At Night All Mice Are Gray (page 5)
Fitz on Sept. 14, 2007
Behold: America! The light of Mick's eyes!
You wanted to see her - you got it! She wanted it - she'll have to wait till she gets back from Boston! Haahaa! After months of waiting, she went to Boston just three hours ago, just as I was inking the portrait. And she was DYING to see it done! When I was finishing the previous page and told her about the bottle - she cried: ‘Why don’t you draw everything around me…even my discarded toenail clippings…..EXCEPT me!!' LOL! I love her :)
Hope she doesn't kill me for posting it before she saw it ;)
This is pretty much the way she looks. The portrait is as accurate as I could make it - using the cheapest trick: putting a sheet of paper over her photo and tracing the countours with a pencil and then inking. I tried just drawing it, before, but I'm not much of an artist and I couldn't get it right nohow. Those of you who visit the forums know I had a little breakdown because of that, among other things… So I decided to go the easy way, instead. Hey, even professional painters do that! :) The shading, however, is 100% blood, sweat and tears ;) It does have a photorealistic quality - but it's all my hand and photoshop's airbrush. As for the color, I made it sepia-esque. Thought of adjusting it to the golden color pattern of the previous page, but it didn't look nearly as classy as this. And she's a classy girl, ya know.
And thus ends Episode 2. Episode 3 is coming soon. It's in progress, and it'll be here by Tuesday/Wednesday. The current page counts as a regular page, not just a bonus, since it concludes the story - but I can't wait to show you what's next, and I couldn't possibly keep you waiting another two weeks, now could I? :)
So, hope you enjoyed this one just as much as I enjoyed drawing it :) See you all soon!
D0m at 1:17PM, Oct. 16, 2007
America? She's pretty... I'm really confused about these little mice, though. I have to say that your coloring is done in a very unique manner...
trevoramueller at 1:03PM, Oct. 16, 2007
She is certainly a looker. ;)
TheMidge28 at 4:52AM, Oct. 3, 2007
That's really beautiful...
Coyotejeff at 10:35AM, Sept. 21, 2007
Breathtaking! I love the girl itââ¬â¢s true but Iââ¬â¢m really praising the sense of drama youââ¬â¢ve built up over the course of the chapter. For those of you who would, take a moment and go over the chapter from start to finish now that the whole thing is done. The impact of the ââ¬ÅRevealââ¬Â on the girls face is that much more dramatic. Great Work!
Fitz at 4:51AM, Sept. 19, 2007
Abt_Nihil: I hope your chin is ok ;) My favorite part of the shading is her lips. Go figure ;) And she's not my loved one. Waaay out of my league :) Hehehe! Phil: Mind if I take the hat? ;) And speaking of rodents in jeans, when will Fin update? Bocaj: Nice semantic trick there ;) And btw, your waiting is over ;) Bek: You think? Hm originally she wanted to be a Tomb Raider-esque character in this story... Hmm... As for the alerter, it shouldn't flood you with updated if you visit DD regularly. It'll just give you the ones that updated since the last time you visited Polo: Thanks! Hope you'll stop by more :)
polo at 3:28PM, Sept. 17, 2007
Beautiful!
Bekefel at 3:55AM, Sept. 17, 2007
Lara Croft much? ;D Sorry about missing the updates and stuff mate, I've been busy recently and I haven't opened the DD alerter in months! I'm afraid to open it now because it will be so swamped! It's gonna take forever to catch up on all the comics I have missed. But I will get round to it! Thats a promise.
Bocaj at 8:09PM, Sept. 16, 2007
No. You are wrong. You misinterpreted what I said. I can not wait for chapter two. It is physically impossible for me to wait for chapter two, because it is done. I can wait for chapter three on the other hand, although, I would very much prefer it if I didn't have to wait long.
phillip_the_tortoise at 4:16PM, Sept. 16, 2007
My hat also seems to be coming off to you! YAY for rodents wearing JEANS!!!!
Abt_Nihil at 2:37PM, Sept. 16, 2007
My chin dropped when I saw this page... beau-ti-ful. Beautiful work. I especially love the shading on her cheek... usually I tend to get all cynical when I see people drawing their loved ones... but this is done so disarmingly. I fear I'll get jealous if I look at this page any longer. For several reasons. Great way to end this chapter, in any case. Can't wait to read more. And thanks so much for the zillions of comments today.
Fitz at 2:13PM, Sept. 16, 2007
Nepath: Thank you! The funny thing is when I drew this, I kept thinking of how well you handle complex shading and wondered if I ever could pull off something even remotely similar. Ersatz: Kept ya waiting, huh? Sorry about that, kind sir :) JMT: If I held it off any longer, I might have suffered, too! Tantz Aerine: I like to think it looks like a frame out of a computer animation. And it's funny that a girl made a compliment about America - the guys seem not to have noticed her ;) Kilroy: Yeah that's exactly what I was afraid when starting to draw the portrait - that the "life" in the picture would be lost. It felt odd to sit down in front of the raw outline version of it. But I guess it started to "live" again when I did the eyes. Dawn: Strangely enough, my favorite part is the shading on her neck and shoulders. Wish I knew better ways to shade her hair. I'll figure something out for the next portrait. I guess I'll be posting an extra every now and then :) Harry: You? A slacker? How so? Hijuda: That's a GREAT job right there! Bocaj: Chapter Two is the current one :) But yeah, I can't wait for the new one either :D
Bocaj at 12:49PM, Sept. 16, 2007
I can't wait for chapter two.
Hijuda at 5:18PM, Sept. 15, 2007
I traced over a photo once. [URL=http://hijuda.deviantart.com/art/The-Apple-By-The-Window-56353934]The result[/URL]. Excellent page.
harryq at 2:29PM, Sept. 15, 2007
You sure make me feel like a slacker.
dgriff13 at 2:20PM, Sept. 15, 2007
slick shading, there Fitzy.
Kilroy at 1:28PM, Sept. 15, 2007
The difficult part of using photos is keeping the life in the drawing... you have done so beautifully. Perfect way to end the episode. Kudos.
Tantz_Aerine at 12:17PM, Sept. 15, 2007
This is really very realistic and yet with the same great clean lines and smooth colour you have. I think that mouse has a good eye for human ladies ;)
jmt at 11:58AM, Sept. 15, 2007
nice, I am sure she will love it. I think if you held off showing the pic any longer the story might have suffered from it.
Ersatz at 11:49AM, Sept. 15, 2007
Fantastic! The build up, the ending, the portrait itself -- everything! Well done, Fitzy! Missed ya over the last week or so! I had no idea where you'd gone (sorry, hadn't been in the forums). Great to have you back with an update! :)
Nepath at 11:39AM, Sept. 15, 2007
Fantastic! Really well built up to...and an amazing picture to boot. My hat is off to you.