An unexpected addition to the Mud Scouts lineup,  kingodin's deer/wolf hybrid Jenova tries to get a solo head-start on training maneuvers in this commissioned piece, and finds the going getting tough almost immediately. Just two steps in and she's in past her knees and off-balance. While she did carry a walking stick, I hope she read the Mud Scout guidebook first :).

Technical:The parameters for this were to have it done in the style of the existing set of Mud Scout portraits (which for those not in the know, each character gets one 'clean' pic of them in their uniform, and subsequent ones will depict them in varying degrees of muddiness), to which I happily obliged. I see now that there isn't a consistent look to the backdrops, but a progression in skill at rendering them. There was also a past plan to use one backdrop for the portrait pics, which also lost out to opportunities to out-do the previous one. Well, this was no exception--the only place I diverged from the past pics was to ink the character digitally rather than by brush+india ink, since I wanted to preserve the pencils to use in a future 'Weekly Ink & Pencil" post (I don't yet have a lightbox, but getting one is on the to-do list).

For those who have been waiting patiently for the first Mud Scout 'trudge in the sludge' and general muddy-themed pics, I haven't forgotten them. There is one more set of comics I'd like to do that will tie in to the start of these, and those are in the process of being thumbnailed out. Progress on those will likely see a boost come Anthrocon, where I plan to do the Artist's Alley. Progress, that is assuming I don't get a bunch of commissions tying me up for the duration (like that's ever happened, hah)

Pencil on bristol, digitally inked with Krita colored with Micrografx Picture Publisher 10. 18 object layers, 199MB at full uncompressed size.