VIII. Strength - Ayla

[xcalibur]

looks good so far. my only complaint is that the jaws should be less open. for the Strength card, you want to clearly portray that the woman is closing the beasts mouth and has power over it.

[tushantin]

Hmm, noticed your comment a little late, so until then I moved the tiger's head a little closer to Ayla and changed the limbs, suggesting Ayla has some more power over it. But I get what you mean about the jaw, so I'll try to change that tomorrow. Shall I close the tiger's eyes?

Till then, I also added Azala's fortress (which won't be too detailed, and instead silhouetted, since the card is small anyway).

But I don't know what else or how I could potentially add here. How do I add the lemniscate in a sensible way? How or where do I add flowers? What else could I add in here and make it a bit more beautiful, but without stealing attention from Ayla and the tiger? Pterodactyls?

I wanna try finishing this card tomorrow and start with another. xD

[xcalibur]

no need to close the eyes. as I said awhile ago (in 2011!), you could put a volcano in the background. the Reptite Lair is surrounded by volcanoes so that could work.

as for the lemniscate? idk. maybe a simple line drawing? or maybe as a golden hairpiece, although that might not be very Ayla-ish.

[tushantin]

as I said awhile ago (in 2011!)

....Terrible sorry, man... xD I wasn't very confident as an artist back then and was pretty stupid taking up huge projects I didn't know I could even complete, lol. But I'm 7 years older now, pretty confident, and I'm gonna have a lot of fun this time around. Really, deeply regret keeping you waiting for so long though. I know how much this meant to you.

BTW, I'm done! Couldn't figure out what to do with the Lemniscate, so I just threw it in there. Also added Lavos. That said, I could add more detail to this. Question is, should I? All depends on the style we could go for. The obsessive part of me screams Moar Detail, but the lazy part of me says Leave It Be!

[xcalibur]

it's fine, life happens. it's not like I was holding my breath the whole time. it's just a little surreal, that's all.

what can I say, I always wanted to contribute something to the community, and this was my first big opportunity to do so. more recently I've focused in on analyzing battle sound fx with Mauron, for the same reason. They're 99% done now, but I digress...

why is Lavos there? don't get me wrong, it looks cool, but I'm not sure if that fits the meaning of the card. Lavos belongs on the Death card, not here. I still think a simple erupting volcano would fit perfectly fine. I'm sure my collaborator Syna would agree if she were around.

[tushantin]

why is Lavos there? don't get me wrong, it looks cool, but I'm not sure if that fits the meaning of the card. Lavos belongs on the Death card, not here. I still think a simple erupting volcano would fit perfectly fine. I'm sure my collaborator Syna would agree if she were around.

Yeah, I was actually torn with that too. At first, I wanted to add something there, so just as an illustrator I believed having Lavos falling from the sky like in the games would look cool.

....But, at the same time, I knew it probably did not fit well with the symbolism of the card itself, and in fact might disrupt it. That's why I did it on a separate layer. I'm happy to remove it, it's just a click away.

Question is, what else can I really add at that space though? Looks pretty empty IMO.... 

Gosh darnit, where's Syna and Bekkler when you need 'em...

[xcalibur]

Question is, what else can I really add at that space though? Looks pretty empty IMO....

soaring dactyls would work, and would fit the card.

[tushantin]

Question is, what else can I really add at that space though? Looks pretty empty IMO....

soaring dactyls would work, and would fit the card.

Alright, here's a rough layout of the Dactyls. If this works with you, we'll keep it! If not, well, we can always try something else.

Either way, let me know. I'll pick this up again tomorrow. If this is fine, we can get started with the inking and coloring process! 

[Mauron]

It looks good with the Dactyls.

[tushantin]

Sorry for the delay, but... hopefully a TRULY final draft of the sketch.  Now I go to inking and painting.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Tushantin, your craft is just getting better and better. It's awesome seeing how much you've improved over the past decade or so. Proud of you, buddy! This is looking AMAZING!

[PrincessNadia78]

So I showed this to my husband and he thought it was AMAZING! I love it too!

Now I will say I do feel tarot cards should be more simple, but that is only my personal opinion. Lots of detail or simple, this looks awesome!!

[tushantin]

Tushantin, your craft is just getting better and better. It's awesome seeing how much you've improved over the past decade or so. Proud of you, buddy! This is looking AMAZING!

D'aww, you gonna make a grown-man blush. 

So I showed this to my husband and he thought it was AMAZING! I love it too!

Haha, sweet!

[xcalibur]

lookin good. I still think you could put an erupting volcano instead of the Reptite Lair. One concern is that if we depict Death as Lavos crashing into the Reptite Lair, it would be redundant to include it here. but it's not that big of a deal.

[PrincessNadia78]

I was actually thinking Magus for death, Lavos never crossed my mind! LOL I was just thinking of Magus' line "come, if it is death you seek!"