That is the question. Yesterday I felt like doing yet another color job, and I came across this sketch by Kazerad as a commission for Rick2Tails. I didn’t ask Rick if I could color it, but I feel like I know him well enough to know he’d be fine with it – and Kaz is certainly fine with it.
Now first, let me go off on a rant about coloring scanned sketches. Don’t. That’s my rant. I’m not ragging on Kaz here at all, but dammit it’s hard to get rid of all those extra lines! On the good side, you get so MANY lines to choose from – it’s kinda of a Roll-Your-Own sketch. Don’t like the curve of her thigh? Choose a different line! I mean, look at those intertwined tails! Quill magically has two different end-tails! 🙂 But that’s my problem. If I really wanna color a pencil sketch, there’s an hours worth of cleanup work to even get started!
But I really like this one because I honestly think it’s the only Kazerad drawing of a HAPPY Quill-Weave in existence. And, let’s face it, there’s some pretty seriously implied shipping going on here between Quill and Katia. Granted they’re about to go down on the Titanic but still…
Okay, but here’s the real question. A while back I did that sunbathing Quill and put lots of shiny highlighting on her. I liked it. A lot. So then even when I did the Pilgrim one I kept the shiny highlilghts.
Now, I’m afraid I’ve probably taken it too far. And that’s the Q. I know from past experience that my Tumblr readers don’t talk back much. That’s okay. I’ll post this elsewhere too. But I’m honestly wondering if I’m taking the shiny too far. (And breast emphasis – I already know that. But that’s something I’ll just have to live with.)
So, here it is – without the shiny. This is not finished – I made sure to keep all clothing colors change-able as I’m not convinced I like those either. And the water is horrible. But BESIDES that, is this better without shiny highlights:
Or with the shiny bits:
Of course, I’m leaning towards ‘with’ but that may well be just me. If I’m overdoing it, I would actually like to know!
Drawed by Kazerad, color and shitty background by me.
I started to second-guess myself on the shiny hussy Quill-Weave highlighting, but then I said WTH. It’s just for fun after all, right? I think that Bikini-Quill where I made her all shiny has somehow stuck, so I’m making her shiny here too.
But really, the pilgrim Weedum-Ja is being pretty hypocritical here even for a pilgrim! I doubt they’d approve of the gaudy gold headfin rings, and I KNOW they wouldn’t stand for the cross-dressing!
I was thinking about making Quill’s dress a sensible grey, but your eye can only handle SO much grey,black and white and I liked it better in pink. So QW gets to wear a nice pink dress. With frills. Don’t be upset Quill, what does that cross-dressing Weedum-Ja know anyway?
(Both characters technically copyright of Bethesda in Oblivion, though of course the redesign by Kazerad in Prequel Adventure. Also, if Kaz can be believed – and on this I think he can – Weedum-Ja IS a Pilgrim class in-game. So, nice little flip on the Pilgrim thing there.)
Quill-Weave sunning herself on a rock. I really liked Ciderward’s “where did the summer go” last bikini pic, so when Johnny Cheesedog scanned and posted this a while ago, it was just a matter of time before I got my sweaty claws on it.
Original:
by Kazerad commissioned by Johnny Cheesedog:
Extra Crispy:
After I colored it and made her all sweaty and hot. I think I may need to find more QW to make sweaty and hot again. Damn that calendar, I’ll miss sweaty and hot!
And what do you know? It’s not even Questionable!!!
My favorite of this set by far. How can I help it with that expression? Anyway, another Satasha comission by DrawPanther. Then colored by me.
ORIGINAL:
And then after adding flat colors…
A bit of major shading and a background thrown in…
Highlighting doesn’t do quite a much here since the eye-lights were really already in the original (though I added some more anyway!)
That’s it. BTW, at some point I obviously accidentally pulled the shade layer down a few pixels – note the outline at the top of her head. However, I liked the result so I left it.
But one more change. Both Sashimi and the artist had teeth in mind behind Rajirra’s fangs instead of a tongue. I dunno, I kinda like the tongue but…
Oh! I posted this on the wrong blog too! Well, no problem there. A quick Reblog from the other site and PRESTO! Good as new.
Sorry – posted this on the wrong blog the other day. But this does give me a chance to correct the teeth/tongue thing. (I dunno, I still like the blood red tongue myself, but if the artist had teefers in mind, and the commissioner had teefers in mind, then teefers it shall be!)
Another color job. Drawn by DrawPanther, colored by your friendly neighborhood Draggy.
So, we’ll dive right in. Here’s the original from DrawPanther:
Pretty damned good. Sometimes I’m REALLY not convinced me coloring these things is an improvement. But we’ve always got the original I guess regardless so it’s not like I’m RUINING them.
So, first come flats, then shade, then highlights in my method. Flats:
I’d watch that cartoon! Shading time though, and also I threw in an admittedly bad background.
And finally, with highlighting. And I think this is the first one I’ve ever “signed”.
DrawPanther suggested it, so… Color by Bluedraggy.
Now, I did like this one but I gotta be honest, it’s the NEXT one I really really love! You’ll see why when I get it done in a few more days.
Yup, it’s time. I got Skyrim working well enough, got all required mods in. I also made two mods of my own. One is Slutcat’s vest. The second is a modification to Sworddog’s armor. (removing lots of it).
I THOUGHT I’d managed to get two more swords attached to Sworddog’s armor, but alas they didn’t show up in-game. I’ll have to work on that, but I always knew this was going to be haphazard at best.
If you happen to be unable to tell, it’s completely NSFW. I don’t emphasize the nudity but I don’t hide it either. I created a new blog specifically for it. If you don’t like NSFW stuff, you know what NOT to do, right?
2 posts up now, the 2nd with new screenshots. I point to the archive so you can read whatever one you’re up to. The first post was – but for FurNut’s drawing – all text. Second has plenty of screenshots though.
Once I switched back to Skyrim from Skyrim Special Edition, the rest was easy. I came across an open vest but had to do a lot of mods (it was long sleeved AND had pants AND the internal body wasn’t complete once I got rid of the pants via transparency. Also I messed with CBBE Bodyslide and Outfit Studio (Outfit Studio for the first time ever) to adjust the result to fit a custom bodyslide body. Then I started on Sworddog.
Her armor was actually pretty easy. I’d already modded it to remove most of the annoying stuff. But I tried to add 2 more swords to her armor and, though it shows up in Nifskope, they don’t show up in-game. I’ll keep working on that.
Then it was just a matter of getting screenshots. I didn’t shy away from anything obviously – just used the best that I had. So now I’m off to send her through the tunnels with Ralof and see what further mischief she gets herself into.
An actual blog post! And a pretty long one at that.
Computer problems, Prequel fanfiction, More Prequel coloring jobs and NSFW works coming. (Sorry about that last bit! Well… not really.)
A bit of history first… Last weekend I got tired of my old Windows 8.0 on my HP laptop, so I bit the bullet, backed up everything and upgraded to Windows 10. The laptop came with Windows 8.0, and as any sane person these days would do, I installed an SSD. Space is smaller but I don’t really need that much space. How anyone can run a PC without an SSD these days, I can’t fathom. But I think I did something wrong because, though it ran just fine, I couldn’t upgrade to 8.1. I kept getting the same upgrade error. I’m really not a neophyte when it comes to PC tech, but all my searching couldn’t come up with a solution to it. So I sat on 8.0 forever, the OS constantly reminding me “Hey! Update to 8.1!” Then Windows 10 came out and guess what, it’s FREE to anyone WITH 8.1! It will NOT install on 8.0. So I was stuck even longer.
So how to get out of the dilemma? Why, don ye olde pirate patch and sail the wide accountant sea! So, though I’m totally entitled to a legit Windows 10, I had to venture into dark waters to make it happen. But happen it did and by Sunday night I was running Win10. And then the installing REALLY began. Skyrim Special Edition (which I’d never ran before) was tops on that list so I got that in place along with Photoshop. Still got a lot of smaller things I need to install but I feel like I’m back on my feet again anyway.
Now… switch gears with me for a minute… Last Friday Kazerad did a stream where he was reading Prequel fanfiction. I don’t think it’s too much to say I probably have written as much Prequel fanfiction as any. And yes, of COURSE I think some of it’s pretty good. But the mother of the ugly kid thinks he’s the most beautiful thing ever, so I recognize that I’m more than a little biased in that regard. Also, having someone read your stuff makes you realize how PAINFUL typos and grammar mistakes can be for the reader. So I’m going to try and improve those too.
But Monday came along and I REALLY wanted to write something. So I put up that survey to see what people wanted me to write about. There’s a lot of good starting points. Evil Quill Weave for one can definitely be expanded. I like the Dodger fanfiction an awful lot and would love to revisit Dodger, Kitty an Donny again. I probably will eventually regardless. But I needed other choices, so I started looking for inspiration for new stuff. I came across FurNut’s “The Adventures of Slutcat and Sworddog”.
Damn that was screaming for some lovin’. And I’m an impatient draggy. So I jumped the gun and ignored the survey. (sorry, though I will check it out again when next the writerly bug hits!) I started writing. An I chose the introduction of Skyrim as a framework. I think somewhere in the back of my mind I already knew where it was going. But… it will be DEFINITELY NSFW. Slutcat has to earn that moniker. And Sworddog will be her partner. But these are completely NOT Katia and the Sworddog from the comic.
Slutcat will remain basically naked most all the time and Sworddog not only can talk, but does. A lot. I have in mind Mr. Peabody from The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends and his “Peabody’s Improbable History” shorts. In fact, I’ll probably insinuate that both Slutcat and Sworddog actually came to Skyrim using a WABAC machine.
But it actually takes a lot more research than you might think to write fanfiction. Like, for some reason I thought Sworddog was male. In fact, in an as-yet-unpublished part 2 I had him licking his balls. Well hell, turns out he’s a she! Of course I could be flexible with that – esp. since there’s almost no connection between my Sworddog and Prequel’s Sworddog. But no, he’s a she. So she’s Ms. Peabody. In fact, though I probably won’t name her other than Sworddog, her real name is Ms. Heckie Peabody. As for Slutcat, I’ve got free range on real names there, but again I don’t plan to worry about it. She’s Slutcat. “The name’s Cat. Slut Cat.” And she has no problem with it.
Which leads to the next problem. She’s a slut. She’s not a prostitute, mind you – she’s really just overly promiscuous. However, at this point I don’t plan for her to ever actually DO anything. She’ll be too busy doing Skyrim quests. But it would be a heinous crime, given the inspiration of FurNut’s drawing not to keep her nekked! So it will definitely be an ADULT fanfiction. I do love images in my fanfictions too. So maybe you see where this is going by now? I’ve got a start of a new fanfiction, I’ve got Skyrim Special Edition installed. I need images for my fanfiction. I can’t afford to pay FurNut for more commissions. 🙂
So last night I started installing mods. CBBE seemed the natural choice right off as it’s customizable. I added a saturation mod as default in-game Skyrim is too bleak and colorless. Of course I had to add the big Khajiit eye mod. My own custom texture for Slutcat of course. I debated removing the nips and puddy from the texture but the result was just kinda odd, so I’ll leave em. It’s going to be NSFW anyway so WTH.
And then I have more Sashimi coloring jobs coming. And I told Madmanransom I would color a pic for him but I’ve not even started on that. I’m kinda busy.
But what about Sworddog? How the hell am I going to put swords on a dog?!?
Oh! Nevermind. It’s already been done.
I might mod that one a bit more – at least to remove the doggy helmet. It would be great to add a 2nd sword to it too, but that’s likely beyond my ability. Still, that’s a sworddog! Also a color change to the dog texture to make him less Husky and more Golden Retriever. But I can do that.
Finally, I put the first “chapter” of Slutcat and Sworddog in Skyrim in my bdnsfw.tumblr.com blog. Naa. It needs it’s own separate place. So I’ll be creating yet ANOTHER tumblr blog for Slutcat and I’ll move that first chapter over there.
(Don’t worry, Slutcat won’t look like THAT! But it’s amazing what you find looking for images on Google!)
As for the story? Well hell, why don’t I just continue a (VERY VERY SLOW!) playthrough of Skyrim with her? Doing so will let me do what Kazerad pointed out long ago – don’t try to write a ‘fanfic’ of what you love… write a PARODY of it. So that’s what this will be. Totally tongue-in-cheek, break the 4th wall with abandon, but with an admittedly much more NSFW perspective. It could literally go on for YEARS. All because of a FurNut.
But I’ve got work to do still! I’ve not even installed a poser mod yet. And the MFG commands don’t work. Yikes! So… it’s coming, but I don’t even want to post Part 2 till I can get my Skyrim setup for doing proper screenshots.
After the fanfic readings Friday night from Kaz, I’m dying to write more. Maybe I’ll even improve my grammar and spelling. But what to write, what to write? Well, I’ve got an idea for that. Since I have SO many followers (50% of which are actually likely not porn-bots), ask the readers! So, have a survey!
If I set it up right, it should be completely anonymous. Using Google Forms because those other ones kinda suck visually and I always like putting images in things.
So… what do you want to see more of on the fanfic side? Don’t worry, there’s ideas for totally new stuff there too as well as a write-in area.
If you think you’ve seen this before, you have. I made a stupid and awful mistake on my last posting and deleted it to remove all evidence. (I’d painted over DrawPanther’s signature inadvertently.) He’s been the nicest guy about it which made me even more ashamed to have done that. But now it’s fixed so I’m posting it again.
So Sashimi is working on a fanfiction – a backstory for Rajirra I believe. I also understand it will go NSFW places. But he wants to get some illustrations for it (which I highly agree with! Stories with illustrations are so much easier to read IMHO.) So he was going to get some commissions. I suggested I could color the for free and save him some $ so he can get more too.
Little did I know he was going to commission such GOOD stuff! I didn’t know DrawPanther, but after I saw this I immediately looked at his gallery. He’s so much better at coloring than I am that I was awfully intimidated, but still I was going to give it my best shot. And the first thing to do is always start on flat colors. So here’s that…
I knew the colors for Rajirra from Prequel of course. The other guy (don’t even have his name yet) I didn’t though so I picked some nice relatively neutral colors for him. Next I did the flat colors of everything else of course. I made a mistake here though, I shaded the ground on the same layer. I later regretted that but I made it work anyway. Also I tried a sky and river, but I didn’t like em.
Now the fun stuff starts. Shading. I took a cue from a suggestion at the Prequel fanart booru and added a fullly shaded layer and then REMOVED the shading to add the brighter side to the right. Also from reading some tutorials they suggested a more purplish shade layer than just straight grey: Revised the river again, though it’s still not good. And colored the rocks.
Really that’s more like a highlighting layer. THIS is a shade layer, where not only did I add the darker areas to the left, but also some particularly dark layers where little light would shine:
Next was my very favorite parts. Eyes. I love doing eyes. They’re so friggin EASY but they make the whole picture suddenly pop. Also I added sun-dappling to mimic light through the leaves above. This is really where I regretted having the ground shade in a single layer as I had to paint the dapples differently on the ground than on the characters. It worked but not quite the same.
I thought I was done and this is about where I left it. Then someone suggested I should just remove the lines on the sky and do it without them. Plus I realized that the river NEEDS reflections, and they’re so easy to do! So I got what I thought (wrongly) would be my FINAL final version:
Now the river looks like a river (though probably a bit TOO placid). The leaves help a lot – don;’t know why I hadn’t colored them before. And the sky is MUCH better. (it should be – it’s actually a PICTURE of a sky with just a bit of smudging). Is that cheating? I don’t really care! So that was my FINAL FINAL version, right? WRONG… DrawPanther saw it, complemented me, but pointed out that I effectively erased his signature. AAAAAAA!
So THATS my real final final final version, WITH DrawPanther’s sig. (I inverted it to white – worked better over the river that way.) And that’s it. It was funny, DrawPanther was like SHOCKED that I don’t use a tablet. (Mouse only). It’s really not such a big deal when coloring as it is in drawing.
So that’s it. The first of a few for Sashimi. Some will be NSFW so those I’ll have to put on my NSFW blog. (never done those before! Should be… interesting. I’ll have to look up tutorials on how to color body parts I’ve not done before!)
bdprequel 