Softpastel Wolfrider Portrait Art

Moonshade


I just love drawing those deep violet eyes...

Oooh how lovely!!!^^ My favorite elf!! Though with so much hair she kinda looks like Rahnee to me lol. With maybe some Brownberry in there too. But you did so lovely on the eyes! How did you get that effect?

Gorgeous! *loves*

The colours are so pretty and perfect for her. Her eyes really stand out! (It kinda reminds me of that newblood issue!)
Going to echo Vaeri here, I see bunch of hints to other characters in her. ( Rahnee and Foxfur are the ones that come to my mind) But I think that's really neat! It's a good effect.

It reminds me of a favorite doll I had as a child. Enchanting. Makes me want to start drawing again.

Beautiful! I loooooooove the eyes too, the color is so beautiful. Trollbabe is right - enchanting is definitely the word!
I also see the shades of Rahnee in this, I think it's partially because of the hair maybe? Whatever it is, it works! Lovely work  <3

@Leanan Thank you

@Shadowpath Thank you! You and Vaeri are right that she echoes Rahnee because in my head Moonshade looks more wolf-ish. So I want her to be recognisable as herself but adjusted her bone structure  and even her bangs to look more Rahnee like.I like the elders to have a more of a wilder look where the wolf blood genetics stand out more.

@Trollbabe I am glad it evokes this beautiful feeling in you and would love to see your drawings! Elfquest characters are so inspiring  even after years or even decades  right...

@Zadzi Aww thank you! I am glad you also see Rahnee in her. I am happy that this is recognisable. Yes it is because of the bangs and facial bone structure.

@Vaeri Glad you like it! Yes, there is a little bit of wolfish Rahnee features in her.  You asked how I created the eyes and so I made a little extra effort yesterday night when the kids where sleeping and  in my 30 minutes free time besides doing the chores created an eye tutorial just for you. I hope you like my gift for you. 


Eye Tutorial Steps

I chose a more cartoonish eye and extra bold colors to make the steps more visible. Moreover I used traditional ink, coloured pencils and a white gel pen for highlights but you can easily achieve this digitally as well.

Step 1: Create the outlines of the eye.

Step 2: Make a gradient in the iris. I chose three colours from dark to light.

Step 3: Intensify the color of the center of the iris as well as the edge of the iris. Choose a light blue color and make shadows for the white of the eye. 

Step 4: Intensify the shadow with a dark black coloured pencil or soft black digital brush. This is an important step to make the highlights in the next step stand out more. The darker the shadow the more visible the highlights. 

Step 5: Take the black soft pencil again or a digital brush that is soft and go over the lashes of the eye to make them appear softer and more lush.

Step 6: Add highlights.

Dewshine


Outlines and colored

Very beautiful! And I love the eye tutorial. You're really talented!

Thank you. And I am also glad you like the tutorial...I love to share what I have learned.

Squeeee!! Thank you so much for the gift tutorial! A gradient on the eyes, i never would of thought of that! o.o But Moonshade still seems to have such a glow in her eyes...i perhaps that's due to a light blending to get rid of some of the edges between the pupils and iris? I rather want to try this out now!^^

I am so glad to hear you intentionally put shades of Rahnee in Moonshade! Felt kinda bad saying "i see this character but i also really see this character too" but the interwoven is really quite cool! Then again Moonshade COULD be descended from Rahnee...wasn't Moonshade also Blood of Chiefs or am i misremembering?

Dewshine looks oh so lovely and sprite like.^^ I love seeing the gradient in the lineart. A lovely sunnygold highthing indeed!

Yay glad you like the gift and sunny Dewshine! I would love to see your version of this eye drawing technique...
Don't feel bad about saying anything that comes to your mind. I value honesty and every kind of constructive criticism...and of course am happy if I can resonate with other Elfquest fans through my drawings  

Back to Moonshade: I was drawing her without reference and had the idea that I want her to more wolf like. I then thought about Rahnee rather than thinking of a wolf as reference because it is more easy to draw from a  female wolfish face than from an actual animal wolf face if that makes sense.

Actually I thought that all wolfriders are descendents of Rahnee...^^

I shall have to find something to try it on after my designing is done. And i'll gladly say what comes to mind then.^^ that's one of the things i hate the most about socializing..not being able to be honest about the little things because someone may get upset because i want to say what i see..

Hmm to be fair i'm sure many can count her as a relative of some kind...she did have a lot of kids! But there were plenty of other elves in the tribe as well. I suppose i meant more a direct descendant like Bearclaw, because obviously not everyone claims to be Blood of Chiefs! Oof what a headache that'd be..lol

I think Timmorn did have cubs with multiple lovemates, but I can't cite a reference.

Eldolil ended up being the last Elf in the Wolfrider tribe that was not descended from Timmorn. I somehow got the impression that his tribemates were pretty diverse.

@Trollbabe Thank you!  I looked it up on Elfquest.com and found this which I didn't know before:

"Eldolil was the last pure-blooded elf to live among the Wolfriders. A young Oakroot sought him out at the place he had gone to die, and the elder shared with him a vision of what elves should be."


Interesting indeed to find out about the murky past of the wolfriders. Solves some puzzles in my head......

Prayer wrote:

Actually I thought that all wolfriders are descendents of Rahnee...^^

It's unlikely that ALL surviving Wolfriders are descendents of Rahnee, Fairyring but all all of them descent from Timmorn.

Trollbabe wrote:

I think Timmorn did have cubs with multiple lovemates, but I can't cite a reference.

Trollbabe is right - and EQ #13 is a reference. As far as I know the Anthologies prose stories have more ... and that it's said he sired cubs with pureblooded Elves, wolfblooded Elves and wolves alike. Not necessarily considered canon, tho.

Vaeri wrote:

Then again Moonshade COULD be descended from Rahnee...wasn't Moonshade also Blood of Chiefs or am i misremembering?

Yes she can - maybe as likely as not. ^^ There was constant fan rumor that Moonshade is a sister of Bearclaw. There's an Anthologies prose story about Brightwater and Mantricker beining lovemates and having a daughter. And fan rumor says Moonshade is Brightwater's daughter. (that's at least how I've undserstood it)

In one of your threads you've asked for a family tree. Try ElfQuest Family Tree - there's a link to a big sheet on Imgur. Zinegirl did an awesome job with it! Zoom in until you can read the names in the character porträits.

And in case you don't know the story of Oakroot (= young Tanner) and Eldolil - here you go! "Howl for Eldolil" is based on a same-titled Anthologies prose story.

Thank you very much for the clarification and links Embala.  Now that I know Timmorn had many Cubs it makes sense that not all wolfriders may be descendants of Rahnee.

The EQ family tree is great. How much work and research must have gone into it. Zinegirl did awesomeness! 

Aww thank you so much for the story of Oakroot and  Eldolil..I am eager to read. You are right I don't read the story yet.

You are welcome, Fairyring.

Quote :

Zinegirl did awesomeness!

Tell her in her thread. ^^