matching hues.
Phew! That's a lot of talking!
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felineflames In reply to dragon-architect [2006-12-07 00:43:20 +0000 UTC]
A full body tattoo does indeed sound incredibly painful. o_O;; But there are actually people who've had that kind of thing done, so I suppose it's possible. lol I'll fuss with the concept more eventually. ^_^ Deep tissue massage.... *snerk*
As for your questions (Yay! Questions!), I'm actually working on a species overview for them right now. But since it'll be a bit before that's finished, I'll answer here. ^_^ The Azu-nah are very intelligent. Their culture was once based on very high technology. However, over several generations, they, as a people, chose to live life in a way much closer to the natural world. Something a little like Native Americans. They were not so stupid as to abandon their technology, though. They use it in very subtle ways, such as designing strong, flexible, light building materials for tree-homes, water decontamination, medicine, etc.
Symbols of importance? Hmm.. They have a strong affection for the moon and stars. Especially stars, since their creation myth says that is where they came from ("Azu-nah" means "star people"). They also like stylized sun symbols, spirals, and tribal-esque representations of elements, like fire. Everyone has their own personal tastes, though, so it's not limited to just those.
As for colors, you've essentially completely fleshed out my concept for what kinds of colors they can be. ^_^ The blues and greens are rare, mostly because they're primarily an inland species that first evolved for grassland habitat. However, they've since spread out and diversified. *ShadowDragon252 did a beautiful representation of a tropical one (the oranges and reds would be tattoos). Blues would probably also show up in the tropics, and in marine environments too. They're not really great swimmers, but living beside the ocean is certainly a possiblilty.
Holy googly moogly, that was long.. o___o;; I hope that at least answered some of your questions. And awesome questions they were!
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dragon-architect In reply to felineflames [2006-12-07 00:59:18 +0000 UTC]
Well, if it helps you any as to why I asked them, I've sorta created some Azu-nah RP characters. They don't have personalities and they're not named yet, but I have an idea of physical identity.
Do they live in organized groups like clans or do they just live in population centers like townships or cities?
It's possible that, as active as my imagination is at times, I may come up with a story centered in Azu-nah culture, so li'l tidbits from you could certainly come in handy so I don't get any culture-clash.
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Kaoshin [2006-12-03 19:14:09 +0000 UTC]
Woot! Finally got that all worked out ^.=.^ Yayness. And wow! You whipped out four more color patterns.
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felineflames In reply to Kaoshin [2006-12-04 17:59:57 +0000 UTC]
^___^ Thanks, Kao. Yeah, I just started splattering stuff across the last couple. That's why the bottom left one looks so... patchy. O_o;
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TaiStormsword [2006-12-03 05:35:59 +0000 UTC]
Ooh, some of these color schemes are really awesome. The yellow-orange striped one and the yellow spotted one are my favorites.
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felineflames In reply to TaiStormsword [2006-12-03 05:41:45 +0000 UTC]
Yellow spots was probably the most fun! The orange stripey one was inspired by my cat. Tabby Azu!
Thanks!
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