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SciFi and Fantasy Art: 'Alien Beach Siesta', AKA 'The Salvage Project'I corresponded with furry dragon artist Dee Dreslough a few times in 2003 . . . just a nice, nice person with fantastic skills.
Anyhow, I joined Elfwood and Elftown in June 2003. It took me a while to get an art page up, but as I did I decided to start a Dee Dreslough Furry Dragon Contest on Elftown, which has become something of a joke. I started the contest in November, and it was originally supposed to last eight weeks. Then the 'final' deadline was posted for April 15th . . . and I still haven't closed it (though I will, shortly).
Several things happened along the way:
(1)I got the first part of the drawing done in December 2003. This is as far as I got in December:
http://elftown.lysator.liu.se/img/photo/27794_1071893479.jpg
Having a sinking feeling that 'Painful' vampire pic would be rejected for its sheer incompetent awfulness, I zoomed in on my dragon characters, Jak'edrac and Jul'eweisa, eliminating any hints of sci-fi as this was before the Lothlorien/Zone 47 merger in early 2004.
This, of course, is a small version of 'Sleepy Dragon Beach'---placed in the original moderation ticket to sustain it in case Picture Five---the vampiric doofus---got rejected:
http://elftown.lysator.liu.se/img/photo/27794_1071893025.jpg
2.) I dallied around for a few days after the original stuff was completed. I also began sinking into the worst winter depression I've ever had. Then, in January 2004 my car slipped on the ice, and I rear-ended a huge SUV causing teeny weeny damage, but resulting in a fat fine, a warning letter from the Department of Motor Vehicles . . . and the near-end of this picture. Walking back to the employee parking lot the very same day I got into the accident, I slipped on a plowed, but unsalted pathway. I landed on the small of my back, and would probably have been very seriously injured were it not for the heavy padding of my winter coat. The violent action caused the folder containing the unfinished picture to fly out into the road, where it got covered in slush, salt, sand and water, which caused major damage---and sorely hurt my pride. I resigned myself to depression, even though I was able to dry out the paper and save most of the incomplete drawing.
3.) I did the 'I Still love You' pic in mid-February, which not only helped end my depression, but was also about the time I remembered the old lessons about shading from high school, 1987---1991. Then I did 'Daddy Dragon'---and then I looked back at this pic, bent and tattered in a few spots, discolored here and there. Yuck, it looked AWFUL! But I finished it anyway, however reluctantly, because in some ways the overall composition is embarassing.
I have left the background areas done in December 2003 intact and untouched, except for a few smudged spots. If you look at Jul'eweisa and Jak'edrac closely (my dragons) you will see fading has not been the only thing that's happened to them . . . just compare with 'Sleepy Dragon Beach', which was done before the damage caused by the messy slush and sandy, salty water when I had my big fall (and narrowly avoided disability). I darkened the cheesy Saturn-like gas planet, but did nothing else to the original stuff, except for adding the date '2004' and darkening the date '12/03'.
Added in April and May 2003---the full, dark Furry Dragons, which are supposed to be inspired by Dee Dreslough Dimarene Dragons. (But they don't look much like them---grr. I owe it to Dee to study her dragons in more detail)
Anyway, the moral of this story, boys and girls, is that sometimes it makes sense to finish an abandoned project, even if your skills have considerably improved since you left off. Ugly, tattered, incongrous-seeming stuff can have its charm. Just think of that really ugly mutt saved from the animal shelter who is forever loyal and grateful, and lives twice as long as a pricey pureblood suffering from inbred characteristics.
I clearly need to visit this website more often, and maybe you ought to check it out as well---and tell Dee Dreslough I sent you ;-)br>
<http://www.dreslough.com/ | |
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Zigzak <heppell_lee@yah...uk>
