Scythe Wolf (Repainted)

[Lunatique]

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup9.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup8.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup10.jpg

Here's the story of Scythe Wolf:

Who is Scythe Wolf?

Ask any warrior worthy of his blade in Jian-Hu(martial arts underworld) the name "Lian-Lang(Scythe Wolf) ," and you'll get the following description:

Roughly two years ago, a mysterious young girl stunned the Jiang-Hu scene with her lightening fast scythe fighting technique and her ethereal beauty. Many men admired her beauty, yet they also feared her skills. She is aloof and dislikes attention, but despite her petite frame and her avoidance of crowds, her presence is hardly inconspicuous, due to the seven-foot scythe she wields, and an entourage that consisted of a pack of wild wolves.

Those lucky enough to be considered a friend by her, knows her as "Lulu," a nickname derived from her real name, "Chen Yue-Lu."(word for word, “Yue” means Jade, and “Lu” means Dew. Chen is her last name.) If you ask the few friends she has, this is what you'll learn about Lulu:

Lulu doesn't trust people easily, yet when she does, she will protect those close to her with a fierceness one would be foolish to challenge.

Lulu's parents were once disciples of the Uh-Mei clan, but having been disillusioned by the corruption they witnessed, her parents left the clan and began their lives as vagrants. Around the time of Lulu's birth, her parents had befriended a pack of Wild Wolves when they protected a newborn litter of wolf-pups from a hungry tiger. Since then, the siblings Lulu grew up with had been that litter of wolf-pups. It was during that time, Lulu's parents developed the "Wild Wolf Fighting Technique," the result of their intimate understanding of the wolves.

Lulu had been taught the Wild Wolf fighting technique since she was able to walk, and not long after reaching her teens, she mastered that technique and began developing her own fighting style. Lulu was her parents' pride and joy, and they loved Lulu more than anything in the world.

During her fourteenth birthday, the family had stayed with a dear friend of Lulu's parents, who was a black smith of legendary fame, and the maker of the best weapons in existence. When Lulu showed an affinity for an old scythe she found in the barn, the black smith forged a scythe that was tailor made for her, redesigned from the traditonal scythe into a deadly weapon. Since then, Lulu had incorporated her scythe, which she named "Black Wolf," into her own fighting style.

During the family's travels, they had taught a number of students-all vagrants like themselves. It was first offered as a gesture of friendship-a way for fellow vagrants to defend themselves in their travels, but soon, the word spread, and people began seeking out the family to be taught. The family never cared much for formality, so no real structure was ever created for the students. The family continued traveling, leaving behind a trail of disciples that they asked politely not to follow them around or treat them like clan masters. The family always stressed that their teachings were based on their friendships with fellow vagrants, not for fame or obedience like the famous clans they despised.

When Lulu was sixteen, her parents were murdered during a trip from Nanjing to Hsa-Men. Lulu was out in the woods hunting for food at the time, and when she returned to her dying parents, they uttered with their dying breath, "Uh-Mei," the name of the clan they had left long ago. After her parent's death, Lulu vowed to track down their killers and avenge their death, but Uh-Mei is one of the largest and most respected clans in Giang-Hu, and she has no idea where to begin.

When the vagrant friends caught news of their teachers' death, they banded together and called themselves the "Wolf Pack." The pack vowed to find Lulu and help her avenge the death of their teachers, but no matter how fast they traveled, they were always a step behind the young girl's trail.

Now, two years later, the Wolf Pack had grown in number, but there was still no sign of Lulu, except for the stories of her travels that has been told by fellow travellers of Giang-Hu. At this point, there were more new members of the Wolf Pack than the original students, and to them, both the name Lulu and Scythe Wolf seemed more like a mysterious legend than a real person. Even though the new members never met the original teachers of the Wild Wolf Technique, their names still inspired a sense of revere.

Now, Scythe Wolf's whereabout has been discovered, and the Wolf Pack began traveling day and night to reach the girl some have began referring to affectionately as "Mother Wolf."

Lulu and her wolves:

Lulu is respected by her wolves, and holds the rank of the alpha wolf. This, by default, prevents her pack to breed new litters—which is a good thing considering their situation. (Only the alpha male and female wolves are allowed to breed in a pack, and since Lulu is human, the pack won’t have new members, unless Lulu gives up her position as the alpha wolf.) Lulu does not tolerate violence shown to the omega wolf by her pack, and she managed to rid her pack of the terrible habit of picking on the omega wolf.

The pack:

Alpha male- “Grey Star”
Beta male- “Dirt King”
Beta female- “Snowy”
Aunts and Uncles- “Lazy Bug” “Sleepy Head” and “Rooster”
Omega- “Baby”

[superfly18]

Geez man, i tell you! You're 2d work is just AWESOME, i saw the last one, and i think this is a much better version! Fantastic work!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I have no clue where you begin with an image like that, nor do i know how people can draw so well on the computer and keep the lines straight!!

[ceql]

Wow!! Wow!! :bounce: :bounce: I lub j00 Luna :p

[AfroDragon]

Very crisp. the pictures alive! and it's a winner!

[Sharky]

Pffffff ... Amazing ! I hope I could do that with my Graphire ! Really impressive, no crits to do ...


:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[Squarecloud]

wow, lovely repaint job.

I like what you did with the foilage and scythe, they look much better now.

I already loved the original but this one is even better. :bounce:

Lots of personality in here, not just Lulu but also the wolves.

:thumbsup:

GreetZ

Square

[Briareos]

Hi luna, the weeds look alot more realistic now.

I find it odd that everything is finely detailed and textured except the boots.

all it needs now is a signature and a border to seal the deal.

it should like nice printed.

[R.L.M]

WOW!!
i didn't saw the first version, but this pic is amazing!
looks so live, and so pastoral...
absolutely beautiful!
:applause: :thumbsup: :buttrock:

[Lunatique]

Thanks for the comments guys! :)

Bri--people keep saying that, and I did add more highlight to it. What else is missing? trim lines for the threading? more folds? How about an overpaint to show me what you mean? I hate it when people see things that I can't see because I've worked on it for too long.

[MadeInUterus]

the blade is much better now! :applause:

[Lunatique]

Ok, I repainted her boots--again. If anyone brings them up again, I'm bustin' heads. :D

[ToastMan]

Dang dude!! Beautiful work! Outstanding skill.

But the girl is supposed to be chinese and her eyes arent... asian(?) enough. You know what im saying?

[bigbad]

Outstanding work. :drool:

The only crit would be the tree. Looks kind of flat. Doesnt have the same depth as the rest of the beautiful painting. The woody part of the tree should have light spots or what they are called.

But I could be wrong :shrug: .

[erilaz]

Once again, you grace the background of my desktop.:D

Your artwork is beautiful Lunatique. It captivates and inspires.:love:

[Briareos]

http://www.porktaco.com/lunaboot.jpg

here is a fast one...

I just see patterns all over in this piece, shirt, grass, fur, etc

the boot sticks out IMO, just needs to be broken up some..

[JamesMK]

Oh - that's just brilliant!

Just one thing that hit me the very first few seconds of looking at it::.. The wolves seem too, I dunno, blurry perhaps, compared to the rest of the image. I realize of course that the furry brushstrokes make this happen - but it results in some sort of "composited" look. They appear (slightly) overlayish, if you catch my drift... It's some sort of balance-thing.

[Naseem]

Breathe taking picture, :eek: that’s 1 hell of a work. I admire 2D art, it take a lot of hard work to and practice to come at this level, well done :applause:

:thumbsup:

[Virtuoso]

In your opening of this thread you asked......(how do I get special character to show up?), .........

Well by looking at this piece you have just shown it yourself,no real reason I think to ask.It's BEAUTIFUL.... A very ambiant and capitivating piece.Very very,well done.Beautiful.

Now as for those BOOTS...............Just kidding,they too are very nice.Once again........Beautiful.:thumbsup: :beer:

[Lunatique]

Bri-- Ahh...gotcha. You were talking about a design issue, while I thought you meant a technical issue. I love what you did with the boots, but the reason why it's so simple is because that's how these kinds of boots actually look in real life. They didn't have that kind of designs centuries ago. :D

ToastMan-- Ya, she looks like she's probably from the northern parts like Xin-Jiang or something. Girls there have big beautiful eyes. :love:

bigbad--Ya, I might touch it up one last time before I upload it for Exposé.

JamesMK--ya, I think it's because I made them look too "creamy' :D

Virtuoso--The special character I was talking about was the "é" in Exposé. I found out you had to type alt+1,3,0 to get that é to show up.

Everyone else--Thank you for the nice comments! :beer:

[Virtuoso]

Oh I see..............Such a thing for that little symbol:)

Well this piece is worthy of great recognition such as Expose. It's soooo fresh and clean,and very inspiring.Once again very beautiful art Lunatique..........:beer: :thumbsup:

[mute_bear]

are u perfectionist?????:eek:
your initial painting already make my jaw drop.:bounce:
when will you stop repainting it???:p :p

[Spankenstein]

It's still Lei Fang, man.

I guess I will just wait for WWF EXTREME BEACH VOLLEYBALL.
(wild wolf fighting)

Additionally, the description of her history was right up there with all the other terrible fan fiction on the internet. I mean jesus. Parental murder vengeance? Again?

Additionally, I dont think a scythe has ever been seriously used on the battlefield or in martial arts. The entire design and function of a scythe does not lend well to fighting. What she is holding there looks more like some kind of modified poleaxe.

And how exactly do you fight with a bunch of wolves, anyway?

ROUND ONE
FIGHT
Lulu: Get 'em, wolves!
(chomp chomp chomp)
Hmmmm

And now, so I dont seem like a complete ass, some technical critiques:

1> The boots. Nah, just kidding
2> Depth of Field. It has none. Either the grass right up front needs to be in focus or the grass on the silhouette of the hill does, but not both. This is why your hill looks totally vertical.
3> The wolf's head in shadow next to the tree. I assume the tree is casting a shadow across his face, but nothing else, including the ground in front of the wolf, is dark.
4> her left hand crossing over her elbow looks bad. Look at her pinkie.
5> I think her left upper arm is a bit too long.
6> The tree leaves... are just floating.
7> her right knee looks practically crippled.

CREATIVE stuff:

1> Maybe try moving her right eye in toward her nose just a bit...
2> Maybe try making her left toes kind of curl down a bit in the boot, bending the tip down. I think the toe shape of the boot is also making them look a little funny.
3> Wolves are typically less than 100 lbs and 5-6 feet long. They are lean rangy looking creatures, not these fat well fed things.
4> Icy mountain peaks are not common in China. Take a look at the topography... Additionally, the mountains look like GLACIERS not rock.

ANyways.... KEEP TRYING CHAMP!

[lmc]

Broken link....?!

[Flunky3D]

Hi

This is juist some great piece of work. I love the wovles the look so verry fluffed up. Great job. :applause:

And al the close ups help to get a better view of the overal picture.


:beer:

[Lunatique]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. :)

lmc--it should be working.

Spankenstein-- No, she's not Lei fang. :D Lei Fang was created by Team Ninja at Tecmo--and they are a Japanese company--They do not speak Chinese, or read Chinese. Whatever amount of background they gave Lei Fang was from their limited understanding of the history/culture of China. I was born and raised Chinese, so I'd say that my knowledge of Chinese history/legends/myths/classic literature are safely my own resources. If every Chinese girl who had braids and a chi-pau should be compared to Lei Fang, then the entire billions and billions of Chinese girls from Chinese History would be Lei Fang.

About it being terrible fan fiction-- it's not fan fiction--as it's something for a character I created. It's just a background story that popped into my head when I conceptualized the piece. It's not meant to be serious Pulitzer-award winning literature. It's just a little story. Even so, one of the main themes of the greatest literatures in human history has involved revenge. Often, it's not what you tell--it's how you tell it. I haven't even begun writing how the story will be told--it's just a basic description of the premise. If you want to read some serious writings of mine, go here: http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/writing/writing.htm

Excellent crits on the piece. Since it's already gone through repainting more than once, I'll most likely leave it as it is and move onto other pieces. I have a directory FILLED with unfinished artwork, so those are my priority as far as painting goes.

Believe me, I'm never happy with any of my work. I can only strive to improve and grow with each new piece. I learned a great deal from this piece, and I'm happy that I did it.

[janhath]

Oh it's beautiful,graceful,elegant.just had to give you a big round of applause :applause: :applause:

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.