story sketch: faerie wedding [update: 09-17-2011]

[meeks]

This is a scene from Wonder City Stories in which the Equestrian, Maelstrom, Nereid, and Wire (not seen) are being enthusiastically greeted as they arrive at the wedding feast of a swan princess and her chosen prince.



detail:


cleaned-up sketch:


rough sketch:

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Comments

Aww...

[ysabetwordsmith]

This is so cute! I like the faces. I think the horse could use more work though.

Re: Aww...

[heavenscalyx]

Yes, I think Maelstrom is more of a Morgan, with a straight face and a strongly-arched neck.

Re: Aww...

[meeks]

Ooh, that's good to know!

Re: Aww...

[ysabetwordsmith]

What a lovely website! Thank you for sharing. I love the photos on the front page: that's the first time I've seen a horse in this world with that coloring, dark body and flame-bright mane and tail. And that's after extensive looking at unusually colored or patterned horse references.

Re: Aww...

[heavenscalyx]

It is striking, isn't it? I love horse color variants; you can get some that are amazingly wacky, that you would swear are total fantasy. You've seen the Akhal-Tekes, right, with the metallic bloom in the light coats?

Re: Aww...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I had not seen them before. My word, they really do look made of metal! My fantasy world has some horses with a peacock sheen, and some of these -- especially that blueblack -- remind me of that.

One thing I put into Torn World was a paint pattern that's very rare here, sometimes called giraffe patterning; I called it square-paint for TW.

[akycha]

Poor Nereid! She looks so overwhelmed!

[clare_dragonfly]

That is adorable! I love all the different expressions on the wolfy (doggy?) faces.

[interleaper.livejournal.com]

I do like! The grouping around Nereid seems a bit crowded, though; maybe you could space the doggies out a bit or maybe have only three of them in shot?

[meeks]

+1 on LJ makes 6! :) I'll work on this some more over the next couple of days.

The wolf pack is supposed to be crowding Nereid, but I'll play around with them a bit. Blocking in the values might help...

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I think they do look like they're crowding her, especially given her expression and the way she has her hands up. Also it's interesting that the foreground is very dark and shadowy, but not the main focus; the deeper part of the picture is brighter, where the action is. I like the effect.

[heavenscalyx]

She is supposed to be crowded:
When Maelstrom strolled in with the Equestrian on his back and Wire and Nereid walking to either side, the crowd turned, exclaimed joyously, and closed around them. Nereid found herself pressed back against Maelstrom's shoulder by the earnest greetings of a pack of wolves in Victorian tailcoats and top hats. "Thank you," she said again and again in response to their enthusiastic compliments about her hair, her figure, her costume, her presence, her smile -- anything, in short, that they could find to compliment about her, even things they could have no knowledge of, like her kindness or grace. At least she could hear that Wire was having a similar experience on the other side of the horse. The Equestrian, however, was a silent monolith on the horse's back, glowering at everyone equally.

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

This has gone from cute to awesome. I love the way you firmed up the render of Maelstrom and added all kinds of nifty background details. This looks like an illustration in a book of fairytales.

[wyld_dandelyon]

This is really cool! I can see the improvements you made.

[heavenscalyx]

Oh, this is amazing! The background details are brilliant, and the facial expressions are perfect. Thank you!

[didodikali]

Awesome! The animal-headed people are wonderful and I <3 Nereid and her body language. =)

[aldersprig]

I looooove the antler in the foreground!

[aldersprig.livejournal.com]

Woofies!

Actually, I really like the way her tailcoat trails over the horse's back.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

OH MOLLY. SO disapproving! And Nereid! And the puma-woman and her escort! What a lovely piece! Thank you!

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

I like the sense of walking into the moment just after everyone is turning to react to the shadowed figure, it's very dynamic!

[heavenscalyx]

I'm REALLY enjoying the development of this image. The detail in the background is lovely too! Thank you!

(I've let my readers know about this, and I've also mentioned to them that they can nominate scenes, since my brain is stuck in the big ol' story climax right now.)