The Promising Future

Ok, first off, RW is going to kill me. I knew I should have done this piece before my last one.

Secondly, Lyla is going to pummel my corpse after RW is done because this has Rika and Chaz in it.

I know I just released a Rika piece but this is a picture I've wanted to try my hand at for a while now. I know the background is cheap, but I'm no good at making these sort of things yet and a gradient or flat colour wasn't going to cut it. If anyone has suggestions for this area I'd love to hear from you.

It also includes my first sideways head drawing too, so here's hoping it turned out ok. It didn't take so long, but then I did start it at 8:30 am and I've been awake since 3:30am today, so it probably did.

Anyhoo, write stuff if you feel like it. Thanks!

Kill you? Why would I do that? This is AWESOME! (Hey, I adore Chaz and Rika!)

Once again Xan has PWNED with colored pencils and managed to impress with them! I love the Chaz and Rika pairing, not just because they're canon, but because they're just so shoujo sweet. You've managed to capture one of the tenderest moments between them here with your work. Very nice job with the highlighting, shading, and form. Well done!

I was referring to the fact that you'd just posted up your Alis and Noah piece a few hours before mine. I really liked this moment at the end of the game and just knew I had to do it at some point. While a lot of people apparently noticed this thing between Chaz and Rika, it came as a surprise to me. I never really caught onto it until it happened, but it is a nice moment.

Thanks anyway. I was a bit unsure of the shading and highlighting on this one. I don't have any grey pencils either and was tempted to try out the silver one I have. In the end I just laid down a light dusting of black and worked some white into it. A bit of a messy thing to do, but it's what I love about these pencils and what allows me to do skin the way it is too.

I am going to grind up your bones, and dump then in my soup, Xan... ^^ Then I'll quater you (slowly) then chop you up into little bits and stomp on those until it ... well, nevermind. You don't want to know.

Yes, you are right, Chaz and Rika are my least favourite characters from the series. Too sugary sweet for my liking. I still have to finish my Alys and Rune fan-art (might redraw it though), but I'm getting into PS2 more now, so you can expect more fan-art from that side. Nei might be my next project. That game is under-appreciated, while PS4 is over-rated. ><

Power to PS2!!

Anyway, you did a nice job there with the pencil crayons there, Xan. Must have taken you quite a while to get the shading done. Where you really up for 5 hours doing this piece?

I think it took me about 5 hours, maybe more. I took a break after I had drawn it out and finished it in time to get my dinner ready, so around 5 hours. Drawing Rika's ear, her face and Chaz's face were the longer parts and it took me a fair few goes before I got it. I won't be drawing again him for a while anyways.
The colouring also takes a lot longer than I thought, not helped by the core on one pencil breaking a few times. If you're not careful the dust fragments can become stuck and smear the paper and are sometimes impossible to remove, bar software editing.

I'd be keen to see you do Nei. I have her somewhere on my to do list as well, though not before I do the Rudo/Amy piece for Tanith and Rune for RW. I'd like to redo Shir at some point and maybe try my hand at some PS I stuff or maybe PS III. I'll be putting PS IV on the side after Rune anyways.

Also, if you're going to go and grind me up for soup, I'd recommend staying clear of the feet. All that walking is bound to give the bones a nasty hint of peat, marsh and sweat.

Hmm.... true. Your feet wouldn't make the dish as yummy. I finished Rolf in just under 2 and a half hours (my latest piece) and I'll be doing Nei as soon as I'm done here. Expect to see it by late afternoon. I work fast. ^^

Rune_Walsh wrote:

Once again Xan has PWNED with colored pencils and managed to impress with them! I love the Chaz and Rika pairing, not just because they're canon, but because they're just so shoujo sweet.

They are, aren't they? I can just see them doing all that cute shōjo blushing and turning into chibis with the hearts over their heads (ahem, like my avatar). D'awwwwww!

*ahem* Anyway, I completely agree with RW that you are a master of colored pencils, Xander. This is so bright and colorful, and I'm not seeing any pencil marks, either. Excellent work capturing the sweetness of this couple!

Very nice work!!

Xander wrote:

I was referring to the fact that you'd just posted up your Alis and Noah piece a few hours before mine.

Bah, I don't think that way - the more PS love, the better! Chaz and Rika could use more love. They don't get enough fan art.

Xander wrote:

Thanks anyway. I was a bit unsure of the shading and highlighting on this one. I don't have any grey pencils either and was tempted to try out the silver one I have. In the end I just laid down a light dusting of black and worked some white into it. A bit of a messy thing to do, but it's what I love about these pencils and what allows me to do skin the way it is too.

It worked out well. Thankfully Chaz doesn't have too much grey in his armor; and Rika's is pretty much all black, so not much grey would be needed. Colored pencils are nice to match for skin tones. With markers, you have to test to get it about right.

Lyla. If you use Xan's feet it'll add just a little kick.
But yeah, this is seriously some good work. I do find it hard to believe though you just started recently. It's making me want to get back into drawing. >.>