flemmings: (Default)
flemmings ([personal profile] flemmings) wrote2006-03-07 10:08 am
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Arrival of the Red Dragon

And [livejournal.com profile] tammylee drew me a dragon for my birthday. "I took some liberties with the colour" she says. Henh henh henh. The result, intentional or not, looks very like Goushou in a very Goushou-like mood. I am more pleased than I can say

I'm a fanwriter. I use other people's (usually) visual works to base my stories on. So I *know* what 'my' charas look like. But these quasi-Minekuran dragons... Y'know, 'Goujun only blue' is all very well, but what kind of blue is it? Pepsi can? Krishna? (Actually Krishna is pretty Pepsi blue in most pics that *I've* seen. Indian colour schemes like bright.) Pale blue with only a bit of blue pigmentation? Or what? I don't know, so I can't envisage it myself cause my mind doesn't work that way. The best I've managed is pastel dragons courtesy of Photoshop and I didn't do that, [livejournal.com profile] mvrdrk did it for me. Of course Minekura had to pick the one dragon whose skin doesn't do shades- which in a b&w comic makes sense, but.

(Even black Gouen is a problem. I've gone from dark ashen grey to lacquer black for him, but the thing with lacquer black is that it makes expressions hard to see. My current problem is that he's clenching his hands. *I* do that and my knuckles show white. He does that and... nothing shows, I assume. [livejournal.com profile] nojojojo pointed out that tears on dark skin show as whitish traces, not the blotchiness that they do on pale ones, which is helpful. But I don't think other stuff that affects the look of the skin- going grey, going yellow- applies to lacquer black.)

The disconcerting result is that I have to write characters without knowing what they look like. I find that tough. Seeing a fully-saturated red Minekuran dragon is a very great help.

So thanks a million, [livejournal.com profile] tammylee!

[identity profile] tammylee.livejournal.com 2006-02-07 09:00 am (UTC)(link)
^___^
You're welcome!
I'm glad you like it and it helps you out!
=D

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2006-02-07 01:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I've always assumed the stuff that looks like plastic veneer is plastic veneer. I'm thinking the better quality of Japanese dishes, only not even as shiny as that because not as smooth. But definitely 'reflecting' light the way crocodile and snakeskin does. And I assume that being lizardish his skin is pretty thick

[identity profile] deepfryerfire.livejournal.com 2006-02-07 03:34 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't seen that many lizards in motion, but their skin colors don't really change at the joints at all, although the scales there tend to be larger and simpler. My guess would be that his knuckles wouldn't show white, but lizard claws don't usually have to do the kind of delicate bending hands do.

You know, I had never really thought about this, but I always pictured their dragon colors extending to their insides as well- as in, the inside of Gouen's mouth and his toungue are to my mind's eye a dark grey.

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2006-02-07 04:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahh. Umm. That is indeed a thought, though I'm not sure I want to pursue it (Goujun's white tongue... ack. Thrush!) It can be argued that humans are the same colours inside, no matter what shade the outside is, but dragons aren't human, they're humanoid. Mh....

Oh, and let me be early here and say Happy Birthday now because I'm sure to forget tomorrow. There's a card that was supposed to be in the mail last weekend but...

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2006-02-07 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Goushou. He sulks.

[identity profile] shiny-monkey.livejournal.com 2006-02-08 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
He's lovely (I happen to like sulky!). And I told you I'd forget your birthday, so it was probably best that I wished you a happy birthday too early ;_;