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swift-whippet — The Fire Within
Published: 2008-09-14 19:58:13 +0000 UTC; Views: 3708; Favourites: 269; Downloads: 0
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*FireflyStudios and I have a new RP, City of Lights! Set in New York City, it's an epic ongoing battle between light and dark forces. We need more members right now, so I'm shamelessly doing my bit of advertising here. We do quality control and we are an intermediate-advanced level RP, but if you're interested at all, please come check us out! -> [link]EDIT: CoL has been closed due to inactivity.
This is my cat character, Aedan, Senior of the Cats of Light, projecting his soul-spirit (the design of which I will probably be refining and changing), the form in which he enters the spirit world. I'm really pleased with how he came out, I'd been wanting to do real-media and I like drawing Aedan. I'll have to draw some of my other characters eventually too, yayfun.
(prismacolor pencils on recycled paper.)
Soul spirits and related concepts © J. Burns/*FireflyStudios
Aedan © Shelley L./*swiftwhippet
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Comments: 154
Very awesome! I love how you work with pencils
The RP sounds really neat, I'll definitely have to look into it
your avatar is very cute too!
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<3 Thanks isi! Pencils are fun in any form, so I love colouring with them too.
Yay! That would be awesome if you did join.
(Thanks!! ~Chocolate-Rhinos made the fatty for me and I icon-ed it. :3)
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You're welcome
I'll think up someone to toss in there
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i would totally love to roleplay, but i have no time to be on the computer all the time ha ha
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Aw well, I appreciate the thought anyhow!
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I've been poking around that site since it reopened full-force, and I'm considering joining. It has a very interesting concpt (not to mention the charts for correct dog/cat coloration have helped me on MG :3)
I'm digging your real-media stuff, Swift. The orange/blue contrast definately makes the picture very striking and screams 'look at me, please!' :3.
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We'd definitely be happy to have you, Merc. I'm quite curious now to see what you'd come up with in that respect!
Thanks muchly, real-media-compliments mean a lot coming from you.
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Wow I can not get over that detail in the tiger's mouth, and the way this whole image looks. I love how strong and fierce the tiger looks and how that's coming from the cat. Gosh you just keep drawing such beautiful art. T_T
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Thank you so much Sunny! <3 Yes the concept of the soul spirits that Firefly came up with was very inspiring to me. 
(YOU DRAW BEAUTIFULS TOO. I keep seeing these things from you pop up in my inbox, and gah one of these days I need to just go through your gallery and comment on things. 
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AMAZING!!!! And so accurate and clean
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Aw, thanks muchly Ohas <3333 I just keep my pencils sharp enough when I have to go into tight spots. and I love bright colours!
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I love this! Your traditional coloring is so beautiful! And look at those flames! My my Swifty! I wish I could do fire like that 8)
The rp sounds neat too, I may see about joining in
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<3 thanks so much, Rami. Flames are easier than they seem, just put the darker colour where you want it and then colour over and blend with the lighter colours. It should actually be white-yellow at the heart and red-orange at the ends of the flames, just that I broke my own rule in this case for the sake of the tiger. xD
Yay!! I look forward to seeing you there and what you come up with. 
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It's great seeing your traditional art Swifters although I do enjoy all the mediums you work with.
I love the striking contrast of Aedan with the blue background. Beautiful musculature on his soul- spirit form as well!
If this doesn't catch people's interest than I don't know what else would!
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I need to do traditional more, honestly. <3 I do enjoy working with coloured pencils!
Thank you so much, I'm glad you like this. I miss you!
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Miss you too. I hope to get back into the swing of things soon... it has been quite rough.
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Beautiful kitty
I think I'll join the site C:
I've been needing to roleplay for a while =n=
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Nice to have you with us! And thank you.
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*sigh at rats being portrayed as evil and bad once more in a stereotypical way* jeeze... yah need a new animal to scapegoat swift >: I mean seriously what rat can do damage to a huge cat?
You know whats enemy to suburban cats these days? Cars, humans, raccoons, great horned owls, other large birds of prey, coyotes, stray dogs, snakes... the list could go on.. none of which include rats. Rats are cats PREY if anything cats should be the bad guys. People need to stop glamorizing the predator so much or atleast go with an interesting new concept
You know I would personally LOVE to be part of a roleplay like that if the villains were somewhat more original in looks and attitude.
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Oh, grow up!
Do you realize that New York City is NOT "suburban"? Do you even know what "selective breeding" is? Do you realize the cute little ratties in the pet stores that live in cute little cages with colourful little toys have been SPECIFICALLY bred to BE gentle and nice? Have you ever even seen a city rat? Much less a rat in New York city? These wild creatures live in muck and filth. There is poison put down for them constantly. They spread disease, they are filthy and unhealthy, as would anything that lived in the toxic crap that comes off of a city the size of Manhattan. A wild, city rat is absolutely NOTHING like a domestic rat, you have no grounds for an argument about it. Contact the CDC and they'll tell you just how many diseases are spread by wild rats -- diseases that domestic rats have been selectively bred not to catch. Wild rats are a problem, are dangerous, and should not be though of otherwise. The next outbreak of the plague could come from some idiot "rat lover" jumping on a subway track and cuddling the first filthy rat he comes across as some kind of species relations gig.
The whole idea of Firefly's site isn't OH STEREOTYPICAL GOOD VS EVIL. The darkness on his site IS NOT evil, the darkness is death, apathy, decay, sickness, starvation,entropy -- which are things that every single rat in New York City lives with day in and day out. Even city cats and dogs live with these things, especially strays. The point is that your character can choose to give into it, use it to give him power, or choose not to. And for some, they can choose to rise above it, and fight it. This entire choice stems from far back in time, but mostly they say they are continuing the battle that began with the Plague. (If you'll remember, the humans burned the cats because they thought they were bringing about the plague as witches, and all they were doing was allowing the rats to overpopulate and spread the disease further.)
Before you are so quick to judge, why don't you actually read over the information on his forum and ask questions about it. Or, not even just his, but ANYTHING at all you see and want to judge immediately. Things aren't always what they appear to be on the surface, and there is no reason to start calling people uncreative when you don't know the motives behind it, haven't taken the time to read the information provided, and certainly don't know anything about taxonomy and city life.
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You should be the one having a little more maturity. This was never a direct attack but more of an expression of disappointment. I adore both swifts and fireflys art but the idea to me seems like it could use a little more creativity with the animals portrayed. This is not a personal attack on either of them.
Im not going to go look more into and sign up for a forum which I don't intend to roleplay on at all (I did go to the site and looked for the 'story or lore' post but I was hampered by having to make an account and simply didn't bother). Cute little ratties in the petstore may have some fancy markings but look exactly like their wild counterparts the norway rat. All rats no matter the filthy environment they reside in have impeccable personal hygiene and grooming. They are only 'dirty' when traveling through such filth, sure you wouldn't go picking one up or touching one but that goes will ALL wild animals.
Wild rats have diseases that can be passed on to other animals but any human threatening disease would be fatal for the rat itself too. Almost any animal has the potential to have rabies. They are not vectors for the plague, the fleas on their backs have that potential. Poor human hygiene, poor rubbish and home control allowed the population of wild rats to skyrocket. Thus allowing the fleas to spread even further but rats themselves are not to blame. No 'rat lover' in their right mind would try to cuddle a wild rat without gloves or even make any attempt to touch them at all. Your just being absurd there! Another thing this was never a debate about human/wild rat relations being sweet. RATS ARE AFFECTIONATE LOVING SOCIAL ANIMALS within their own colonies! If your roleplaying anything in a sense that it can talk, react, think and reason on a human level (giving it anthropomorphic qualities) then humans don't even come into the picture at all! You would be role playing how the animal reacts to its brothers, sisters, parents, lovers, fellow animals of the same species. Enemies of other species, predators of other species. Not how you think it would react to you.
So don't come at me when its none of your business in the first place, calling me a stupid overenthusiastic rat lover. I can obviously see your a cat person with no room in your heart for affection for things that don't immediately rub against you and beg for your love.
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Well it sure felt like a direct attack to Swift, and certainly looks like it from the outside.
If you're not going to look into it then you have NO RIGHT to judge it. It's like saying you hate Thailand when you've never even been. How can you even claim to know you know what the plot is when you haven't looked? How can you claim to know what the social behavior of the rats on the board are like when you haven't even looked?
The rats on the forum DO BEHAVE REALISTICALLY SOCIALLY TOWARDS EACH OTHER and nothing on there says they don't. The colony members on the boards are sweet to each other. Glassteeth and Breakneck were mates and they portray love on the board, and they are kind to the other colony members and they are the leaders of the Darkness rats. The only fighting going on is between the darkness and the light, and that INCLUDES DOGS. Dogs can be Dark OR Light, they can fight either side. And no, not all diseases that kill humans kill rats. There are very very few diseases that affect both human and animal alike.
No animal on the board is played on a human level at all, they have the intelligence of the animals they are. They behave like rats, dogs, and cats. They don't know automatically that it's called a taxi. They don't automatically know that a human in a lab coat is a doctor/vet like you or I would. They just think they're people. The Light and Darkness creatures are played on a higher level, for instance they understand that a married human couple is not a pair of alphas and though they don't exactly know what divorce is they understand that the two may possibly go their separate ways at some point. But Dark, Light or Neutral, all the animals react to each other and the humans who own them (or don't) in ways that are natural. If you think that animals don't have thoughts or feelings of their own to begin with and that putting them into words is humanizing them... that's really sad. Especially since you're sitting here telling everyone how rats are such loving social creatures.
It is my business. YOU made it my business when you upset Swift and she felt the need to come to me to help explain since Firefly's away and his state has been hit by a hurricane but I also know the forum's plot and -- OH MAI GOSH YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE -- I OWN RATS. Ha you really shouldn't judge anything by it's cover, like I said, because I don't own cats, have never owned cats, and never WILL own cats. I have five gerbils, three rats, and a mouse. Firefly also has gerbils and mice, and has researched getting a rat (but his landlord doesn't want a big cage in the house) so you shouldn't judge him either; even if he has two cats and a dog, he loves all animals equally.
So yet again I leave you with the advice of not judging anything by what you see at a quick glance. There is always more to something, and if you're going to live your life doing that, well no wonder you're so unhappy when you see a freaking story that you automatically assume has omgevilrats! in it.
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I understand you feel strongly about this, Holly, and I'm sorry if this got you mad, but the concept for the RP was not originally mine. As such, I'd appreciate it if you'd have said something about my picture as I did work pretty hard on it and I'm quite happy with it.
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Maybe I should have a talk with *FireflyStudios then... im sure shes just as imaginative and creative as you. Seriously.. Great horned owl villain = sexy. But im sure you won't change your guys whole concept just because one rat lover thinks its unoriginal and unfair to have rats as the bad guys again.
It is a beautiful picture swift and it looks like you spent alot of time working on the expressions and pose. Not to mention the coloring but it just sours my opinion thinking infront of that big flaming cat tiger theres a little rat cowering or defiantly projecting its own inner beast.
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*snugs* I'm sorry it upset you. I understand, I get annoyed when I see things that I feel are unfair to animals I love too. I should tell you, I suppose, that not all the rats are villains (Firefly actually plays a shy gentle little doe called Patter, whom I want to make a colony-buddy for). Any of the animals can be neutral as well. I'm also not sure I properly got the concept across here, because we've roleplayed these rats already and I doubt any of them would be 'cowering' in front of that tiger. o_o The rats themselves are not stereotypical HAHA I AM EVIL villains, and the plot thread that Firefly and I have just finished playing out is a pretty good example of that.
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Dude, seriously, do you know how often cats are portrayed as the bad guy? Tom and Jerry? Sylvester and Tweety? Secret of NIMH, Tarzan, The Jungle Book-- etc. etc. And if you love rats, you should know how tough they can be. Rats could certainly damage a cat-- they have very strong jaws and are incredibly tenacious.
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I know there are plenty of cats portrayed as bad guys, usually where the 'hero' is a cute little mouse or bird. Im just saying cats vs rats is so OLD and overdone. When do you get a rp or story that really portrays rats as neutral or good? Even in the secret of NIMH the heros were mice and the majority of rats were BAD. There were like two good. Big cats moreso are portrayed the bad guy or with one on each side to balance the damage out. Don't feel the need to defend swift because I feel like iv been on good terms if not really good with her for a very long long time. Im not out to 'get' her. As a very big rat lover i'd love to see something more original as a cats enemy like dark birds owls/raccoons c'mon! It sticks in my craw everytime someone uses rats as a stereotypical bad guy. Ratatouille was a small breakthrough and now we just need to keep going on that tangent. POSITIVE outlooks on a sweet affectionate animal.
If you think about it, any animal that is wild will be bitey and defend themselves or scavenge for food where it is available. That dosn't make them naturally malignant.
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Very vibrant. I love the colours and the expression on the tiger.
Out of interest if you play a rat do you have to automatically be a gad guy?
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Thank you!
You can also be a neutral, normal rat. Cats can be neutral too. But yeah, as of now, cats can't be darkness and rats can't be light. I don't like to call it 'good guys' and 'bad guys', though, because it's not all that simple and various reasons can drive an animal to either side. Which of course is the fun part.
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Thats great Whisp as a black and white view is no fun. The shade of grey can be one of the best parts of any RP. I will look into it. MG is still not running fully atm (unless I am mistaken) and I know soemone who would eventually want to do it (they are busy)
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(LOL, you called me Whisp again what. xD)
MG is running, it's just running slowly. I'm around and I do my job, and there are some threads here and there that need playing in.
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Sorry I keep getting it wrong again.
Oh and I am glad MG is still surviving. It feels like a very robust RP.
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The concept of this picture on its own is really cool, and the execution was done perfectly.
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That sounds like a cool Rp idea! Very nice pic too.
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Thank you Audrey! <33 Hope things are fine on your end.
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Good as can be expected
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That sounds like an interesting RP
I didn't mail your stuff yet! I was looking for your Dash pic. Didn't find it yet, but I did find some others so I'll be sending those. Sorry if I made you worry. >__< I'll mail them tomorrw. I think Dash may be at my house in Bonesteel anyway.
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YAY.
OMG THANK GOODNESS. I was afraid it got lost or something, my post office has messed up on things like that before and I'm always furious when it's to do with art people send me because I hate the thought of original art getting lost like that. >_< ugh. Anyhow yay that it's fine! I was actually just worrying about it today because I was checking my packages and things. thank you again. love!
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I mailed them today (Monday) at 1:00. I had to use two separate things. One is an envelope with cardboard so hopefully it won't get bent. o___o The other is a tube. I used UPS this time instead of the regular mail. I don't know if that will make a difference. o.0
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mreee <3 I look forward to receiving thems. thank youuu.
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Wow! O.O
That's great!
Fire is my favourite element :3
It looks like this cat turned into a tiger! Awesome!
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Fire's cool. My Chinese zodiac year sign is incidentally a fire tiger.
Well technically that is sort of what is happening! The soul-spirit is supposed to be an expression of the creature's true self, so that tiger represents Aedan's soul and he can project that form to go onto the spirit plane.
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THIS IS SO COOL. I really love the blending of the colors. That Tiger looks so fierce.
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Thanks so much! I was feeling like trying to do traditional again, and I love the way coloured pencils look on recycled paper. Blending is most of the fun of coloured pencils!
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