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Shinerai β Reference: Nailmus v5
#creature #digital #digitalart #dragon #fantasy #oc #originalcharacter #photoshop #reference #referencesheet #refsheet #xiromyth #ilumaran
Published: 2017-02-12 02:42:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 27082; Favourites: 960; Downloads: 416
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DescriptionWhew, it's been almost 8 years since my last reference of Nailmus! It seems that I've been neglecting my characters as of late. I originally started this as a break between the two trades I had and then it took forever (I'm so sorry!). How long, I'm not exactly sure, but it has to be at least 80 hours of live streaming. It's probably the scales that took so long...I put a great deal of effort into making this one clean and crisp. I worked lovingly on the lines, the measurements of the borders, and on the colors. I did make some minor changes to his design; I've corrected his proportions a bit (everything was long and oversized before), given a more natural color palette, changed the colors of a few things, and redesigned the markings.
I'm really proud of how this turned out and I hope you enjoy it too. If you spot any typos in the text, feel free to let me know. As always, I recommend downloading for a larger, crispier version.
DetailsMaterials.
Photoshop CS3
Original Dimensions.
3600 x 8060 pixels
Time Spent.
much longer than it should have...
CopyrightNailmus Β© Shinerai my face!
Ilumarae, XM Β© kilara
Related content
Comments: 151
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It would be interesting imo to see how his design has changed over the years in a compilation like the one you made for Shin
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I especially like the inclusion of paw-pads on the wing hand, and the hybrid leathery/feathered wings.
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Thank you! I struggled at first with how to combine the scales and feathers, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out in the end.
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Nailed it.Β ;} Yes, terrible pun.
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I envy how you draw feathers and wings. Beautiful boy.
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Thank you kindly! I've been working really hard on wings lately. This site here is a great resource - Slater Museum posts its bird wings and tails online. I like to use this as a reference for how feathers lay atop eachother. The wings here often do not look exactly like they do on the bird (i'm not sure if they take the whole wing because they tend to look shorter), so I like to find a wing shape I'm going for and then use an internet search to see pictures of the bird in action.
You can go here and click "browse the collection"Β digitalcollections.pugetsound.β¦
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I'll be sure to check it out.
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Oh really nice ref.
I like both structure and art, You are doing great job keeping everything beautiful and interesting in the same time.
Design of muzzle is very original, looks very wise and young in the same time.
Feathery wings are gorgeous as always.
And Pretty Character description.
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Thank you so much for the compliments! I really appreciate the compliments after how much time I spent on this, haha.
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He is so wonderful ;___; I'm in love with all the details you made !! The tail is just.. Wow !! It is a perfect one Shin !Β
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Daaaang. The amount of time, effort, and work you put into this really comes across! Each drawing is so meticulously detailed and I just have to say - what an extraordinary character this is. I love his face shape. He looks like quite the handful to draw and color and get everything juuust right, but damn is he majestic.
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Thank you beb! I really appreciate those compliments! I put a lot of love into this one.
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Nailmus was one of my favorite characters ever back in the day, and I completely forgot about him! Β This sheet looks awesome, you've really outdone yourself Shin!
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Thank you - it means a lot to me that you like him! And that you like this sheet. I spent a long time on it so it's good to know it was worth it xD
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Oh gosh so beautiful. I still can't believe how much you improve every time you create another piece of art. And you started out already amazing, so it's like, I don't even, how do you do it.
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Thank you so much hon ;u; I do try really hard so that means a lot! Now if only I could be a bit faster.
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Still one of my fav of your chars!! his colors are to die for. lovely details as alwaysΒ
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OMGOSHHHHHH BABUUUUUU I CANT BELIEVE ITTTTTTTTTTTTT. IT"S SO GOOD TO SEEE HIMMMM.
It makes me want to do a ref for Saiya. XD; I miss drawing her... hnghhhh so many refs needed....
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I love it! Great work! Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β
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This character is a fucking legend.
Nothing else.
I can't even imagine myself making a ref this incredibly detailed.
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Thank you for the great compliment! I could see how imagining doing a reference on this scale could be quite overwhelming - I think I've just worked my way up to it! I started off making detailed refs and I just keep trying to make them better and better c:
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Aha I understand!
But you're so welcome as well.
I think photoshop and it's text boxes help a TON
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I've seen this the day you uploaded it and I've kept it in my inbox since because I just can't think how to formulate a comment that compliments every single aspect I love about this sheet. It's everything. Amazing. I love it.
I adore the changes you made to his colors. The duller orange fits him so good and looks a lot more natural.
I love love love the lines on the wings...who am I kidding...ALL the lines on this ref. The general shape of the dorsal view of the wing is delicious to look at.
One detail that I'm majorly in love with is how the shafts of his armpit pinion feathers weigh down the membrane they're nested in. The only detail I'm not a huge fan of in his design is that the upper part of his thigh has two different types of scales. The scales ontop kind of remind me of a bugs abdomen, which is cool as a design feature but not my bowl of soup, haha. I do love the idea of continuing the type of bellyscutes onto the thigh though!
Another tiny detail that I noticed is in the detailshot of his mouth. The upper and lower jaw seem to be almost parallel. Indicating that the hinge that joins them is faaar far out of frame in this image, which it isn't. It kinda looks as though he can unhinge his jaws like a snake? Also I do not quite understand the shape of the tongue. Are we looking at the top of it?
I do like the small pattern you used as a background. It's very cute. The orange tile of your color swatches kind of eats it up though. Idk if it's my monitor settings but I can't make it out in there. I kinda do oppose having any overlaying textures on color swatches anyway though because that makes it harder to colorpick the perfect hue off of them for flatcolors haha.
It's a gorgeous ref overall shin. You really outdid yourself here.
Seeing that white stripe trailing down Naillys tail kind of makes me want to see him with spread wings from a dorsal perspective c:Β
editing in an afterthought: I used to be no big fan of Nailmus having padded hands on feathered wings but the way you drew them here made me fall in love with them unconditionally ;A;
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Oh man, thank you for the reply, hon c: Thank you so much for the compliments. I've been keeping this in my inbox so I won't forget your critique! The things you mentioned were also brought up by other people so I really want to go back and fix them at some point.
As for the background tile, it's his face! I thought that would be cute. I'm not too concerned about the swatches - colors are so heavily impacted by environment that eyedropping from the reference is only really practical if it's unshaded with no background. I'm sure it will be fine C:
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I recall you talking about the pattern in the stream 
Ohh I'm curious about how you'll change it. Will you set the edit to "notify your watchers" so I can check it out once it's up?
And yeah that's true for eyedropping. It just is this kinda pet peeve of mine, haha.
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Haha, I see! Yes I'm definitely going to notify watchers of the update c: I want to make a couple updates on Shin's ref too.
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I saw bits of your livestream and it's always a pleasure watching you take your time to get the lines right and meassured! This is so crisp and clean, at least some point I will have to draw either nailmus or shin. Also In the top portrait his nose looks very boop-able, though I'm sure I'd end up losing a finger or more!
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Thank you very much! He may or may not be boopable hehe!
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Wow this is a beautiful reference Shin! Its been fun to see your art and characters evolve over the years that I've known you. He has definitely bulked up over those last 8 years! I love his feather crest on his face and that very sexy bust at the top of the reference! He is totally a very handsome beast. Β I love the little faces as the background too, sort of looks like his face? this is a very clever way to subtly decorate pictures! Very descriptive as well! Cant wait to see the next painting from you!
Why yes I could get lost in those eyes β₯
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Thank you so much for the compliments, hon! The tiles in the background are his face - I'm excited that you noticed!
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I have no words ... except breathtaking and beautiful!
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I admire your reference sheet skills so much, Shin!
Excellently done as always.
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Thank you so much, Zimt! I take that as a high compliment coming from you - I've always appreciated your talent for tidy detail.
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This is a critter I'd try to very, very quietly approach with a nail file. ... Or would I just use a saw at this point? HEHE
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Haha! Maybe he is a lost cause.
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He's so pretty, I love his colors and the way that he's built. You make amazing references though.
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Thank you so much for the compliments c:
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wow Im so in love with this piece! so many details I wanna look at it forever!! Would you allow me to try a 3D sculpture of him for study?
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