Dated 21/04/2012

It was on 21 April 2007 that I first introduced Rexar to the furry world in a picture entitled 'Rexar Relaxing' (click here). Now, five years on from that day, I have created a new version of the same picture (albeit with a few additions here and there.)



The original 2007 edition of 'Rexar Relaxing' was pretty much the very first digital picture I'd ever attempted. It was drawn rather crudely with the mouse using a simple brush tool in Paint Shop Pro 6, and coloured with a very basic cell-shading approach that was not wonderfully executed. At the time however, it was just about the best piece of work I'd ever done on a PC.

It's been a long time since then, and my art style has developed considerably in that time. Over the past five years, I've learned an immeasurable amount about anatomy, shading, layers and a lot of other features of digital imaging, as well as investing in various pieces of hardware including a graphics tablet and scanner. As such, upon the fifth anniversary of Rexar's arrival into the fandom, I thought I should recreate the original picture and bring it up to date with my current style and ability.

I should stress that 'Rexar Relaxing' was not the first image of Rexar in existence - I had created the character sometime in about 2002/03 and had been drawing him on paper for a few years before first discovering the furry fandom in April 2007. After registering a forum account on scaly foot fetish forum BigClawZ as RipRoarRex, I submitted this picture a week later, and the rest is history.

As for the 2012 edition, I'm quite pleased with this considering it only took me a couple of days to produce from scratch. I wanted to add the sneakers in as an extra touch because I have always drawn Rexar with the same pair of sneakers throughout the years, so this is similarly a means of bringing them up to date. Admittedly the background is lazy, though this was a combination of wanting to keep faith with the original picture as well as giving it something of a bold, simple 'poster' look.

As ever, the anatomy is not 100% - I'm not happy with the far shoulder or with some of the proportions - but generally I feel it has come out well. It is interesting to note that in the five years I have been drawing Rexar for the fandom, most of his form has changed dramatically in line with what I have learned about anatomy, but some of his distinctive stylistic features - namely his eye ridges, his snout and his trademark expression - have remained throughout. After all, he just wouldn't be Rexar without them!



I'm back at university now after my Easter holiday finished a couple of weeks ago, so I'm unlikely to produce too many more pictures for the next month or so. But in the meantime, here's to five years of my favourite sexy scaly friend - and many more!


RRRex