[Lunatique]

I was going to just edit the original thread, but seeing how it's got so many replies, it might confused people with the crits aleady in the thread.

It's amazing how different your own artwork can seem to you only a short while after it's finished. The artist is always the last person to be able to see his/her own work objectively. For those of you that have saved the original version, compare it to this new version to see all the changed I made.

Foliage used to be the bane of my existence, but this time I took it head on and I think I survived. Who knows? Maybe a few months later I'll look at this and start cringing again. . ..

I still have a bunch of other pieces to repaint for Expose(how do I get special character to show up?), and a CG World magazine(Chinese edition) interview. They asked for 10 pieces--gotta get crackin'.



Closeups:

[Lunatique]

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"

[hwslut]

Shit Luna, you're a god among men. This is infinitely better.

You should post the previous version so that people can see the evolution of the piece.

GREAT work. Those wolves are absolutely stunning. And yes, you entirely ruled that foliage.

[Capt.FlushGarden]

fookin amazing! the most beautiful girl evar!

very clean art and it's got that fresh feeling that makes the eye wanna take a break and just look at it!

My only crits would be maybe to sharpen up the mountains, but you must understand that's is extreeme pickyness!

keep it up!

[Socar MYLES]

It really is a stunning painting, and a fantastic improvement over the last one--I'm impressed.

The one nitpick I have with it is that the foliage of the tree, the leaves, they lack the grace and natural appearance of the grass and foreground foliage--they're very uniform in colour and contrast across the whole tree, ruining the beautiful, subtle summer light you've got everywhere else.

It really is a nitpick, though. Everything else about the image is stunning. Especially that dress.
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[the_insider]

youre still among my top 5 sijun heroes dude,,,i like the new hill side
and definately a better background....maybe i just need the old one but
i can't really tell a BIG difference with the wolves..except for the one
standing next to her...he looks a bit sharper along the head...
enough said ....awesome
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[Daijoobu]

This is awesome, I could just go on and on about how cool this picture is. But since you probably know that already, I'm gonna critique it a bit instead. I totally agree with what Socar said about the tree's foliage. I also think that the tree's trunk look a bit weird, its very unusual to see a tree with a uniformly thick, straight trunk that suddenly ends in several thin branches. The branches usually look a bit more like a continuation of the trunk. The other critique (nitpicking) I have is the white-ish strands of grass that's "clinging" to the girls back, right leg and the fore-ground wolves. For me the grass strands really catches my attention and are somewhat distracting. Maybe painting them in a darker colour might help?

Anyway, its an awesome piece!!!
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[NiM]

... I'm about to build a shrine in your honor! Beautyfull! Just the details on her dress made me fall in love
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NiM
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"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work... I want to achieve it by not dying."

[Anthony]

Very nice, big improvement! The leaves on the tree are rough, and the wolf's head behind her hits me as a distracting compositional element. The color has so much more life than before, very nice!
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Carpe Carpem
http://www.anthonyfransella.com

[Hyptosis]

Cleaned up very nice.
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Hyptosis
Lorestrome
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[Lunatique]

Thanks for the crits everyone, they really helped! I changed the tree trunk, one of the wolves, and the leaves a bit, and I might have to make a final round of changes before I upload it to Expos� and CG World. So, expect another change in the near future.

[pierre]

I saw this today, cheers lunatique, it's a great piece. It shows that you have put alot of hard work and thought into it. I think it is a good example of your unique style. The details you provided could be, compositionally, framed paintings in and of themselves.

[Awetopsy]

love the folded grass under the noses of the sleeping wolves.... thats a great touch. I think the foliage is a bit dark for my taste compared to the rest of the pic... but that might just be my untrained eye.. and I think we're looking at the shady side of the tree anyways....

anyways.. I absolutely love the folds in the cloth.. and the texture... masterfully done.