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rachaelm5 — Predator Jam Session

Published: 2012-03-17 19:39:32 +0000 UTC; Views: 6103; Favourites: 145; Downloads: 0
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Description MOOOOOARRRR COWBELL!

This is it. My Predator magnum opus is finally complete, and I can go on with my life.

This is my half of a trade with . She just wanted a couple of our characters interacting in some interesting way, but as usual I decided to turn the project into a tour de force. I wanted to challenge myself, you see. Sporkey has been very, VERY patient with me throughout this months-long process.

Accomplished with ink (about eight hours), watercolor (twenty seconds, and not visible because it's under the colored pencil), and Prismacolor pencils (sixty or seventy hours- seriously). Format is larger than usual at 12 x 18 inches, but there was no way I would be able to cram all of these guys into a 9x12 and still get in all that detail.

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Wanna know who's making all that noise...? I mean besides the guys on percussion instruments. They get going and they just kind of take over for a while. Once they tire themselves out, the rest of the musicians can chime back in.

Foreground left with the long, thin Flute-o-Phone with teeth is my character Chaunn'tne-di.

Behind Chaunn on the mandolin is her dad, Khan'nai (with especial thanks (again) to *Fiji-Fujii for Khan's new design).

Behind those two on the left, playing the sticks and the two long horns are just some random guys.

Center foreground on the harp is ~SporkeyAnonymous 's character Sar'idikk.

Directly behind Sari on the double-drum is her big, tough buddy Kiit'du.

On the tambourine is my scholarly character Bak'udrin-de.

With the maracas is an old friend, Yen-ta.

Behind Baku, seated with the cowbell is another random guy. Honestly, I needed more cowbell.

On the right with the wrap-around horn is ~peanutchan 's matriarch, Tituga. I hope P-chan forgives me for not drawing Tituga in a bikini... I enjoy drawing complicated costumes.

The flautist behind Tituga is another random lady.

Oh, and the fuzzball at Sari's feet is a pfaukal called Yikyik. It's the Predator equivalent of a housecat, and Baku the Scholar belongs to it. Naturally.

.................................

...Yes, I did think about the mouthpieces for the various wind-powered instruments. The tissues within the inner jaws of a Predator form a sphincter similar to the way human lips do. With a little bit of adjustment to the mouthpieces, I think a Predator could play instruments like flutes, trumpets, and tubas. Reed instruments like clarinets and saxophones would require some considerably different engineering, and I haven't actually featured any of them here. That long, thin thing that Chaunn plays is more like a recorder or Flute-o-Phone with a "trumpet" mouthpiece.

Progress shots:

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Comments: 104

rachaelm5 In reply to ??? [2012-03-19 19:57:16 +0000 UTC]

I tend to lay down fairly dark watercolor and sometimes it's too dark to see the pencil lines. If I think I'm going to use darker colors, then I ink the drawing first, then watercolor it. I'm also using a heavy illustration board as my paper, and it takes quite a bit of abuse before it gets yucky. When I erase, I use a white plastic eraser and a kneaded eraser. I've never had any problems with them on regular drawing paper, bristol board, or illustration board. Copier/printer paper might still get messy because the paper is both very thin and very smooth. The drawing papers and boards I use have a bit of roughness to them, and that actually seems to help me get clean erasure when I need it.

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RakaiThwei In reply to ??? [2012-03-17 19:43:23 +0000 UTC]

This is pretty damn cool! I don't know how long it must've taken you to do this, but damn the detail in this is insane. Now I remember WHY I admire your Predator works here, Rachael. Kick-ass job here!

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rachaelm5 In reply to RakaiThwei [2012-03-18 15:21:05 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much, Rakai!

There's probably 80 hours in this project, from start of penciling to end of coloring. It even *felt* like it took a long time, though I didn't really start cramming until close to the end. But I'm very happy with the way it turned out, and certainly it was a good project for learning... patience... among other things.

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