Tribute to Martha Wells' "Raksura" Series

Jade, sister queen, and Moon, first consort, from the Indigo Cloud Court, of Martha Wells' Raksura series.

I really liked the first two books of this series, especially the world-building (so interesting how the gender dynamics are switched around because the biology of the Raksura). And for some reason, the third book of this series multiplied my "like" of the characters into "love," so I wanted to paint a fanart tribute to the series.

But I had so many issues painting this! I actually started this painting before the painting of Mercy, and I ended up having to paint Mercy as a breather/break from this one. My tribulations painting this are as follows:

Originally I wanted to paint Moon in his winged Raksura form, but I had major issues with figuring out how to do black scales with a bronze undersheen, so I ended up turning him into groundling form. Which was actually good, because my attempts at the Raksura frills apparently look like girly ruffles. I didn't really know what to look at as a reference for Jade/Moon's spines and frills. And then I had to repaint over Moon's face twice because it looked weird. And then I repainted over Jade's face three times, and I'm still not happy with how she looks. I wanted to approximate how cute Moon and Jade are in when they snarl at each other (eg., because one has taken some risk that the other doesn't approve of, but would of course do themselves) but Moon looks too young to me, and Jade looks too harsh. And by the time I put a single layer of scales on Jade, I felt like there was already too much going on with her skin to do another overlying pattern of grey. Also, I originally had Jade with claws, but then the picture started to seem really sinister, since I couldn't make Jade's face look less mean, and Moon's looking all vulnerable in groundling form! So I made them more like hands and less like claws, and then decided to throw out accuracy with the book for what was fun to paint, and made her wings translucent. *breathes*.

But despite all that, now I sort of want to draw Frost, Thorn and Bitter, the royal Clutch, with maybe Stone in the background, and oh that would be way too complex for me...

I was listening to the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce while painting this (pre-Mercy breather), and actually finished it off without an audiobook. It was around Christmas Eve/Christmas though, so I MAY have been listening to Christmas music.

Tribute to Nalini Singh's "Branded by Fire"

Mercy Smith, from Nalini Singh's "Branded by Fire" (Psy-Changeling 06)

Painted while listening to bits of "Mage Emperor" and "Realm of the Gods" by Tamora Pierce, as well as "The Convenient Marriage" by Georgette heyer. But I had recently finished listening to the entire Lioness Quartet, so I was likely inspired by that red-headed heroine -  Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau (formerly of Trebond). But I wanted to have fun with painting long hair, so I ended up drawing a different red-headed cat ; )  I was five-years old when "The Little Mermaid" came out, and the first set of novels I ever read were the "Anne of Green Gables" novels, which I blame for the fact that I unconsciously feel like heroines ought to have red hair.

Tribute to Ilona Andrews' "Magic Bites

Kate and original her original "faithful canine companion" Derek Gaunt, circa "Magic Bites" from Ilona Andrews' "Kate Daniels" series. Painted while listening to (i) "Squire" by Tamora Pierce and(ii)  parts of "The Last Kingdom" by Bernard Cornwell. Derek was painted over my initial attempt (i.e., miserable failure) at painting Curran. Also, I copped out on background painting, imposing a picture of Raglan Castle from here ([link], Photograph Copyright © 2006 by Jeffrey L. Thomas) over my initial painted background. Not sure you can see it much - depends on how black the blacks on your screen are, I think.

Tribute to Nalini Singh's "HtP" (Psy-Changeling 05)

Ashaya and Dorian from the fifth, and my favourite, Psy-Changeling book, HtP. Painted while listening to the audiobook versions of (i) Garth Nix's "Abhorsen" and (ii) Carol Berg's "The Soul Mirror."

Tribute to Nalini Singh's "Archangel's Storm"

Mahiya and Jason from Nalini Singh's "Archangel's Storm"

Apparently, the key to me not taking forever to paint is to listen to audiobooks while I paint. Since I couldn't very well listen to "Archangel's Storm" again, the majority of this was painted while listening to "Lirael" by Garth Nix (narrated by Tim Curry!). 

I had fun painting Mahiya's wings, but I'm really unhappy with the rest of her - she, or her pose, looks super frozen/stiff, like an Egyptian painting or something. And her neck/head-agle, argh. #learningexperience

Tribute to Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter Series: Elena and Raphael

Started drawing/painting this last week, finished just now - they're supposed to be Elena and Raphael from Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series. I listened to both Archangel's Blade and Archangel's Storm (from that series) while painting this.

Elena and Raphael from Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter Series

I'm not happy with the hands, or the clothes, but think it's better than the Ivy Blacksmith one that took me much longer.

Tribute to "Here there be monsters"

One excellent thing about audiobooks is that unlike reading the actual book, your eyes are free to do things. Like paint. The first audiobook I got from Audible was Meljean Brook's "Here there be monsters," a novella set in her "Iron Seas" universe. I started painting this picture of the heroine, Ivy Blacksmith, while listening to it. Got no clue how I should have done the water...