@Warehouse_Rabbit: I still haven't quite squared the angle, but one SpongeBob scene I've got on the DYOS back-bench:
TB: "Wait–! We can trust Thorvald—he's my best friend..."
CG: "Wwh—I can't take any chances! For all we know, h-he could be the furry!"
THORVALD: "I'm the furry?! Oh, I shoulda known! I gotta turn myself in!"
Our Lady of Retribution by @Thorvald (El Thorvaldo)
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have well and truly outdone myself.
Coloured version of this sketch originally done October 2013. Lady Akane, alias the Red Lotus, leader of the Scarlet Lancers in Taniciusfox's IOT spin-off The Multipolar World and its sequel, Multipolarity II. It's strange how a character can grow on you; Multipolarity certainly wasn't the first game that I roleplayed heavily, nor was it the first that I made serious effort to develop personable leaders, but I always felt a special attachment to the Lancers, and the Lotus in particular. Part of it was the ideological jousting that defined the permanent antagonism between the Lancers and christos200's China, which was unique in that I wasn't bound by the usual geopolitical constraints and could address the very roots of political philosophy (and this before I discovered George Lakoff). The other part was, undoubtedly, her character itself. She is a figure of diametric contrast: she aspires to world peace but will fight tooth and claw; her cause is democracy yet she runs a shadow government; she is both a shrewd academic and a ruthless combatant; she becomes synonymous with the Chinese resistance, yet in ultimate irony she is not Chinese. She is, fundamentally, a woman playing a "man"'s game. And winning.
The impetus to colour this began with a leaderhead portrait for an IOT mod co-developed with Reus that, despite being a total shot in the dark, turned out so well that I felt empowered to go back and do the whole image. Once again, the original shading saved me most of the trouble of gradient colours; almost all of this is flat. Ironically, the background was probably the fastest part of all of this, and turned out considerably better than what I thought I'd have patience to do. The only part I don't like is the ground shadow, which I had little clue as to what I was doing both in the sketch and again in the colouring.
Did this take more time than it should have? Naturally.
Was it worth it? Absolutely.
Category:
Rating:
Everyone
Class:
Finished Work
Submitted:
285d1h ago
Tags:
In These Portfolios
Comments & Critiques (9)
Preferred comment/critique type for this content: Any Kind
Average Rating:
(5)
Average Rating:
(5)
Posted: Saturday, 22 July, 2023 @ 04:48 PM
Posted: Saturday, 22 July, 2023 @ 04:54 PM
@XxTheCreativeKitsunexX: Big Thank. _x years later and this is still one of the single best pieces I've ever done.
No end to your talents, is there? B^D Am I to understand your avatar is custom-made..?
Posted: Saturday, 22 July, 2023 @ 06:31 PM
@Thorvald: I used to only draw so the school thing I can TOTALLY relate as all I did in school besides struggle through math and fail music, was draw and doodle on the desks and no one really stopped me from doing it lol. As for talent it comes with experience and age and I managed to gather a lot of experience over the years just hearing other people and listening and paying attention to whatever someone had to show me. *Sadly no the avatar pic is from google images, I put the mechanical pencil down years ago for plastic keyboard keys. *
Posted: Sunday, 23 July, 2023 @ 02:36 AM
Rating: 5
For some reason, I’m getting Star Fox vibes from this design.
That aside, the way she is drawn is excellent and shows a lot about her character! Definitely what I would call a strong female, and a interesting one at that. Diplomatic, but also militaristic. Determined, yet ruthless. Shady, but sympathetic as well.
Honestly she looks and sounds awesome!
Posted: Sunday, 23 July, 2023 @ 09:21 PM
@Agondray: It's funny because I'm predisposed against the Star Fox models. :P
Multipolarity suffered an acute Jekyll-and-Hyde syndrome of being the sort of powergaming basket case whose exploits Spiff & Co. could make a whole series documenting, yet also producing some of the deepest and most internally-consistent lore out of any IOT thread ever. What was originally supposed to be an embellished epilogue to the thread got spun off into a standalone story whose "official" release has been stuck in years-long limbo as I struggle through what's technically a filler chapter.
And that's not even getting into the sequel thread and its epilogue that I may yet complete as a stand-alone as well, or the inspiration for an interquel spy thriller charting this guy's exploits leading up to the original context of this piece.
Suffice to say, the muse was extremely generous. B^)
Posted: Sunday, 23 July, 2023 @ 09:25 PM
@Camazotz: T.HANKS M8
Slowly but surely closing in on that reply... ;P
Thorvald is not a furry, but...