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#originalcharacters #brightgale #deall #shamshara #blackhair #darkeyes #fight #forest #longhairedmale #mage #magicspell #starcatcher #sword #swordandsorcery #swordsman #whiteeyes #actionscene
Published: 2016-04-07 23:46:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 1162; Favourites: 55; Downloads: 0
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Description
I had to draw these two for a while now and here they are.
Sword and sorcerer, beauty and beast, they make a great duo.
Sham'Shara, the creepy looking mage, is actually quite a sweetheart. He is half human, half erl, a kind of forest spirit that feed on emotions. As a result, he is very empathic and can sense emotions in a way normal humans can't. However, that doesn't mean that he is particularly good with humans - he often comes off as weird, awkward and creepy, despite not being able to hurt a fly. Well, aside from self-defense. And when people hurt his loved ones. Don't mess with him. He is a great tailor, by the way, though his fashion sense is... special.
His best, and long-time only friend is the young Yuri Lowell wannabe, Deall (or Starcatcher as he was called home). He might look the part of the beauty, but personality-wise he definitely fits the beast. He seems very stoic, but his feelings are usually as calm as a thundercloud. He is self-loathing, afraid of loss, afraid of bonds, afraid of showing fear... this is very stressful for him and results in him having a really bad temper around people close to him. And poor Shara is the one who feels his anger most often.
But at least he tries to make up for it. By baking cookies for him or something... yeah, he isn't very socially adept either.
I used pose references by (for Shara) and (for Deall).
Deall is my OC.
Sham'Shara belongs to .
They're both from our original RPG.
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Comments: 28
How interesting that Sham'Shara reminds me of two different OC high elves of my own.Β Β
I guess being half-blooded has its benefits.Β Β
Aside the resemblance, you have done some neat work with this deviation. While the forest scene with Shara and Deall is encased in shadows, the use of well-placed lighting focuses the viewer's eyes on the two elven companions, prepared for battle against a threat the viewer cannot see, yet its presence is clearly felt. I also like the way Shara's hands glow with yellow light as he channels his magic, and how his eyes are pale white all over, creating that eerie appearance to him, but appearances can be deceiving.Β Β
This comment of mine was given to you thanks to !Β Β
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Oh, that's interesting. I'm very fond of Shara, so I'm glad to hear there are similar characters out there.
In Shara's case, there are unfortunately more disadvantages than benefits to being a half-blood, though.
Thank you very much for your feedback. I'm glad you like this piece as it was quite a lot of work. I'm also glad to hear the atmosphere works.
On a side note, I hope you're not too disappointed to hear that neither Sham'Shara nor Deall are of elven heritage. Deall's parents where both humans, while Shara's mother was human and his father an erl. Sorry for the confusion. ^^'
(Erls share some characteristics with classical elves, but they're more like a type of fae and differ a lot from the elves in their world as well as from typical fantasy elves.)
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Ah, I see. Β I'm not disappointed at all, I feel rather enlightened to learn about these erls.Β Β
So many are the names and species of beings found in modern high-fantasy.Β Β
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Ah, that's a relief.
I like a bit variety, too. It doesn't always have to be just humans, elves and dwarves after all. So I was pretty delighted when my friend made up these erls and incorporated them into our RP.
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Hi, I'm here with comment tag game with tag #green
Really nice work you got here. I like the poses of the characters, hair flow and details on it 
However, you still have to work on coloring, for example on light reflections that would help to blend your characters in the background. Now the sword is especially sticking out, you should add some colors from the backround and chara's clothing on it and a higlight too. Couldn't find any good tutorials but you cantake a look at this picture:Β fav.me/d6je2fa . The second ball in the first row has some redish/ brownish color on it's left becauseit is reflected from the first ball. Same goes to it's right side, it has some skin color because of the ball on his right.Β
Also, here are some tuts for grass: (not sure what software do you use)Β ryky.deviantart.com/art/Grass-β¦ Β kara-kiwi.deviantart.com/art/Hβ¦
You're tag is #shadow and you'll comment onΒ Β Arab-MC Β
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Thank you, that's very helpful. I'll keep your points in mind next time.
(Though I've already developed a new grass technique.)
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Hello I'm from ProjectComment
The characters are well done being rich in details and execution. The colors are nice in which you've picked purple and yellow green for the contrast. Try to use cooler colors in the background to build a difference between the warmth of the subject (focus of viewer). This would help the character stand out more and prevent the viewer's eye from wandering off the piece. Also compositionally the piece seems a little weak. I would actually try using the foreground tree's branch to guide the viewer back to the subject. I would also blur the background tree a little more since in real life trees do blur if the viewer's focus is on the subject.
Overall great job on the characters and the mood of the piece. Minor fixes will help the piece even more!
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Thank you, that's helpful.
I guess I really need to practise backgrounds instead of just adding them last minute and putting minimal effort in them.
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npnp!~ o0w0o
I'm lazy as well in backgrounds XD
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Hi, I'm here from ProjectComment ~
Overall, this is a beautiful, masterfully executed drawing. I am very impressed by your drawing and painting skills, detailed character designs, and your use of the dense foliage to create a tense, oppressive atmosphere. Your use of pose references has really paid off, as the dynamic poses of Shara and Deall adds a lot of realism to your piece, and was a major reason why your piece caught my attention. I can easily see this piece being an illustration for a fantasy comic or novel.
Now, for the suggestions:
There's a visual gap between the tree trunks behind Shara and Deall and the ones in the background. This is especially noticeable because the scene is fairly well-lit and the enemies are off-panel, and it gives the impression that Shara and Deall could escape through this gap in the forest fairly easily. If you added more trees or other obstacles in this gap, it would more strongly convey that the characters are truly trapped, with no easy way out.
The foliage that's directly around Shara should contrast more against the foliage that's further away from him. Right now, the leaves in the tree that's directly behind Deall seems to merge with the leaves of the tree covering the right half of the drawing. As a result, I have a hard time telling how many trees are in the scene, and whether the tree on the right is meant to be in the foreground or mid-ground.
Here's an example that may help.
From the density/concentration of the magic emitted from Shara's hands, and with no other light source being in the picture, it seems that the scene should either be much darker than it currently is, or the radius and/or intensity of the magic effect needs to be increased.
From the current level of tension in the scene, I made the assumption that Shara's and Deall's pursuers aren't in the immediate vicinity yet. If that's what you intended to convey, then feel free to ignore this point. Otherwise, if the enemies are just off screen, then Deall needs to be more tense than he is now, and perhaps have his sword raised; he looks like he's anticipating combat, but not quite ready to block an incoming attack.
I hope my suggestions were helpful, and once again, you have done an excellent job with this drawing. Keep up the awesome work!
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Thank you! I'm glad to hear that the poses and the atmosphere turned out well. ^-^
My idea was that they don't quite know where the enemies are, just that they are out there. So they prepare for fighting back instead of risking running straight into their arms. You're right though, making the forest a bit denser couldn't hurt the atmosphere.
Also thank you for your other advise. Drawing backgrounds and combining it with lighting is still pretty hard for me, so I really appreciate it.
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You're welcome! I see, that makes sense~
Backgrounds and lighting them can be tricky, but you are getting there 
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Hi there! I'm just dropping by to say: this is awesome! I don't have a ton of time, but I did want to take a chance to leave you a few of my impressions!
What's awesome:Β
Colors!Β
The poses are wonderful and seem fluid.
The composition is pretty solid, too.
What you may want to think about for next time:
I noticed that you said backgrounds were still hard for you - me too! What may help you to make it easier is a good set of foliage brushes. Honestly, it's just easier to have a good brush set, and the results tend to turn out more appealing too (and it's way faster than doing it by hand!). I like to use these ones for greenery:Β fav.me/d2n4nur andΒ fav.me/d1sqf8d
Just try 'em and see if it's your thing - I can pretty much promise that you'll be amazed!
Again, awesome work!
-Mae
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Thank you for taking some time for this, I appreciate it!
I'm glad that you like the picture and I'll definitely give these brushes a try. While I do enjoy doing things by hand and want to learn to do it properly, I tend to get lazy and tired after a while, especially with the more boring background parts. It's good to have something to help with that, so thank you for the links.
(Too bad I had already finished my new green picture. 
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Np, friend!
Haha, I know what you mean. You especially want to consider the health of your joints / tendons ... drawing leaves, at least for me, really saps my tendons quickly, and I'm trying to avoid any repetitive motion injuries >.> And you still do need good technique to work the brushes correctly. I looked at pictures of trees and learned that it's best to lay down the darkest color leaves first as a single shape, then to layer the leaves that receive more light on top of them, all with a pretty opaque brush setting. 
Ooh, I'll have to check it out!
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Yeah, my hands feel quite strained now, too, after two days of drawing that kind of stuff. I'm glad for the learning effect, but I really should take it easy. After all, I want to keep using them for decades to come. I'm looking forward to experiment a bit with the new brushes.
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Cool! Let me know how it goes
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i really love the eerie colour scheme of this work. it really brings that creepy touch of a forest at night. Β both characters looks great!
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Thank you, my dear!
It took me a while to get the colors right, but I had a lot of fun with it. And I'm very happy how the whole turned out, since backgrounds are still difficult for me.
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Love the boots
Glad to help with the stock.
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It looks like they are preparing for battle to their unseen enemies. good job.Β
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Haha, yes, it's exactly like that. They're fleeing their home and chased.
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