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Description
Please take a look at =ShadowSinty 's and my contest. We're offering some nice prizes for those who draw amazing Chibi styled artworks of our characters Kitty and Kyo ♥
Click here for further information....
I love Halloween, but still - I did not want to do a Halloween picture like those in the recent years - so... here is something completely different to those pictures.

Just like the paperchilds and the birthday gift I did for =Shadowhog this picture was done in the recent holidays. The idea was stuck in my head for a while now, actually it's based on some kind of short story I actually wrote for this picture back in September. Damn, at that time I never thought its realisation would be so troublesome after all... (and yes, due to this the picture also differs a bit from the "short story", but I'll come back to this point later)

Drawing a violin - and a character playing it at the same time - was extremely difficult to my mind. I looked at several photographs, screenshots from animes and other artworks to get it done right - or at least close to reality. And I am rather satisfied with the result right now. In combination with Thanatos' partly rather detailed outfit *cough* chains are evil *cough* it was actually a lot of work. Raven - in contra - was done rather fast and also in a way that satisfied me. The only thing bugging me right now is the background in some points. At first I wanted to make it more Halloween like (with pumpkins etc.), but I changed my mind because I thought it would not fit that well at all. I made it more simple because of that and tried to keep it as simple as possible to avoid make it confusing and too crowded. This grayish ground gives it a rather cold, yet ghosty and therefore fitting ambience - however, it seems a little too monotone to my mind. Nevermind, it makes the characters more eye catching - definately something I aimed on in the first place xD

Actually there is not much more I want to tell you. I am still a little upset that I used that many brushes again, but they simply looked a lot better than the stuff I had drawn by hand. Especially the souls, which I made with a smoke brush, and the moon in this picture here. I practise, but it is not good enough right now - and I wanted this picture to turn out as good as possible, since I like it a lot. For now it is one of my favourite ones - and definately my favourite one of this year besides my "Keep rockin' Germany" Pic. Man, I definately have to do more digital artworks again - with more detailed backgrounds of course.

And now, the promised short story for you as some kind of Halloween Gift for you~

Requiem
It was a dark, cold night when he went through a badly lit village. One year had passed by since he has been here for the last time - one year had passed by since last Halloween. There was no need for him to take a light source with him to find the right way, however this way was well known to him. Through all of these years, decades, centuries – it had never changed at all. He ended up at the end of the village leaving the last houses behind him. For a second he stood still, turning his head around looking back into the empty street. It was October 31, a day most of the people referred to as “Halloween” – the day of ghosts, witches and the undead. Time made it a popular day for children to grab some candy by costuming themselves as any kind of supernatural or special being and play Trick or Treat on the adults. But at this time of the day neither costumed children nor adults were gathering on the streets anymore, all lights were blown off and probably everyone was asleep. Nothing special at this time, well – according to the bells from far away it was around midnight. He sighed and continued walking.
The blowing of the wind in the branches of the trees created a creepy, yet fitting ambience in combination with the fog over the wet grass of the meadows. His way led him up a hill, his final destination for his day. He slowed down a little bit, looking around trough the trees and down the hill to get sure no one was actually following him. Unless he was mistaken he could have sworn that there were footsteps or at least he had the feeling of being watched. “Well… it probably was just the wind…”, he thought and continued walking. It did not take him long to reach the top of the hill. The view was simply breathtaking. The stars created a milky light in the whole misty and quiet area. For some minutes he just stood there, gazing over the landscape with its small villages, forests and a river, which made its way through the meadows, the woods and even the mountains which were nothing more than a blurry and gray silhouette in the dark of the night.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Surprised he turned around. A young looking wolf with dark blue hair and noxious looking eyes stood in front of him, folding her arms in front of her chest looking at him with a cheeky smile. “I expected you would show up here again in this year, Thanatos.” He did not answer her; the only answer she got was a silent, distanced nod. “Are you going to lead those lost souls to salvation again? You know, I would also like to have a little dinner as well…” – “Organizing your dinner is none of my business… remember that you are nothing more than a lost soul as well, the only difference between them and you is the fact that someone gave you a physical form again - a form which can only exist if you consume souls.” – “Harsh words.” Her expression changed immediately. “You know that I am not consuming them for fun.” – “I actually never denied that in my statement, Raven.” – “Hmpf.” She walks over to the top of the hill as well, climbing on a trunk of a tree. “So, well, isn’t it time for the requiem? I came all the way to watch it.” Thanatos, who went all silent again, sighed. “I was about to start.” Out of nowhere he made a violin made up of nearly black wood appear, grabbing it and creating a bow as well. He looked up to the moon once more before starting to play it.
The song Thanatos played was indeed not a very cheerful one at all. Slow melodies and - for a violin unusual - deep sounds made it fitting to the atmosphere of this very special day. Raven closed her eyes, having a pleased smile in her face. She loved this melody, though it was a sad one. It calmed her down, giving her a warm feeling in the deepest parts of her heart. Thanatos continued playing for a while when suddenly the surrounding started to become brighter. Some small lights gathered in the sky – like fireflies which had been startled and were now getting back together again – floating around with smooth movements. Though it was nearly impossible to tell whether they were able to feel something or not they surely looked pleased as well. “You know… I really did not want to come here to have some of those for dinner…” Raven giggled happily while watching those small glowing light spheres in the sky. “For this day I refuse to hunt them down.” Thanatos did not reply, he just looked at her in his usual, cold way. “I just love to listen to that song… and to watch them on their way to salvation.” – “Well… you will find your own salvation one day as well. You differ in something.” – “You think so…?” She turned around, starring right into his eye with an interrogative look. “Otherwise you would be up there right now. There is probably something you will have to do before finding peace at all. You’re not here without a reason.” He stopped playing the violin and took it down, making it disappear immediately. Just like the violin and its bow also the gently shine of the souls slowly began to fade. The souls had disappeared up into the sky, getting smaller and smaller in the distance until their shine resembled stars – then vanished completely, leaving Thanatos and Raven behind in the pure darkness of the night.

Happy Halloween to all of you!
I hope you will have a nice Halloween, grab a lot of candy and play some trick or treat during those freaking amazing days~

Thanatos Abyssus, Raven Akio & Artwork © *Chibi-Metal

Done with Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended Edition on 169 layers in around 32 hours
Brushes used: Moon Brush by ~eMelody , Smoke Brush by ~eebvoom , Glittering Swirls by ~LoRdaNdRe , unknown tree brush pack I cannot find anymore :c
Please notice that I do not want you to use this artwork by your own - neither at deviantART nor on another website - or even claim it or the character displayed as your own creation. Thanatos Abyssus and Raven Akio belong to me, *Chibi-Metal ; I am the only person allowed to use this picture on every other site I like to.
If you use this artwork (and claim it as your own) you should know that as soon as I get to know about it I will report you to the administrator of the website, since Art Theft still is a crime after all
Therefore, respect the original owner of this fancharacters and the artist and do not steal artworks. Thank you = )

Description
Please take a look at =ShadowSinty 's and my contest. We're offering some nice prizes for those who draw amazing Chibi styled artworks of our characters Kitty and Kyo ♥
Click here for further information....
I love Halloween, but still - I did not want to do a Halloween picture like those in the recent years - so... here is something completely different to those pictures.

Just like the paperchilds and the birthday gift I did for =Shadowhog this picture was done in the recent holidays. The idea was stuck in my head for a while now, actually it's based on some kind of short story I actually wrote for this picture back in September. Damn, at that time I never thought its realisation would be so troublesome after all... (and yes, due to this the picture also differs a bit from the "short story", but I'll come back to this point later)

Drawing a violin - and a character playing it at the same time - was extremely difficult to my mind. I looked at several photographs, screenshots from animes and other artworks to get it done right - or at least close to reality. And I am rather satisfied with the result right now. In combination with Thanatos' partly rather detailed outfit *cough* chains are evil *cough* it was actually a lot of work. Raven - in contra - was done rather fast and also in a way that satisfied me. The only thing bugging me right now is the background in some points. At first I wanted to make it more Halloween like (with pumpkins etc.), but I changed my mind because I thought it would not fit that well at all. I made it more simple because of that and tried to keep it as simple as possible to avoid make it confusing and too crowded. This grayish ground gives it a rather cold, yet ghosty and therefore fitting ambience - however, it seems a little too monotone to my mind. Nevermind, it makes the characters more eye catching - definately something I aimed on in the first place xD

Actually there is not much more I want to tell you. I am still a little upset that I used that many brushes again, but they simply looked a lot better than the stuff I had drawn by hand. Especially the souls, which I made with a smoke brush, and the moon in this picture here. I practise, but it is not good enough right now - and I wanted this picture to turn out as good as possible, since I like it a lot. For now it is one of my favourite ones - and definately my favourite one of this year besides my "Keep rockin' Germany" Pic. Man, I definately have to do more digital artworks again - with more detailed backgrounds of course.

And now, the promised short story for you as some kind of Halloween Gift for you~

Requiem
It was a dark, cold night when he went through a badly lit village. One year had passed by since he has been here for the last time - one year had passed by since last Halloween. There was no need for him to take a light source with him to find the right way, however this way was well known to him. Through all of these years, decades, centuries – it had never changed at all. He ended up at the end of the village leaving the last houses behind him. For a second he stood still, turning his head around looking back into the empty street. It was October 31, a day most of the people referred to as “Halloween” – the day of ghosts, witches and the undead. Time made it a popular day for children to grab some candy by costuming themselves as any kind of supernatural or special being and play Trick or Treat on the adults. But at this time of the day neither costumed children nor adults were gathering on the streets anymore, all lights were blown off and probably everyone was asleep. Nothing special at this time, well – according to the bells from far away it was around midnight. He sighed and continued walking.
The blowing of the wind in the branches of the trees created a creepy, yet fitting ambience in combination with the fog over the wet grass of the meadows. His way led him up a hill, his final destination for his day. He slowed down a little bit, looking around trough the trees and down the hill to get sure no one was actually following him. Unless he was mistaken he could have sworn that there were footsteps or at least he had the feeling of being watched. “Well… it probably was just the wind…”, he thought and continued walking. It did not take him long to reach the top of the hill. The view was simply breathtaking. The stars created a milky light in the whole misty and quiet area. For some minutes he just stood there, gazing over the landscape with its small villages, forests and a river, which made its way through the meadows, the woods and even the mountains which were nothing more than a blurry and gray silhouette in the dark of the night.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Surprised he turned around. A young looking wolf with dark blue hair and noxious looking eyes stood in front of him, folding her arms in front of her chest looking at him with a cheeky smile. “I expected you would show up here again in this year, Thanatos.” He did not answer her; the only answer she got was a silent, distanced nod. “Are you going to lead those lost souls to salvation again? You know, I would also like to have a little dinner as well…” – “Organizing your dinner is none of my business… remember that you are nothing more than a lost soul as well, the only difference between them and you is the fact that someone gave you a physical form again - a form which can only exist if you consume souls.” – “Harsh words.” Her expression changed immediately. “You know that I am not consuming them for fun.” – “I actually never denied that in my statement, Raven.” – “Hmpf.” She walks over to the top of the hill as well, climbing on a trunk of a tree. “So, well, isn’t it time for the requiem? I came all the way to watch it.” Thanatos, who went all silent again, sighed. “I was about to start.” Out of nowhere he made a violin made up of nearly black wood appear, grabbing it and creating a bow as well. He looked up to the moon once more before starting to play it.
The song Thanatos played was indeed not a very cheerful one at all. Slow melodies and - for a violin unusual - deep sounds made it fitting to the atmosphere of this very special day. Raven closed her eyes, having a pleased smile in her face. She loved this melody, though it was a sad one. It calmed her down, giving her a warm feeling in the deepest parts of her heart. Thanatos continued playing for a while when suddenly the surrounding started to become brighter. Some small lights gathered in the sky – like fireflies which had been startled and were now getting back together again – floating around with smooth movements. Though it was nearly impossible to tell whether they were able to feel something or not they surely looked pleased as well. “You know… I really did not want to come here to have some of those for dinner…” Raven giggled happily while watching those small glowing light spheres in the sky. “For this day I refuse to hunt them down.” Thanatos did not reply, he just looked at her in his usual, cold way. “I just love to listen to that song… and to watch them on their way to salvation.” – “Well… you will find your own salvation one day as well. You differ in something.” – “You think so…?” She turned around, starring right into his eye with an interrogative look. “Otherwise you would be up there right now. There is probably something you will have to do before finding peace at all. You’re not here without a reason.” He stopped playing the violin and took it down, making it disappear immediately. Just like the violin and its bow also the gently shine of the souls slowly began to fade. The souls had disappeared up into the sky, getting smaller and smaller in the distance until their shine resembled stars – then vanished completely, leaving Thanatos and Raven behind in the pure darkness of the night.

Happy Halloween to all of you!
I hope you will have a nice Halloween, grab a lot of candy and play some trick or treat during those freaking amazing days~

Thanatos Abyssus, Raven Akio & Artwork © *Chibi-Metal

Done with Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended Edition on 169 layers in around 32 hours
Brushes used: Moon Brush by ~eMelody , Smoke Brush by ~eebvoom , Glittering Swirls by ~LoRdaNdRe , unknown tree brush pack I cannot find anymore :c
Please notice that I do not want you to use this artwork by your own - neither at deviantART nor on another website - or even claim it or the character displayed as your own creation. Thanatos Abyssus and Raven Akio belong to me, *Chibi-Metal ; I am the only person allowed to use this picture on every other site I like to.
If you use this artwork (and claim it as your own) you should know that as soon as I get to know about it I will report you to the administrator of the website, since Art Theft still is a crime after all
Therefore, respect the original owner of this fancharacters and the artist and do not steal artworks. Thank you = )