In the Sky with Diamonds by @zenphoenixa (Annabel Lee)

OWNER: Errr… no one in particular, I guess. ^^;

MEDIUMS: Felt tip ink (shadow shading on the phoenix and the moon, line art), Photoshop CS (background, cel-type colouring), Paintshop Pro 5 (lighting effects, touchups)

FONT: ‘KissmeKissmeKissme’ (free download)

ARTIST THOUGHTS: And so after a huge art drought, here’s something I’ve been carrying around in my head for about half a year and only got around to spitting out this week! XD On Monday I got home from my last exam, had a change of clothes and then immediately sat at my dusty desk to draw this, and in record time (for me anyway!) it’s been completed in three days. Two of those days were heat waves, so maybe the heat has a strange effect on my hand or something… O___o;; Decides to not try and make any scientific theories =P

Anyway for once, I’m going to cut straight to the chase and say what this pic is sorta about: to be honest, there wasn’t any specific meaning at first but things developed along the way and now I can ramble about it, ho ho ho! ^.^ This is meant to be a ‘sister’ pic to ‘Salute the Sun’ since they’re sorta similar, except this pic is more about dying then rebirth. Cue - depressing music T__T The moon phoenix sits on a moon that was once new, but is now crumbling away because there’s a new moon rising, and NO it’s not breaking up because the phoenix has been eating too many hotdogs lately! XD I guess the phoenix is doomed to be dragged down with its moon, but the less bleak-minded of you will probably be able to come up with something happier so by all means! :D I don’t really have any explanation for the cobwebby stuff so interpret it however you wish… and those are supposed to be diamonds draped from the moon by the way, but the colouring blurred the string and the stars suit the title’s diamond reference much better, so er… darn. XD Man, this really was a bit of a random pic, eh…? :D

TECHNICAL STUFF: This marked my return to ink shading and shinies after my cel-colouring stint, but I still used the polygon tool to fill in the colour this time instead of my usual method of using Prismacolour pencils. (Poor neglected things. ^^; ) I also tried to do a better job at making more realistic looking clouds, but I still have quite a ways to go… :/ I look in galleries and see amazing clouds and I can’t for the life of me figure out how people do it, arrrrrrrrg! @@ Oh yeah, and have a look at the pic – see anything out of the ordinary? OH MY GODFATHER IT’S BIRDY FEET!!!!! OO;; Yes peoples, this was one time when I couldn’t find a way to avoid drawing them without making it look like the phoenix was somehow magically levitating with stumps for legs, and this just served to remind me WHY it is that I do my best to not draw birdy feet whenever possible... O_____o The left foot is completely mangled, although don’t be confused about the right foot – there’re actually two and a half claws showing and the one at the back isn’t showing at all, but because of all the hair in the way, it looks like all four claws are visible. (Not that it makes much difference, the foot still looks groddy. >_<) Give me feathers any day! Throws hands up in defeat

Lastly, if anyone wants to see this pic as a print then just say the word and it shall be so – I’ve finally gotten myself into the habit of scanning things at 600 DPI, even though it’s slowly killing my comp, lol. =P Pets her comp