After the initial shock of creating my first sketch, I realized that I could do better. And after about a week this one was finally finished. (Would have done it sooner, but I had school.) And I once again managed to amaze myself. I never thought that it would be possible that I, who has basically no hand eye coordination, could create this.
One night, as we were sailing from the Marquesas to Hawaii, my husband sobe his torch in the water and saw a huge pink eye reflected back at him. This is my artist's impression of the creature.
Been some time since I touched the pencil. It wasn't easy to get back to drawing, since I was also distracted by the internet for some time. Lots of things went through my head, while I was out on a trip. Just drew whatever I felt like drawing, and this came alongside some reflections:
I have been stuck on fixing this character concept for a very long time, trying to box it within a classification. Bird, wyvern, dragon, shadow, whatever- I came to a point today, where I felt that it really doesn't matter anymore. This is that sort of character who can be everything.
I spent the entire afternoon trying to arrange all the little ideas and features, following true to creative intuition. Smashing together many of my previous character designs, this appeared. A masked and unnamed figure (???) with traits from many of my previous works.
An avian / draconic / spiritual shapeshifter has always been something with me all this time, even when I tried to create a sona years back (finding it meaningless). True to its nature, it has few lively features except its eyes and requires a mask to display additional signs of life.
Its clear that this character is basically a symbolic self-expression. It wasn't easy to seperate myself from my introjective tendencies, which easily distorts my concept of this figure (took weeks to untangle). Once the confusions loosen, it reappears with noticeably familiar features.
The scribble above still has some room for rearrangement, just limited by the irreversible nature of pencil drawing. The grey markings were too dark, and the feet might look better staying white. The pale golden underbody markings, were actually a surprise.
Revisiting something untouched for a long time. The vibes have not changed, but the design concept did. The paper is very messy, because of many, many, random sketches trying to... find something. Something came to my mind suddenly, to remove nearly all the details and changed the eye design. Suddenly, everything snapped into place and the character came to life, again.
The eyes are indeed the windows to the soul, huh?
[Intro]
(D-D-Dark side)
[Verse 1: Tomine Harket]
We're not in love
We share no stories
Just somethin' in your eyes
Don't be afraid
The shadows know me
Let's leave the world behind
[Chorus: Tomine Harket]
Take me through the night
Fall into the dark side
We don't need the light
We'll live on the dark side
I see it, let's feel it
While we're still young and fearless
Let go of the light
Fall into the dark side
[Post-Chorus: Tomine Harket]
Fall into the dark side
Give in to the dark side
Let go of the light
Fall into the dark side[Verse 2: Au/Ra]
Beneath the sky
As black as diamonds
We're runnin' out of time (Time, time)
Don't wait for truth
To come and blind us
Let's just believe their lies
[Pre-Chorus: Au/Ra]
Believe it, I see it
I know that you can feel it
No secrets worth keepin'
So fool me like I'm dreamin'
[Chorus: Tomine Harket & Au/Ra]
Take me through the night
Fall into the dark side
We don't need the light
We'll live on the dark side
I see it, let's feel it
While we're still young and fearless
Let go of the light
Fall into the dark side
[Post-Chorus: Tomine Harket & Au/Ra]
Fall into the dark side
Give in to the dark side
Let go of the light
Fall into the dark side[Bridge]
(D-D-Dark side)
(Dark side)
(Dark side)
(Dark side)
[Chorus: Tomine Harket & Au/Ra]
Take me through the night
Fall into the dark side
We don't need the light
We'll live on the dark side
I see it, let's feel it
While we're still young and fearless
Let go of the light
Fall into the dark side
My half of the art trade with OptimisticJerk (https://www.deviantart.com/optimisticjerk). The trade was to draw a monster as made up by your counterpart without seeing a reference image, based only on the description. Here is her half (which is awesome): www.deviantart.com/optimisticj…
For mine, I had to draw a monster called a "niter" based off of his description:
"Niters communicate in whispers. Nocturnal. Shy away from light. They’re black and oily and emanate a bluish glow. Large, looming 6 foot shadow things with massive hind legs, clawed for climbing trees and they have ‘maws’ instead of arms, claw-like appendages they stab people with and only one gaping blue eye. Their mouths open up and they swallow their victims whole."
What's funny is that I didn't see the fact that they emanate a bluish glow until now. So, the glow from the eye is purely by coincidence. Figuring out the hind legs of this creature was difficult, and so I sought reference images, and of all things, the koala turned out to be a pretty good reference.
For a while, there, it was looking like Carnage from Spiderman, but I toned down the reddish-hue a bit. The intention was to give the appearance of motor oil.
So, now to find out how badly I failed at drawing this...
This art trade was fun, though, and I would do a similar one, again. But I am le tired.