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WhiteHowler7 — Wolf Mercy
Published: 2008-11-15 05:10:48 +0000 UTC; Views: 172943; Favourites: 5927; Downloads: 9056
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Description
Cover for Jay Company's Variant issue #1 of Mercy Thompson published by Dabel Bros.Lines by Eric Basaldua
Colors by me.
this one was like a dream really, when eric said he was going home to draw this one night i was so jealous thinking somebody else would get to color an ebas cover with wolves (my favorite animal)
when i started this (flatting it myself) i was really pumped about it, and promptly jumped right in to it feet first.
one thing about jumping into a cover is when you go in only with half your heart you might end up coming back out of it a little before you are done, but you stay safe in knowing you wont be over-thinking anything. but when you jump in feet first, you fall into it and can have your heart broken, much like love in fact.
i had my heart broken, as this didn't exactly turn out as i wanted. i guess in the end i'd wished the sunshine was someplace else.
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Comments: 390
haha
:3
monkeys how did you guess ;0
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You are a fantastic colorist. Simply amazing.
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My god. Mercy? As in from the book series? First book Moon Called?! *hearts in eyes*
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wow you too! thanks :d
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I really the attention to small details that really make no difference in the picture itself, like how you put the pocket inside sticking out of her cut-offs. I think that's the first time I've seen an artist do that
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I love the mercy thompson books! Its beautiful!
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It's very good artwork but this Mercy seems much more...er...pornographic than the character is.
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of course it is. they like to destroy book characters when taking them into comic form. dabel bros/marvel did the same thing to anita blake.
the coloring is nice, though, so it's no knock on bakanekonei.
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I know, I wasn't implying that the artwork was anything less than amazing
it just makes me die a little on the inside.
which is why I stick with books lol
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oh, absolutely. i think most of the visual media that's come out that's been based on a novel has been EPIC FAIL. sookie stackhouse, anita blake, and now mercy? PUKE.
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I haven't even been aware of the visual media lol
I love Anita Blake, but Mercy has always held a special esteem among my favorite book characters. She just plain rocks
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thats eric's specialty
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it's a great picture
it's just hard seeing a character you love portrayed differently than you've imagined. Though that's also the beauty of individual expression
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have you seen the other covers?
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No, are they different?
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Gorgeous, I knew the books straight away when I saw this picture. Well done.
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Absolutely amazing!
And I think the sunlight is perfect where it is
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I love the mercy series. you pull the tones out so well, she looks amazing. the wolves' fur is very well done, they all so beautiful. i like the earthy tones, they seem very...Mercy-ish to me. good job!
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Well done! Nice colors and dynamic pose!
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Though you've heard this a dozen times, Wow! I love this! Mercy Thomson was a fantastic series!
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I just bought this... Totally didn't know it was you!
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Well, don't know if anybody already told that, but I think there two main problem.
The first is the drawning itself. You can see the wolves' head in the background, but they have no bodys (which you had to see between her legs).
The second issue i s with the lighting. If the sun is back, then you should see just silouettes of the wolves in back ground. Still (I think) there's maybe too much light for being just a reflection...
Too bad, it's a very beautiful painting!
Great work!!
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again, if you'd read some of the other comments you'd realize that i cannot make things so dark and cover up the character for the sake of realism, there are many other factors you have to take into account, like how dark will it print, and the fact that no penciller likes their art to be covered up by the colors or hidden because of them and utilizing such habits might cause certain pencillers to never want to work eith you ever again. there is a special balance you have to use when coloring things in comics, or for that matter anything for print.
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The piece is gorgeous, and I love wolves too (as my little DA gallery may suggest ! 
I second the other comments about the eyes. However, it is not so much the eyes that are the problem here, but rather the fact that no two wolves seem to have the same head anatomy. If they were all off the same way (compared to a "real" wolf, that is), certainly it would go un-noticed. But it is the difference between the heads that gives this uneasy feeling. But this, indeed, has nothing to do with your own work. One other thing that bothers me about the line art is the cross-hatched zone at the bottom: hatches are welcome when one works in B&W, but they seem out of place in a fully colored piece. That being said, I do not want to give the impression that I am dissing your collaborator's work: as I commented in his own gallery, I like his line work very much.
Concerning the coloring itself, I must confess I do not see what the problem is with the sun. I love it placed where it is, and the backlighting is very powerful in my opinion. And one other thing is perfectly rendered here: the sense of depth. Both the perspective of the clouds and the atmospheric perspective of the mountains, fading away in the distance, give a perfect feeling of immensity. So ... hats off, for me: I am impressed once again.
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well what i didn't care for with the sun is it really put me in a corner, which i really hate, and i feel it's why it didn't turn out as id hoped.
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I see what you mean. But then, is it not more or less always the case with back-lighting ? Lighting becomes so directive that it more or less removes all degrees of freedom.
But anyway, as for me, you really pulled it out very nicely.
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yeah more or less but what i meant was i wouldn't have chosen to keep it back lit if it was my choice, because it's not very flattering for the skin of the character or the values of the piece, your eye goes right to the sun behind her head vs. where it should go, the girl.
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Yep, true indeed. I infer from your comment that the back lighting was the Artistic Director's choice, wasn't it ? But if it is a cover, where will the text go ? Surely that will change the overall balance of the piece and where the eye gets attracted first anyway.
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i dont think text will make much of a different, but yes, eric drew where the sun was to be put.
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I see.
When the book is out then, you could maybe post a link here for us to see. I am curious to see the cover lay-out with the lettering and all.
Thanks for the discussion, time to sleep for me (3 a.m. in Paris now).
Best,
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Yeah, the sun does pull the eye right to it. Still, you did such a good job. Always beatiful work!
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I think it looks good where the sunshine is also. the wolves look like they're a part of the mountain. i don't know if this is what u wanted, but i think it looks mad cool. great job.
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howd she get those jeans if she lives with wolves?
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who says she lives with them
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