#swiftscales

[the-ancient-dragons]

Back again with a new piece, "Destruction"!

Closeups and more rambles after this segment:

Thankfully this one didn't take as long as Brother did, though I really had to investigate the water. That was sort of the point since I wanted to torture myself by doing every kind of water effect I could imagine. I hope they look wet enough...

My next works won't be as fancy, but I'll try to post more often. See you soon!

A SwiftScale hunt like this is something I've only attempted once before, and very loosely. I never actually finished it how I wanted it, but now I have! I might try it again with other characters and other poses/parts of the hunt. What better way to show you the tribe than what they are built for? Diving for fish!

This cropping would actually be cool for a cover... And while it is a character I plan to use in an upcoming book, it's not the vibe I want. Or maybe it is.... We'll see how I feel in the future....

Speaking of the character, why this piece is called Destruction is because of the mutual damage the fish and dragon are doing to each other. Normally, a proper catch is supposed to be quick and clean, but the SwiftScale was sloppy and got his talon impaled (re: I drew the pose, realised it was at a bad angle, then fixed it the lazy way. As Bob Ross would say, a happy accident that made for a better representation of the character's mental state. Or... an unhappy accident?)

I also wanted this piece to have lots of interactions in the background. Let's go over some of them!

In the far left we have a dragon returning from the water empty-taloned. If you're wondering why part of it is blurry, that's a water drop on the 'camera' lens! I had fun figuring out how to get the effect with masking. I had even more fun adding tiny details on the tiny details, like water refraction on the wings and water dripping off the wings.

Like for this dragon, you can see water spraying off its wings as it flaps. And I tried to do the same with the main character, though this time with water running down his wings. It was harder than I thought it would be to find a good ref, but I eventually did.

There are about 3 main stages of a SwiftScale stoop and there are three visible ones in this piece, though it's not super obvious with all the chaos going on. This is the second stage before the dragon straightens and tucks its wings back for the dive. I might make a short animation later, though whether it's 2D or 3D we'll have to see..... ;)

[the-ancient-dragons]

Here they are, as promised, the last three members of the Chaw of Chaws: Otulissa, Ruby, and Martin! These are some of my fav designs, Otulissa especially, and I can't wait to yap!

Tho I will have to rapid-fire my thoughts as I am writing this ten minutes before posting, oops-

You know how it goes: closeups of the art below, and next week I've got a special surprise. Stay tuned!

If there's any Ga'Hoole fans prowling the tags, what do you think of these designs???

Otulissa (from Ga'Hoole)

Species: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis

Of all the designs I've done, I love Otulissa's the most, probably because it feels the most complete story/character wise. This is her around the time of the end of the series, after she has lost her eye and is all scarred and torn from years of battles. Around the fourth book she has the most startling but heart-wrenching character development, enough to make Soren blink trice. She started out really annoying, always going on about her ancestry and her knowledge. Imagine Hermione with Malfoy's 'my father will hear about this' attitude but it's 'did you know I'm related to this renowned wathertrix from a thousand years ago??'.

The third book also gives her some good development/character moments and it's also the same book the Chaw of Chaws forms. The Ga'Hoole tree encourages working together and watching these six owls actually do that was so cool. Otulissa played a cool part in it and it was the first time we got a hint of her acting like a normal owl.

Otulissa (the WOF version)

Tribe: full SwiftScale

Once again the coincidences work in my favour. In Ga'Hoole, spotted owls are extremely sensitive to pressure changes and the SwiftScale tribe has the best internal compass of all my fantribes. Their gray scales are perfect for any owl adaptation as I can simply mimic their design in greyscale, which as you can see LOOKS AMAZING. Sorry I just really like this design, I can't stop staring at it. SwiftScales also spend days flying over the sea, which fits with the weather interperetation chaw very well.

Ruby (from Ga'Hoole)

Species: Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus

Ruby is awesome. The Pure Ones try to attack her cuz she's too young to fly? She flies anyway. And then I thought it was so cute how she's an amazing flier and then has 0 brain for academics. It's a typical sporty type of characterisation, but I liked even more how Lasky didn't fall into its trap and make her dumb - she is genuinely smart, just didn't have proper connections to remember things properly. Soren helped her by pointing out what she was reading about in the book compared to what she'd already flown herself and that helped her remember. I think that would give her a very physical memory/learning style, which is awesome.

Ruby (the WOF version)

Tribe: full SkyWing

There was no tribe other than SkyWing for Ruby. Best flier of the tree - fastest flier of the dragon world. Boom. That's literally it. ALSO did I mention her feathers were reddish? Cuz her feathers were reddish, and that's why she's named Ruby! :)

Short-eared owls are so streaky and it was initially hard to translate to a SkyWing until I started thinking of it as making her look like she's covered in flames. Then it was lots of fun.

Fun fact: in the movie, they made Otulissa a short-eared owl, for some reason. Maybe so she'd get the feather 'eyeliner' they have so Soren could moon over her more (which could not be FURTHER from the source material, lmao). Strix Struma was swapped too. Why? No clue, though the owl who Twilight fights in the learning montage reminds me of Ruby's book appearance/flying ability.

Martin (from Ga'Hoole)

Species: Saw Whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus

If I remember correctly, he almost got eaten by a whale once. I think? I cannot remember and the third book is my favoutite. It was the weather chaw's first time going out without Ezylryb, and Poot (in his infinite wisdom) accidentally flew them into a hurricane. Soren almost went crazy when Martin got lost but thankfully he was saved by some seagulls. I don't know where my brain is picking the whale up but the seagulls were definitely a part of it cuz I remember Otulissa being super prim about them and Martin declaring them his new favourite birds. I think. I'm gonna reread it not only to refresh my memory but also because it's so awesome...

Martin, Ruby, Otulissa and Soren are all actually part of the colliering chaw, but they automatically get double-tapped to fly with the weather chaw as well. That makes the chaw of chaws mostly colliering, but it works in their favour during the climax of the 3rd book cuz all of their talents come in super well. It was part rescue-part mystery solving which knowing how my brain works there's no wonder it's my favourite book. Seeing how all of them came together to save the day was so awesome. I might make an art piece about it just so I can yap purely about that arc cuz IT WAS SO AWESOME-

Martin (the WOF version)

Tribe: full PineWing

He was also a very easy choice to make and one of the biggest coincidences of the series. For some reason I always associated his name with the pine martin animal, which with a tribe like the PineWings for inspiration is an obvious parallel. They can have browns and greens, so colour-wise I could stick to a more natural owl palette. PineWings and saw whets are also tiny, which works even more in his favour. Technically, the WOF version should he smaller than Gylfie, but I haven't decided yet. It works fine on its own and I had fun doing two versions of his body ref so you could actually see what was going on. I wanted the side view to be in proportion to Otulissa and Ruby's.

Sorry for the late post, but hopefully all the art made up for it!

[the-ancient-dragons]

Art block is fighting me but I’m fighting right back!

(Full drawing under the cut)

So… I was working on the LeafWing project (and almost finished it) but then the thought of colouring 7 big artworks scared me so bad that I put it off and now it’s like over a month later…

Sorry! XD

I’ll chip away at it when I have energy but otherwise I’ll try to experiment with looser sketches to keep me active!

[the-ancient-dragons]

Woah surprise traditional art!

Random SwiftScale colour study inspired by pigeon plumage. I love looking at how unique all of them are whenever I see them up close and always thought they would look lovely on a dragon!

If you see strange red stuff up above it’s a SkyWing I started but never finished. I might try to finish it soon! Though I’ve got a lot of gift card paintings sprung on me recently so I’ve gotta finish those first-

Good thing I have one (1) more pocket sketch for next week. See you then!

[yiffhime]

swiftscales replied to your photo:Hi IDK how to take selfies.

CUT3

U know it B-)

[princebot-blog]

That's a little more like it.

Thank you, I appreciate the attention you are willing to give to me as an independent creature separate from Dirk.

As many of you already are familiar, I'm AR. Or Arley if you'd like to get a little more personal. 

I have recently discovered I actually love taking walks in the park and studying birds and other animals that may happen past.

Please enjoy your stay here.

[0101010001010100]

swiftscales replied to your post

fc08.deviantart.net/fs7…

My boyfriend built that a while back, actually.

[0101010001010100]

swiftscales replied to your post

L1V3R D1S34S3 ONS3T B3FOR3 TH3 F1RST SHOT 3V3N B3G1NS

Oh. Yeah, that's unfair alright.