Byronos

Wow. I don't know what to say. I sat down a few hours ago, and a few hours later I draw this.

The background. I'm amazed I made that. More than the character--the background just...I mean, I took the default brushes, and just started working. I think some kind of artistic god was giving me subconscious advice, because everything I wanted to do just happened somehow or another. Hell, I even used some filters and effects I've never touched before, yet it still came out awesome for my standards.

The character himself! Well, started with a sketch, like I did for that Khazghron painting. Then I dedicated a black and white layer to both shadows -and- highlights. Then I used multiply to bleed the lighting over the base color layer, and then made a new layer for the fur, applied a noise effect, and started using smudge to push the fur in the proper directions. Maybe I read about doing that somewhere, or maybe I didn't--all I know is that it came instantly into my head, and I followed it through with great result I think.

Whew. Anywho, I need a break. Once I started working on clothes and the sword, I realized how long I'd been at it, and started going downhill in quality and inspiration. Still, I'm very, VERY proud of this one right now. And in a single day! I need to inject myself with this kind of creativity more often.

Anywho, Byronos is two characters in a sense. I originally used him as a fantasy role-playing character--he's the war-minotaur: knows everything about fighting. Not as adventurous or hunter-like as my other minotaur fellow, but when it comes to combat, this brute can't lose. Impersonal but experienced, he tends to keep to himself.

And then, in City of Heroes, he's a minotaurean warrior from another dimension! Hired by a faction, he did his duty well, until that faction suddenly sprung into action a plan to take over the realm in which Byronos lived. Byronos himself tried to avoid taking part, and attempted to leave, however his association with the faction caused him to be convicted as well. Banished through a magical portal designed to exile all traitors from his homeland, his magical transference was interrupted by a summoning ritual here on earth by the group called the Circle of Thorns--demon worshiping demon summoners, in short. Instead of summoning a demon, they summoned Byronos, who defended himself, and eventually emerged above ground (Circle of Thorns reside in caves under the city) in Paragon City. Magics still clouding his mind and better judgement, he went on a brief and somewhat successful rampage, before being captured by super heroes and being incarcerated, though awaiting counseling, in the Zig (a prison for super villains). After a jail-break however, Byronos finds himself free, and transported to the Rogue Isles, where villainy is rampant. After a few months of getting used to this new planet, he comes to a moral decision and leaves the villainous Isles in favor of the good and heroic path of Heroes in Paragon.

Whew! Two short stories there. Anywho, I'm off! To take a well deserved break, me thinks.

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