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RiceGnat — Flash Fire
Published: 2008-10-25 02:07:19 +0000 UTC; Views: 17378; Favourites: 619; Downloads: 83
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Description
Whew. Thought I wouldn't make it.Entry for Contest 21 - Pokemon Abilities
Yay. Fire. I actually started this over once, the original pose didn't look quite as nice.
<3 Ninetales
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Comments: 105
Very beautiful Ninetails! It looks so soft and shimmering ^__^ Lovely work!
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it's the most realistic ninetails that i have seen.
Amazing!!!
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why didn't you get that rare pokemon from toys r' us
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dude it was frickin' rare it was level 50 and shit fuggin ridiculous you totally shoulda gotten it i love pokemon
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This is one of my top favorites of all the contest entries at *pokedorks . I'm so torn over who to vote for!
Stunning job on the effects. Everything from the fire's soft but sinister glow to the Ninetale's fur texture is extremely well done. I especially like the little twigs in the foreground bursting into flame in the wake of Flash Fire. I can almost hear the fire crackling! 
Best of luck in the contest.
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Thanks very much! The twigs were actually an afterthought; I actually managed to finish before the deadline with a couple hours to spare, so I figured I'd add some doodads XD
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OMG 
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Thanks =3
I learned fire effects mostly from 's tutorial:
[link]
Give it a look, I love her style.
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your welcome and omg thank you
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Wow! This is incredible! Beats my Ninetales pictures into the ground. Erk. x.x'
So much emotion, so much power. Amazing job! The fur is so lively and believable in my eyes. And the stylized fire is an awesome touch.
Simply stunning. ^^
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Thanks very much =3
I'm no good with traditional media past sketches, so you've got that on me
Thanks for faving!
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Very pretty. I love all the detail in the fur. I'm also glad you didn't give it a huge detailed background. That would have detracted from the piece itself.
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Damn OwO Yours turned quite a lot better than mine XD Very nice work and extremely detailed 
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No problem ^^ I really like you style 
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How do you create so detailed fur? I would say it by drawing many lines and then smoothening them with Smudge Tool, but is it so? Or are you even using Photoshop? XD
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Yes, it's Photoshop XD
Thing is, I almost never use the smudge tool, but you're right on the other count. I start shading it regularly to define shape and lighting, usually with a large brush size. Then I'll take a smaller soft brush and make faint streaks for fur direction and clean up the edges with the eraser. I usually do this step half-assedly though (except the eraser bit), and I actually sometimes skip it completely. But to get the fur I take a tiny brush with pressure on for size and opacity (and flow, but it's not really necessary). This is assuming, of course, that you have a tablet; if you don't, I suppose it's still possible but... god bless.
Anyway, for this piece I used 5-6 px diameter on a 5000x4000 px canvas, to give you an idea. I like using a hardness of 31%, but there's no significance to that number, it's completely arbitrary.
I only use the smudge tool to get some jagged borders between colors (like the tips of a couple of tails in this piece), but in this case it was really because I messed up. Even then, I usually wind up painting over it with the thin fur lines. I've found that using a tiny brush like this works particularly well on the edges where you can clearly see the ends of the fur or hair, mainly because it's a lot harder to define loose strands with smudge.
There are a couple of great tutorials around dA that helped me a lot:
[link] This is probably closest to what I do. Actually... It's pretty much exactly what I do...
[link] This one's great, but I don't use custom brushes, and I do step 3 with the brush tool
[link] She is totally amazing, but this is a tad difficult to follow at first...
[link] She's so good it's almost obscene. She uses smudge.
As you can see, my method is hardly the only way, and is in fact very inefficient. You may find that the smudge tool works better for you, I just don't like the feel of it as much. Either way, smudge before detailing XD
Hope you can understand all that. It gets longer every time
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I understood most of it ^^ Thanks a lot
I was expecting a short, self-explanatory answer like "I just do my best and you should too ^^" but you actually gave a deep reference. I like it
Your is not the only one, but it's always good to get a personal explanation of the maker rather than a all-rounded tutorial ^^
Do you mind if we become friends? I'd like to chat with you more
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win win win win win
<3 ninetales is love
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Yes, very much so XD
Thanks for faving
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Prettyprettyprettyprettypretty--*stops herself from going too fangirly*
You have that talent for fur that's really shining here. But you also did amazing work with the fire, and fire isn't easy to do. A minimal background works best here, and it makes sense since your char is the only thing creating light. Definitely one I'll appreciate for a long time.
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Haha thanks very much =3
And thanks for faving!
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Wow this is awesome! I love Ninetails!
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Gorgeous coloring and pose <3.
Love for the Ninetails.
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AWSOME!!! I love this piece!! Great Job!
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