COMMISSION 2 OF 7 I PURCHASED AT FE2016

Perhaps fate conspired to arrange their battle. Perhaps word spread to either fighter about the other. Perhaps they've been out of practice a tad and cared to shake off any cobwebs.

Whatever the reason, the ninja lion and the pirate vixen entrusted their noble souls in their blades and have been in the heat of battle for quite some time. Vivienne's fencing rapiers against Leo's kunai create an endless melody of clangs and ricochets. Even with Leo's weapons' size disadvantages, he knew how to put up a tough front that impressed even Vivienne.

But as strong as he was throwing out whatever attack he can, all he was successful in doing was desperately trying to counter every single counterattack.

"Your defense is decent..." uttered the pirate vixen as they clashed blades closely. "But you really need to work on your offense."

Leo was dumbfounded. Everything he tried was nothing but offense, yet Vivienne saw through every one of his attacks and made them look like defensive maneuvers. Yet as direct as her words were, they didn't have any mocking or malicious intent. If anything, it almost sounded engaging, as if she was encouraging Leo to keep pushing himself and trying everything. Now it was Leo's turn to be impressed. He was honored to be facing such an amazingly strong and strategic pirate vixen.

Determined, Leo allows his kunai to quickly slide off the one rapier and resume the match, not allowing anything to discourage him no matter what fate unfolded.

---

I knew that I just had to get something from who, might I add, was one of the Guests of Honor at the con. I daresay she was an appropriate choice for GoH, too. And she's an artist I can totally trust! She worked with Gargoyles for God's sake! But instead of a badge or a drawing of a lesser-known character of mine in action, I pitched an idea I've thought of for quite some time: my fursona in a spar with her pirate vixen character, Vivienne. I like the artwork and fursuit of her, and I liked the idea of pirates and ninjas clashing. She was totally cool with it, and by the end of the weekend, I got a beauty of a commission!

Wonderful work with the contrasting offensive and defensive poses on both parties; very dynamic, naturally flowing, and professionally scaled. And while I still don't understand how the "line of action" works, I'm pretty sure she did a boss job finding the right lines along with the poses. On the part of Leo, very well done getting the wardrobe and markings to the note (save for the sandals of his not being like the ninja sandals as per his character concept, but I kinda messed up in detailing them anyway back then now that I think about it, lol). And she did a beautiful job on styling the hair in her own way as she did before while maintaining that anime appeal. On both furries, I'm totally digging the deep interaction between them; their eyes match perfectly while still intensely crossing blades. Plus I'm especially happy she threw in the text bubble as I described to her what this scene that I had in mind panned out superbly! Couple that with the amazing quality of the detailed pencil sketching, and I have here quite an amazing amount of depth and realism to the scene!

I don't know how you do it, , but you seem to make my characters more badass all the time! Thank you very much for drawing my fursona once again, and thank you again for being so cool with drawing Leo alongside Vivienne! You are awesome, and you should feel awesome!

NOTE: Original image has been cropped and enhanced to accomodate for paper size and levels.

WHY ARE YOU NOT WATCHING THE AMAZING YET!? GO WATCH HER RIGHT NOW, AND TELL HER LEO SENT YOU!