Dated 31/10/2012

The full-sized profile picture for Skyra as he appears on the homepage banner for my website, RipRoarRex's Realm, following its 2012 relaunch last week.

http://download.lavadomefive.com/me.....rs/riproarrex/

(See this character's brand new profile page for more information - click here)

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Before I started this one, I remember thinking to myself: "Good. This shouldn't take too long. Skyra's one of the easier ones."

*facepalm*

Yes. Skyra was one of the easier ones... in the days that I couldn't be bothered to do his wings properly.

This is the first time I've actually tried to draw wings properly, and it was a major pain in the backside. I'm very pleased with how they have come out, but it took a very long time to get it right, and I don't know if it's necessarily 100% anatomically accurate.

What also bothered me with this one - as with many of these profile pictures - was the face. I absolutely hate drawing characters flat face on, given how it brings in questions of symmetry and almost always seems unnatural given that I don't often do angles like this. I had to redo the face several times to get it to look anything like I wanted it to, and if I'm brutally honest, I'm still not happy with the result. I can't describe it, but it just looks a bit derpy to me.

I also wanted to try giving him more realistic feet for this picture, giving him chunkier inner talons and scale detail. I didn't add any other 'ridge' texturing along the top edges though, largely because I'm not so keen on that look - I prefer the feet to look a bit smoother and softer.

RRRex