ok guys, this is sort of a milestone I think. Maybe
So, this is an entry to the fanart prompt challenge. The prompt was to draw an OC
I'm not known to create many OCs in my stories but they usually play a bigger role if I do. I had two big choices here and after the initial sketching stage it became clear very soon that Cho would win.
But first, let me see if I can figure out how to make a direct upload here, shall we?
I've yet to test it haha
(oh boy, even after resizing the quality isn't the greatest... gotta beg my sis to give me her phone to take a better pic or smth)
Okay, I hope you have some time because a special drawing like this one comes with a story to tell.
So, this is actually like... the 3rd or 4th attempt of mine to draw this very scene. It seems my skills and endurance were finally large enough for me to succeed! I've tried so many different poses and perspectives... but more later!
What does it show? Yeah, maybe I should get started writing about the drawing itself before we get to the creation process. So... seen here are Shorty and Cho. Cho who? To those unaware, Cho is my OC. She is a major character in my story Shorty's Dark Past
Shorty's Dark Past (which btw is in the process of being written almost completely from scratch so keep your eyes out
). Cho is one of the little longnecks that Shorty was mysteriously seen leading during Bron's infamous flashback in LBT 10. There's quite a story around how all of that came to be (in other words, read the story
) but, anyways, Cho is a rather shy and reclusive character who can appear a little odd and weird at times. Her appearance is, as seen, pretty much... black. She is mockingly nicknamed "Shadow" for her rather dark and dull appearance which also translates to her being rather ugly.
If you think Shorty was being mean towards Littlefoot, then maybe reconsider that. Shorty was generally described as a bit of a bully in LBT 10 and I build his character around that in my fanfic. Due to the circumstances of his not so bright but fairly dark past, he's become quite an idiot... and Cho is his favourite target. He would taunt her, insult her, push her around or even hurt her physically (his stone flicking skills are remarkable after all.) But there is one turning point (which will be handled a whole lot different in the new version of the story btw) during which Shorty completely loses his mind. This is the scene that I decided to draw!
I think I should next talk about the perspective here because I know it is a bit of an unusual one (and I seem to have a knack for it so expect to see it more often haha). I used a frog perspective here. It's not perfect yet and especially the background isn't harmonizing 100% with the foreground but I think I've finally learned how to use perspective in the first place, not just this particular one. Anyways, the viewer isn't seated on the floor exactly but slightly above (otherwise there would be grass all over the place lol) looking upwards to see Cho run-jumping (I adapted this from the several occasions longnecks are seen running in a jumpy sort of manner - well, kids anyway) towards the viewer, her left foreleg just landing right in front of the viewer while the right is still coming down while the hindlegs are high above the ground. I'll admit this kind of weakened the effect of the frog perspective but I think I managed to draw it accordingly to her pose.
So, Cho has just turned directions here after passing by a thick tree in an attempt to escape the much bigger, much stronger and also faster Shorty. The latter is seen towering slightly over her (Cho would only reach up to his back while standing, roundabout) while just appearing behindd the tree.
Kinda saved me the trouble of figuring out his pose as well hahaha 
Obviously, Cho is terrified. After being assaulted by a Shorty who lost all sense, she runs while screaming as if a sharptooth was hot on her heels (and if you've read the story you'd know that comparison isn't too far off). I didn't originally plan to have her close her eyes but it kinda worked so I decided to use this instead.
I think I don't need to explain Shorty's expression or do I?
Whew, not that this is out of the way, I can finally tell you a little about the creation process. First things first, I guess, this must have taken me about 20-30 hrs in total which is just an estimation (And only like 10 hrs were spent on the final paper) It might as well have been more if you also count all the time I spent looking for help and screenshots
Speaking of which, I thik I should mention that I DID use a fair amount of them, however I did not trace! I watched some of the tinysaurus chase scenes from LBT 11 frame by frame and literally couldn't decide which of the many poses to use. In the end, a scene of Littlefoot running away from the tinysaurusses won after some discussion on the discord server (If you haven't joined, DO IT NOW
). So, I had a screenshot to base my drawing on BUT I needed to change to perspective a lot. Boy that was some hard work xD
I probably had like 3 or 4 sketches done before I decided on that pose at last, some based on screenshots, some from memory. That's several more hours of work btw
So, once I had my lineart looking somewhat acceptable, I did some background doodles to get an idea of how to draw some random vegetation and also get an idea of how to apply my perspective on my background. Once I felt semi-okay-ish about it, I made a first draft on my sketch paper with the finished lineart which I kept for the most part in the final version with slight tweaks (and clouds, hah!)
Finally, it was time to colour this monster! It was getting somewhat close to the deadline and I swear I would have made it if my motivation and patience hadn't decided to fuck me, haha. I couldn't work on it for some time and I say it here and now that I am not likely to create many works using coloured pencils in the future anymore. It's simply become too much of a drag to do and very time-consuming if done right. In all honesty, I could have spent twice or thrice the amount of time colouring this and it would probably look a lot better to but what for? I'm not even learning anything valueable during that time!
I think it's quite easy to spot who I started colouring (Shorty) and what I was colouring last (the bg). Retracing the lines took a good hour and a half today and it was the only step that greatly improved the looks of the drawing (most of Cho's features would have been buried in her dark colour haha, I legit had to look at photos I made of the lineart to recognize where some facial lines were supposed to go)
So yeah, that was my creation process (and that's the rough draft of it haha)
Last but not least, let me tell you what I, personally, think about my creation.
First things first, I'm pretty darn proud of it, not lying there.
It is the first drawing of mine where I actively changed and came up with a perspective. It is also one of the first which I didn't just trace. It is also one of the first showing a scene I came up with myself and probably the only one that's telling a story. Speaking of which, it's the first fanart of a fanfiction (in this case, my own) that I did and also the first to have a fully coloured background (the one with Ducky and Petrie doesn't count, it was traced and butchered
). So yeah, many firsts and it surely doesn't look any worse than my usual stuff, now does it?
Well, let me hear it in all glorious detail, what you think about it, will you? Please please please?
Last but not least, I would like to give a special shoutout to Flathead (no, not Littlefoot but our member). Without his constant support and some sketches of his helping me figure out some key elements of my drawing, I might not have made it to get the lineart to look any good in the first place. You rock m8te
Ducky out