Winter Magic

Kalico, my calico cat-dragon character, with a snowy owl on a cool winter's day. Magic abounds; is she casting a spell to bring on snow, perhaps? Or possibly a spell just for warming her talons? I'm not sure; that's for you to decide :).


Whee, I actually did an entire painting in ONE day! I Thanksgiving n__n.
Anyway, this painting was a TON of fun to do (until I got to the background...). I actually did something for me, not for anyone else x3. This'll be going up in my room .
I know that there are a few flaws...and the background....well...let's not go there, shall we? xD It looked pretty terrrrrrible, but I think I fixed it up enough...well, I think so, since it now doesn't make me cringe . It took a lot longer than it looks like it took, since each little piece of snow had to be masked with masking fluid, then painted over, and over and over again .

I'm really pleased with how Kalico and the Nameless Random Snowy Owl came out . Maybe Kalico's a druid-type magician (meaning that she has an affinity with animals) with the snowy as her familiar? That could be neat :). Anyway, the owl is mini and has a lot of detail, so I'm proud of it . Oh, and yes, Kalico's neck is longer than usual (to Hyun). It makes her more dragonish in my eyes . But, just so you know, her normal neck length is the size that it is in other pics n_n. And, um,
I'm happy with how the wings came out . To me, they look really silky for once! Also, I was gonna add in her ravenclaw scarf...but it made me less...feral? I dunno, it just didn't look right .
I used a lot of shiny silver + gold acyrlic that you can't see in this terrible scan, so look at the detail shots (the silver/gold looks different depending on the amount and angle of the light present ):

SEE THESE DETAIL SHOTS: http://img493.imageshack.us/img493/541/snowdetail19sy.jpg and http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3985/snowdetail20un.jpg .

Time: ~8 hrs or 9 including sketch
Tools: Watercolors, microns, masking fluid, and white, silver, and gold acrylic for touch ups :)
Looks better in real life? YES. :(
Kalico and picture are © to me, Nov. 2005
Comments are truly appreciated! :heart: And crits are accepted...but uh...don't be harsh ;