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Luthrai — Encounters
Published: 2006-06-13 05:20:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 1311; Favourites: 24; Downloads: 34
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Description
Hey, look! A rocky background in charcoal! Just what I didn't want to do!But wait - it's primarily algae-covered rock. Heh.
This would be #2 in my PLAN drawing series. I have to admit that the driving reason behind it was that...I wanted to draw a shark, as they were what I was intending to study in college. And, well... I mean, c'mon- The dragon's a diver, it's gonna have run-ins with other marine critters. So, yes, there's my reasoning for spending another couple months on another drawing.
Anyhow - Yes. Tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier. Dragon, Draconis cristatus. Fish-> Five lined snappers, Lutjanus quinquelineatus. The dragon's chasing the fish, yes, but what's Mr. Shark chasing? if anything? I really meant to leave this to be rather open to interpretation. All I really wanted to show was that my dragons share the marine environment, and therefore come into contact with other species- this includes both their prey, and their predators. Tiger sharks, as most everyone knows, do sport the reputation of eating just about anything. They've earned it, really. This lil' dragon, here, might just be getting a first-hand taste of that reputation, himself... (Oooh, was that a horrendous pun I just made? By jove, I believe it was.) Or he may not. Mr. Shark may just be on a nice little cruise, seeing the sights, feeling the electrical impulses, etc. - and all without any chomping on the brain.
Mr. Dragon does look awfully unaware regarding his presence, though....
Vine and compressed charcoal again. Almost like they're starting to become the tools of the trade.
No idea what the paper is... only that it's what my prof handed me and that it's textured.... and it was really weird to use charcoal on it....
Original size: 14"x22" approximately.
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Comments: 29
Excellent work with the underwater effect. Love the composition and shading!
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yeah a tiger shark
sharks are just beautiful and amazing creature u just have to love^^
really cool one I just love it
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My son loved the picture when I brought it home from CTCon. The full size print just looks awesome. I just gotta figure out exactly where I'm gonna put it now....
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Hey 
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I used several references for this, actually. I had two for the rocks and the background. One for the fish, and then... hm.... I forget how many for the shark. Two or three, I think.... None of them were the position I wanted at all. In fact, I didn't have a reference for the shark's positioning. There was a drawing by Ian Fergusson that I knew of that was very close- it was of a Great White, but it was almost the same perspective. Unfortunately, I couldn't track a copy of it down, so I had to make do with memory. ^.-.^;
Reference-hunting can be hard. What're you looking for one for, if I may ask?
(and thank you for the compliment)
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Really? oh well that's a pain 
you're very welcome, its a wonderful peice of art... and actually I'm looking for a reff to draw for someone, but I don't actually think I'll put a background on it, and its more like a sketch ... so I'm taking my time and its really no big deal. Simple drawing for a friend...
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Wow! taht looks realy great! I like the light under water effect!
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Thanks! The light shining through the water was actually the very last thing I did on this. I looked at it and went, "....crap.... I forgot to add sunlight....ummm....." I then grabbed a piece of felt and a kleenex and started wiping away. ^.-.^
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This is definatley greeting card material, for those who give dragon related greeting cards
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oh, soo cool! I love the shading and the background is wonderful!
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I think Bruce just wants to take Draco to an FEA meeting (Fish Eaters Anonymous). "I am a nice shark. Not a mindless eating machine. Fish are friends, not food!" XD
Awesome work, as always. The shark looks amazing, and I agree that you can definately feel the current. I look at it and hear the underwater noises too, and the diving sounds and stuff. Just wonderful.
And for the record, I know that Bruce is a Great White, not a Tiger.
And I ended every sentence with a smiley....
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Except that last one! ^_^
Hm, Draco and Bruce-T (T for Tiger, of course) at an FEA meeting? I like.
Bruce-T: Fish are friends, not food!
Draco: ....but... I'm not a fish.... *meep*
And thankee for the nice comment.
Since no one's gone shouting out any major problems, I do believe that I shall send a copy of the file to my art prof., and let him know that I am, indeed, working my little blue tail off over the summer like I'm supposed to be. ^.-.^
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w00t!! It's finished! (real comments reserved for when I see it in person)
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Ooh, it turned out amazing. Everything in it is very well done.
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W00t! Thanks.
I like your new avatar, btb - I meant to comment on it before, but I spaced. I think I can spend far too much time just staring at with a foolish grin plastered to my face. .....I blame this on the "rigorous" intellectual exercises I spend most of my day engaged in...... yeeeeah. (either that or, "simple mind, simple pleasures." ^.-.^ )
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So you're going to study sharks and such?
This is a wonderful charcoal....I like how the algae on the rocks really shows up...
I can even feel the current that you've drawn.
The dragon took me a few seconds to really grasp that he is in danger...Yes I know sharks eat meat...but dragons give the appearance of being a mean Son of a gun as well.......so I think he's going to be ok.....
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I was going to study sharks, yeah. Then halfway through my junior year I went to my faculty advisor (who happens to be the bio professor as well) and said, "Bob, can I study dragons instead of sharks?" And he went, "Huh. Y'know, that sounds cool. Yeah!" I made the change because I had wanted to be able to study abroad to actually work with sharks. But the whole "abroad" thing wasn't really happening. So I switched to making a biologically feasible dragon species.
The algae does show up? Sweet. I think I got to the point of having stared at this for too long that things started to not stand out to me anymore. When I was just about done, I showed it to a few people going, "What's wrong with it? Tell me, so I can fix it and just finish the darn thing." They then pointed out a few things that I could, in fact, fix, so I was happy.
Current, too, eh? I dance.
I think he's going to be okay, too, really. Just because I know myself and I really hate it when sharks are so frequently depicted as, "Yar! I eat you!!! Snarf, graph, marrrhgg, yum!" It's very easy to get me going on a sharks-in-popular-media rant.
So yeah, even though the tiger shark is in a position that it could feasibly work from to hunt, and that if he did/does go after the dragon there's little the dragon can really do against him - the shark measures about 13ft in length, while the dragon has a wingspan of only about 7.5-8ft - the dragon's also slower underwater and breaking the surface to take off is a bit of a difficult task on short notice.... there was an end to that sentence somewhere.... crap. Right! Yeah, I think the shark is just cruising by.
Not that the dragon isn't a mean son of a gun, just that he's meaner when he's got 20 or so of his buddies (colonial species, y'see) and they're not underwater and sharing the space with one of the coolest predators to have ever lived.
.....that was a lot longer than I meant it to be. Can y'tell that this is sort of what I've been dedicating most of my life to for the past year or so? and am therefore capable of talking people's ears off regarding it? ^_^
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^.-.^ It's actually not as crazy as it sounds, really. All I'm doing is taking all the knowledge I've gained from my biology, ecology, animal behavior, etc. classes (aka: the mad bio skillz) and putting it to use. The first half of my paper that I get to write for it is actually more or less about why I'm defining my little ectothermic species as a type of "dragon."
Would you believe that I actually don't even touch coffee? Or tea. Or highly caffienated soda, for the most part. ....I like cocoa, though. And it's a nigh-guarantee that I'll get all excited when talking about sharks or dragons - let alone both at the same time.
I do, in fact, dance. It is known as the "Geeky-Pansy" style of dancing. 
Yeah, sharks really just kill for food. They'll take exploratory bites of things they're not familiar with - I mean, it's not like they've got hands - and when that unfamiliar "thing" is a surfer... an exploratory bite hurts. Lots. And considering how many sharks there are in the ocean, and how many live just off the coast, if humans were all that tasty, I doubt we'd be able to set foot in the ocean (and some rivers/lakes).
My arm!! Where'd it go?!?
Yeah, dragons could be water breathers.... there's probably a few mythological ones that are, at least. (Can I recall any now? No, 'course not.) The dragons I'm making up are air-breathers, but they don't produce fire. Trying to come up with a reason as to why the ability to produce fire would be evolutionarily advantageous as well as how? Yeah. Nowhere I'm going. I like what little sanity I have left.
More of me? But then I'd have to share all the attention I get!
...I think I need smore sleep (surprise surprise)
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Yes you did submit....but lucky for me I'm smart enough to go looking for the reply....
So your dragons are made up....I know that they are just make believe...but what if????????
There had to be some sort of species they used while making them up....something that resembled a dragon......like perhaps a mixture of breeds.......Snake-------tiger---------geico---------Although for the life of me...I don't know how 3 or more animals could "do it" at once to get the look of a dragon......OH my....I only drink decaf coffee.........maybe I should get back on the caffeine
I love your replies...they make me think.......although I have to admit...I've never really thought of dragons before......
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You tried to make a biologically feasible dragon species. ?????? And I'm wondering to myself??????
Hmmmm how in the world did you plan on doing that?
You drink a lot of coffee don't you?
You dance?
you make me laugh....
You know I really agree with you...Sharks do have a bad rep...I don't think they kill just to be big guy.....I think they kill to eat ..right?????
I also didn't realize dragons could live under water...for some reason I always thought they were fire breathing therefore needed air to fulfill that task...but I guess they could be water breathers????
Talk about talking your arm off.......
I think I've had to much coffee........
It's nice that you have such a love for something...the world needs more of you....
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Okay... I thought I hit reply... I think I may have hit "submit, though", and thus, my reply is below your comment, but not actually a reply. Laaaaame. I'm gonna be even more lame and save space by simply going, "hey! I replied. Then I was dumb. Come lookee to see what I blathered about."
...yep, I'm lame. I honestly would just cut n' paste... but it's really quite long.... and I'm not even sure if I did what I said I did.... did I?
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That is one awsome picture. The effect of being under water is lovely.
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Thankee- that's a relief. From the beginning, I was nervous that it was going to look like some things suspended in empty space, with no reason to do so. I started to feel marginally better about things once I drew the undersides of the waves - only marginally b'cause it took awhile to get the waves to the point where I liked them.
Thanks again.
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