@makeshiftpawnz: Thank you!
Piper Reynard (Colored Version) by @Agondray
Here it is at last! The long overdue colored-in version of my original sketch of Piper!
I actually finished this piece earlier over Labor Day weekend, but I wasn’t able to post it until now. Editing out the sun glare and shadows was a bit of a pain, but now I think it looks good enough to post here.
In case you didn’t see the original sketch, here is some context about him!
This is Piper Reynard, but he also goes by the nickname “Pip”. He is a young adult red fox who has a knack for technology. Coincidentally going to the same college/university as a certain red panda, Piper studies electrical engineering and robotics. He strives to be a skilled technician/roboticist and hopes to be a pioneer for a new age technological advancement. Although he does tend to spend a bit too much time on his projects and personal gadgets, he tries to find enough of it to spend on hanging out with his best friend and his girlfriend, Boris Aurochton and Vixey Vulpus respectively. Becoming concerned with the sudden and growing surges of criminal activity going on in his home city, Pip started working on some new projects to help combat this activity. With a winged high-tech jet-pack, a aerodynamic suit with Kevlar armor, and experimental gauntlets equipped with claws that can superheat; Piper prepares himself for the challenges ahead. When he flies into the city on the lookout for evildoers, he takes on the identity of “Enfield”, based on the mythical creature of the same name.
Like with Panda Moon, I looked up references of real foxes so I could get the fur colors just right. Pip’s Kevlar armor pieces might appear to be black, but they actually are colored in with a very dark shade of warm gray. His suit and jetpack are colored in various shades of gray, both warm and cool. I used the warmer shades for his suit, and his jetpack and metal parts of his gauntlets have the cooler shades. I’ve also decided to give him a dark-to-light green background, to make his fur and overall design stand out.
This did take a bit of time and repeated pencil-sharpening, but I’m pretty satisfied with how it turned out!
Comments & Critiques (7)
Preferred comment/critique type for this content: Any Kind
Average Rating:
(4)
@Agondray: You're welcome!
Everything about him is cool. His markings look so much better than the standard, "easy" patterns of cartoony characters. I'm really digging those claws. How do they reach their super-heated state? Is it a chemical reaction, or powered by electricity, or some other futuristic tech? Gotta love tall boots, too. They're always a winning design choice.
@Cynicallia: Thank you so much! I wanted to give him a fairly unique appearance and have him stand out from other fox characters. After all, red foxes in real life have a wide range of fur coat patterns. Even if I do decide to go for a simpler design style for his stories, I’m definitely keeping the color patterns!
Regarding the claws, those are some good questions. I actually haven’t completely figured it out yet! XD I was thinking of something more along the lines of it being electrical. Those golden lines on his arms are supposed to be cables/wires connected to the gauntlets that are supposed to cause a chain reaction that sends energized heat into the claws, causing them to get that “red-hot” texture. Stuff happening at the atom sized levels. Like I said, I’m still figuring it out!
Oh yeah, the boots are pretty neat! I was looking up references for footwear for digitigrade legs, and I remember seeing one of similar boots on what appeared to be a dragon’s legs. I thought they looked cool and practical for a fox, so I tried to replicate it with some minor design tweaks. It can be a little hard to come up with clothing ideas for body morphs that aren’t completely or very similar to a human’s. But I wanted it to be realistic enough to where it feels like it IS a world full of animal people.
@Weasel_Silver24: Thank you very much! Oh, yeah, I can see the resemblance! Haha!
I really like this, I think you did a great job!