Legacy LD5

Howdy, peeps! RipRoarRex here, swinging by now I've got some time off from the stress that is postgrad study!



Well here was me thinking I could use my precious Easter holidays away from university to get a load of pictures finished - and then I go and spend nearly the entire fortnight on one damn project.



Since first revealing my three new characters - Seb, Bubba and Tembe - to the world last summer, a number of people have asked me why I haven't produced any more artwork featuring them. Put simply, it's down to the same old problems - time and motivation.

Indeed, this particular idea has been in my plans for about as long as Tembe has been in existence. From the first image I drew of the Chief, I couldn't help but imagine what chunky, masculine lion feet would smell and taste like after several days in sticky tribal sandals.

Yes, folks. This is me satisfying my incredible kink for musky paws once again. I know not everybody shares my fetish for sweaty/smelly feet, but few things work for me quite so well as hinting at the humiliation of worshipping feet that are naturally unclean and musky.



From the start, I'd wanted to make this a multi-panel image, giving us the POV view of Tembe's feet as well as a sequence of worship images involving Mike. I knew this would be a lot of work, but I don't think I'd envisaged quite how long it would take me - especially given that I actually started work on this back in 2011.

The central panel was a buttload of work. Tembe's probably my most muscular-looking character so the anatomy is a fiddle, and he has by far the most complex design in terms of costume (something which, for the record, I know nothing about!). But combine this with an awkward seated pose and a semi-low angle POV perspective and you've got a recipe for many frustrating hours and a lot of wasted paper. Thankfully, once I'd finally gotten that one done, the other panels weren't anything like as difficult or time-consuming.

Colouring them was no picnic though. This is probably two steps removed from what I'd consider my best colouring, the next levels up involving fur texturing and the removal of outlines in turn. But aside from lineless work being an utter pain in the arse, I've also come to realise in recent times that I'm not actually all that keen on feet with fur texturing explicitly depicted on them (hence my preference for scaly feet). As such, I made the decision to dispense with the fur texture as well and leave everything looking a bit smoother and fleshier - it might not work for everyone, but it works for me.

On a final note, there's a lot of details in the worship panels that is somewhat lost due to resizing on this image, so I may upload the full-size versions of those individual panels to my scraps at some point.

(Oh, and I think I'm finally getting the knack of speed-painting jungle scenes!)

Anyway, I return to university in the middle of next week, but I'm hoping to possibly finish off a couple more works-in-progress before my holiday is over. Until then however, I hope there's enough to look at here to keep you all going.



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Tembe's tribe of big cats do not take kindly to dogs. When Mike disturbs their corner of the jungle, they have no hesitation in delivering him to their chief for a private ritual designed to put canines in their place.





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RRRex

A clever composition overall, however...
Please explain this. You don't like how fur texturing looks (aesthetic) or you feel it takes too long to add or is otherwise not worth the effort (technical)? Comparing this to your first rendering of this lion with dreadlocks for a mane and Milk Duds for nipples, I feel the lack of fur texture makes him look like... well... a cereal mascot.

"Muskies - Plenty of paws in every spoonful!"

Wow, RRR...

Your ability to draw, smooth, moist pad flesh remains frightening - good frightening.

That top-left panel is definitely my favourite. The toe and centre pads squeezing their way around Mike's muzzle are just gorgeous! I'm also very impressed by Tembe's face - you have moved away from what I'd consider to be a normal RRR-character expression (smug beyond the outer limits of the universe) and gone for something fresh. I'd say he looks intensely predatory.

And personally, I think cartoon shading is a better way to go if you don't have every waking second of your life free to render your sketches.

Well in answer to the 'aesthetic vs technical' question, it's actually both. I generally prefer bare fleshy feet, largely because I'm put off by the thought of fur on soles. For one, it diminishes the amount of moist, fleshy sole area - and what's more, I don't find anything particularly appealing about the thought of licking fur! When the texture is left ambiguous, I find I can let my imagination smooth that furry texture out into something fleshier, even if I know that is not what it is meant to represent.

As such, is it really worth me taking ages splattering fur all over it if I know I personally will be turned off by it? I appreciate the technical merits of making it more realistic - and I dare say other people prefer seeing the fur - but ultimately I'm drawing it for me.

I think 'cereal mascot' and 'Milk Duds' is a bit harsh though!




Nah, I just don't have the time for the most realistic pictures anymore. I haven't drawn anything with my 'lineless' look for about two years now, purely because I cannot be bothered anymore with the sheer amount of work that has to go into simply repairing/redefining the edges with light and dark shading in the absence of the outline. As for fur, I might have considered using it in this picture if it were only the one panel, but four? Sorry - I've only got two weeks off uni, and this thing has already lasted most of that two weeks!

Interesting that you pick up on the expression, as indeed several people have. I didn't think it was particularly different to my usual, save for the lack of teeth on display, but I'm glad it is appreciated in any case. Some people seem to be under the impression that I'm not capable of doing other expressions - it's not that; I simply choose the smugness because I like it!



Anyway, thanks Diablo!

Wow, it's just awesome to see this character in a new pic, and showing off how well-loved his sandals are...

*melts*

I know what I'm spoogin' to tonight!

"Well-loved" - nicely put.

Thanks Dino!!

I also love the new "inset" trend that's sweeping the fandom. I'm pretty sure it started with that one guy who's always commissioning the pictures of those two husky ladies with the colored anklets stomping on cities carelessly, but it's just the perfect next step in macro art...and specifically for macro art. Each picture is a story, and to show a main overview and then close-ups of paw action all in relation is just pawsome.

I know it's tons more work for the arr-teests, as each inset is a picture in itself, but at the same time, a lot of those insets are so specific that it seems most artists don't wanna just put it out on it's own, like it's "not enough". The whole inset collage dealie is just the perfect solution to us horny bastards who want

paws

Paws

PAWS!

...and then some p-p-paw action on top of it! The artists can feel they have a complete picture and then some, and the horny masses can just get...I dunno, hornier?

Lol!

Well my reasons for using panels is quite transparent, really. Put bluntly, one picture with lots of sub-panels makes for easier FAPPAGE than having to flick between several pictures...



Didn't know there was much 'new' about the use of insets though?

Wow, I'm just kinda...disappointed I didn't realize and verbalize the fappage factor first!

Man, I must be slipping. You're absolutely right!