Ballpoint Kirin

Posted Sep 8, 2007, 12:01:24 PM UTC

When I finally came to, I was laying face-down in a field of dampened grass. I could make out the dark outlines of trees in the distance under the moonlight, masked and grayed by the thick cloud cover that had rolled in. I could smell the grass under my face, feel the dew on my cheek as I stirred and fought the blur of sleep from my eyes- which was an irony in and of itself. Wasn't I already asleep? Or was that a dream and this was the reality? I remembered only pieces of my 'real life', but I could feel the grass under me, the cold air biting through what clothing remained on me, I could feel it moving through the feathers on my wings. The smell of the grass was so alien but familiar at the same time.

A glint of moonlight caught my eye as I finally sat myself up, confused by the almost animalistic nature of the hands I'd been laying on. A figure outlined in moonlight starred right back at me with a pair of haunting eyes. Though it was nothing like I'd depicted or imagined from the many descriptions of the creature I knew down to my core what it was...

The kirin threw its head back and let out a sound unlike any equine I'd known. A haunting but beautiful sound, all the sudden there was no question in my mind. It was real- all of it. Not a dream, perhaps another reality past the dreaming. I watched it run from the gate before which it had stood just a moment ago- now fading away as the creature vanished into the darkness...

Today during lunch all I had to draw with was a black ballpoint pen that I'd temporarily liberated from the registers. I didn't want to just sit and watch Judge this-or-that on our break room TV so I popped on my iPod and started drawing. Surprisingly enough, it came out pretty well. I've been working hard at equine anatomy though this is the first time I've not murdered paper with erasing....'cause I couldn't. XD

It's a bit different from the kirin I normally draw but I like it. ^_^

All done in ballpoint. I added the color 'paper' in photoshop because black and white was boring to look at. >_>

Comments

bonbon3272
Sep 8, 2007, 9:21:41 AM UTC
You don't see many ki-rins in art. I guess the unicorn takes up 90% of their population, lol.

So you want me to "roast" you, huh? Actually, it's a very clean sketch. My only suggestion is: on the back legs, the knees seem a bit too low. Then again, it's not really an actual "horse" drawing.

I like nonetheless
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- Thalion
  Sep 8, 2007, 12:55:26 PM UTC
  Sadly Kirin aren't well known though in my opinion they're more fascinating than unicorn. There's so many ways you can depict them. :3
  
  Thank you for your comment! I actually drew this without any references so I did want to be 'grilled' on the anatomy. XD
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- Dracontiar
  Sep 11, 2007, 5:49:29 PM UTC
  The knee is pretty long for a horse, but it fits, since most of the body looks more like a greyhound than an equine. In that context, it's perfect. ^^ The distance between the knee and hock should probably be longer, but from a stylistic point of view, it looks just fine. ^^
  
  It's a very good sketch. It's clean, has good movement, the texture's executed perfectly, without overdoing it... "Have I ever told you you're my hee-eero?!"
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  Thalion
  Sep 23, 2007, 3:39:59 AM UTC
  :3 :nod: Equine anatomy's still something I struggle with. Thanks for pointing that out, I'll definitely keep it in mind next time around.
  
  XD :noogies:
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  Dracontiar
  Sep 23, 2007, 8:33:35 PM UTC
  Any time. ^^ It's not so hard, just takes practice. Of course, I'm a horse freak and spent half my time looking at picture books full of horses, so I had plenty of reference material... Anyways. No problem. ^^
  
  Oh... and noogies? OW! *rubs head*
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  Thalion
  Sep 24, 2007, 5:58:29 PM UTC
  :nod: Of course. :3 It'd be easier if I could be out and actually watch horses and deer up-close. XD Pictures are great but they're not as alive as I like to capture. A lot of the time pictures of horses are kinda in generic standing poses. Same for deer, it's hard to capture then in dynamic motion. O-o
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  Dracontiar
  Sep 24, 2007, 6:08:12 PM UTC
  It depends. I know I've done google searches on certain horse breeds, or whatever, and a lot of farms like to show their horses when they're playing. I have whole powerpoints full of pictures of different horses in hundreds of poses. Try it!
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  Thalion
  Sep 24, 2007, 6:22:43 PM UTC
  Ooh maybe I should try that rather than like "Horse" or "running horse". XD Thanks for the advice!
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