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Lunatique
April 6th, 2003, 03:57 PM
I took a much needed break from working on my short film(big apology to my crew for it being longer than it should've been)and finished this painting. I will write up a detailed step-by-step after I get some sleep...

This one is Painter and Photoshop.

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

Closeups:

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup1.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup3.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup6.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup5.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup2.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup4.jpg

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/paintings_drawings/new/scythe_wolf-closeup7.jpg

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”

thomasaurus
April 6th, 2003, 04:15 PM
:shocked: jesus.....

Derlaine
April 6th, 2003, 04:24 PM
wow this is great , the details on the girl's clothing's are amazing ! it must have taken ages to paint ^^

a crit i have is that the picture lacks depth and intergration between character and background overall , maybe if you darken some parts and add more shadows ?

again , great pic ~ its great to see some eastern based paintings rather than the usual elves and stuff.

btw , just curious, Jin Yong fan ? my family reads that stuff like 5 books a night but im not into reading books all that much =/

Lithium
April 6th, 2003, 04:54 PM
cooooolio:cool:

rimwalker
April 6th, 2003, 05:59 PM
Wow. :clapping1 I'm very impressed.

I looked at your site too, nice job!

Loga4
April 6th, 2003, 06:21 PM
Wow,this is excelent indeed!
Congrats!

Nimrod
April 6th, 2003, 07:48 PM
Awesome work! I saw the WIP at sijun - glad to say you succeeded with what you were going for in regards to the dress.

keun-chul
April 6th, 2003, 10:12 PM
beautiful!!!
great work

:chug:

davi
April 6th, 2003, 10:24 PM
very cool, doesn't look like a scythe to me, might be a large pikeaxe, doesn't look like it has 'slicing power'.

keep up the great work!

mushuhaha
April 6th, 2003, 10:35 PM
Ahh, this is so cool. I like the white sleeping one : ) Reminds me my puppy dog. Neway, I wish the mountain in the back could add more depth to the over all; the blurry feeling makes me a bit dizzy; the grass could use some more details. You approched the landscape w/ a pretty interesting technique, but it needs more details. Keep it up.

R_M
April 7th, 2003, 01:23 AM
Hi Lunatique,
I saw this one in the Wip section some days ago, and I must say that you really pulled the silk off! and your wolfs are very cool, especially the top left one (good light!)

On the minus side the girls boots fell very flat, and could use some more textures..

The girl's face and the shadows on her leg are really good,
but her chest profile is a bit difficult to see due to the green background, maybe you should give a bit more reflection on her dress... just an idea

still this one is really really cool! how long did it take you?

Tedsuo
April 7th, 2003, 03:29 AM
That is beautiful. It looks even better in close up. Would it be possible to see a higher rez version of the picture as a whole?

My only crit is the hill on the left side. It's so flatly lit compared to the incredible realism you've achieved with the rest of the picture...

Looking forward to your step-by-step! Thanks for sharing!

Fozzybar
April 7th, 2003, 04:08 AM
The details on the girls are amazing :eek:

:thumbsup: Lunatique!!!

The best part is the shadow of the tree on the girls leg...

Though i personally don't like the areas with less details like the brown rock on the left...the wolves' fur are too smooth...but the great effort on the girl makes good...you achieved the silk effect perfectly, though you were going crazy before as i remember...cool Lunatique! :cool:

HEXXXER
April 7th, 2003, 07:15 AM
Good color scheme and great detail. One crit is that it looks like you maybe mirrored one eye to get the other, so the perspective and the space between the eyes seems off.

gekitsu
April 7th, 2003, 11:19 AM
that girl is cute :)

i am with davi on the scythe, too.
it looks like an axe derivative weapon as it is now. a hot-smithed blade based on mass and a sharpened edge
a scathe, though is cold-smithed (word?), carefully thinning the material with little hits to finally get to a cutting edge.
so, scythe blades usually are very light and often curved.

get yerself one feel it. best would be actually putting it to the use it is intended for. that was the way i learned the difference between "hot" and "cool" blades.

another thing that bothers me a bit is the contrast between shaded elements (the girl, her scythe) and the flat background. but that could be just me ;)

KayCustomz
April 7th, 2003, 11:25 AM
you have studing the wolf for a while huh? am guessing they look perfect...grass looks nice too, how you do the details on the girl? draw you draw them on or did it anythere way

Tanika
April 7th, 2003, 12:05 PM
:p yes yes do tell us how you got the details on the girl, it's so beautiful. I'm in love with this piece. I wish I could get a poster of it and put it up on my wall. Good job! I saw your thread in the help forums. You pulled of the dress flawlessly!

el linxo
April 7th, 2003, 03:04 PM
:eek:

that is really great....!

navel_lint
April 7th, 2003, 10:37 PM
i really love the "softness" in your style.
it's simply beautiful and tender.

Lunatique
April 7th, 2003, 11:36 PM
Here's the step-by-step tutorial:

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/goodies/tutorials/scythe_wolf-tutorial/scythe_wolf-tutorial.htm

Derlaine-- I tried to keep the background less detailed so it doesn't detract from the characters. Maybe I over did it?

Yep, I read Jin Yong, but only 2 books.

davi--Ya... it's like a weird hybrid weapon. Maybe I should call it something else?

mushuhaha--read above.

R_M-- Maybe I can put some dried mud on her boots or something. I already tired fixing the breast problem, but I guess it's still hard to read? It took me about 2 weeks roughly.

Tedsuo--read above. Email me for a high-res.

Fozzybar-- Ya, I think I over-did it with the creamy furs. :D

HEXXXER-- Nope, no mirroring. The space between here eyes is the length of one eye--pretty standard. I think it's because she's got big eyes? :D

gekitsu-- Ya, I wish I could have a real scythe to play with, but I live in the city, and I don't know anyone in the countryside. If I went up to a stranger in the countryside of China and asked to borrow a scythe--he might just slice me in half with it... What should I called a hybrid weapon like that? A pickscythe?

KayCustomz & Tanika--see the tutorial posted above.

Everyone else-- Thanks for the comments! :)

gekitsu
April 8th, 2003, 11:29 AM
hehe :)
pickscythe sounds prtty funny.. i'd say let it be as it is... scythe wolf sounds cool so it has to be a scythe. sniper wolf in metal gear solid also carries a hk psg-1 (if i remember right) and no military sniper would use one if his life depended on it.

as for scythes/other weapons/hybrids:

imagine two different concepts of work:
one is: using the drive of mass. hammers are like that. axes, picks, morningstars etc... are like that, too, just enhanced. an axe e.g. decreased the hitting area to increase hit pressure. the clue is not that the axe is sharp (although it works better if it is) ´but that it compresses the force of the blow onto the line that connects to the opponent.

the other concept is actually cutting, having a really sharp edge and moving it at a very small angle to the to-be-cut thing (unlike the 90° impact of an axe that is aimed to transfer maximum moment to the target). you don't work with force but with the sharpness of the blade. imagine a more slicing motion as the whole length of a scythe blade "covers" like 15 to 20 centimeters of meadow it slides over to cut grass.

hybrids would be like smashing weapons designed to deliver a cutting smash. scimitars, katanas, falchions or kukris are this type of things. especially kukris are the shit.