[Lunatique]

I took a much needed break from working on my short film(big apology to my crew for it being longer than it should've been)and finished this painting. I will write up a detailed step-by-step after I get some sleep...

This one is Painter and Photoshop.



Closeups:





















Here's the story of Scythe Wolf:

Who is Scythe Wolf?

Ask any warrior worthy of his blade in Jian-Hu(martial arts underworld) the name "Lian-Lang(Scythe Wolf) ," and you'll get the following description:

Roughly two years ago, a mysterious young girl stunned the Jiang-Hu scene with her lightening fast scythe fighting technique and her ethereal beauty. Many men admired her beauty, yet they also feared her skills. She is aloof and dislikes attention, but despite her petite frame and her avoidance of crowds, her presence is hardly inconspicuous, due to the seven-foot scythe she wields, and an entourage that consisted of a pack of wild wolves.

Those lucky enough to be considered a friend by her, knows her as "Lulu," a nickname derived from her real name, "Chen Yue-Lu."(word for word, �Yue� means Jade, and �Lu� means Dew. Chen is her last name.) If you ask the few friends she has, this is what you'll learn about Lulu:

Lulu doesn't trust people easily, yet when she does, she will protect those close to her with a fierceness one would be foolish to challenge.

Lulu's parents were once disciples of the Uh-Mei clan, but having been disillusioned by the corruption they witnessed, her parents left the clan and began their lives as vagrants. Around the time of Lulu's birth, her parents had befriended a pack of Wild Wolves when they protected a newborn litter of wolf-pups from a hungry tiger. Since then, the siblings Lulu grew up with had been that litter of wolf-pups. It was during that time, Lulu's parents developed the "Wild Wolf Fighting Technique," the result of their intimate understanding of the wolves.

Lulu had been taught the Wild Wolf fighting technique since she was able to walk, and not long after reaching her teens, she mastered that technique and began developing her own fighting style. Lulu was her parents' pride and joy, and they loved Lulu more than anything in the world.

During her fourteenth birthday, the family had stayed with a dear friend of Lulu's parents, who was a black smith of legendary fame, and the maker of the best weapons in existence. When Lulu showed an affinity for an old scythe she found in the barn, the black smith forged a scythe that was tailor made for her, redesigned from the traditonal scythe into a deadly weapon. Since then, Lulu had incorporated her scythe, which she named "Black Wolf," into her own fighting style.

During the family's travels, they had taught a number of students-all vagrants like themselves. It was first offered as a gesture of friendship-a way for fellow vagrants to defend themselves in their travels, but soon, the word spread, and people began seeking out the family to be taught. The family never cared much for formality, so no real structure was ever created for the students. The family continued traveling, leaving behind a trail of disciples that they asked politely not to follow them around or treat them like clan masters. The family always stressed that their teachings were based on their friendships with fellow vagrants, not for fame or obedience like the famous clans they despised.

When Lulu was sixteen, her parents were murdered during a trip from Nanjing to Hsa-Men. Lulu was out in the woods hunting for food at the time, and when she returned to her dying parents, they uttered with their dying breath, "Uh-Mei," the name of the clan they had left long ago. After her parent's death, Lulu vowed to track down their killers and avenge their death, but Uh-Mei is one of the largest and most respected clans in Giang-Hu, and she has no idea where to begin.

When the vagrant friends caught news of their teachers' death, they banded together and called themselves the "Wolf Pack." The pack vowed to find Lulu and help her avenge the death of their teachers, but no matter how fast they traveled, they were always a step behind the young girl's trail.

Now, two years later, the Wolf Pack had grown in number, but there was still no sign of Lulu, except for the stories of her travels that has been told by fellow travellers of Giang-Hu. At this point, there were more new members of the Wolf Pack than the original students, and to them, both the name Lulu and Scythe Wolf seemed more like a mysterious legend than a real person. Even though the new members never met the original teachers of the Wild Wolf Technique, their names still inspired a sense of revere.

Now, Scythe Wolf's whereabout has been discovered, and the Wolf Pack began traveling day and night to reach the girl some have began referring to affectionately as "Mother Wolf."

Lulu and her wolves:

Lulu is respected by her wolves, and holds the rank of the alpha wolf. This, by default, prevents her pack to breed new litters�which is a good thing considering their situation. (Only the alpha male and female wolves are allowed to breed in a pack, and since Lulu is human, the pack won�t have new members, unless Lulu gives up her position as the alpha wolf.) Lulu does not tolerate violence shown to the omega wolf by her pack, and she managed to rid her pack of the terrible habit of picking on the omega wolf.

The pack:

Alpha male- �Grey Star�
Beta male- �Dirt King�
Beta female- �Snowy�
Aunts and Uncles- �Lazy Bug� �Sleepy Head� and �Rooster�
Omega- �Baby�

[Iliya Zilberter]

HOLY B-JESUS
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[Ritaku]

bloody hell!?...... scuse my language . that must have taken some time..... i quite like the contrast in high detail, photo-realistic style girl and then the slightly more abstract painty feel of the wolves. i've been looking at wolves a bit recently and this helps me out a bit too so thanks
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[Anthony]

Very nice to see the finish Luna! Well done, very well done.
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-Anthony
Carpe Carpem
http://www.anthonyfransella.com

[the_insider]

ah one of my favorite sijun artists...i love the piece and the cncept...i imagin you mainly did the wolves and bckgrnd in painter and the girl in PS?? well thats what it looks like...the ONLY thing that kinda seems off is the extreme sharpness of the girl in comparison to the wolves...RITAKU said he liked it but i beg to differ...the wolves' faces are perfect as is just the bodies seem a little too "un-rendered"...still amazing work though....especially that close up of the girls' clothing...genius
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[Ghozt]

fazinatin piece of work. muzt have taken u quite some time 2 complete it.
onli a few minor commentz:
think it will look even better if d mountz in d BG iz more diztinct.
n i find d grazz on d slope abit 2 diztinct

[Po`]

Dude, thats just awesome work.

[Atrophy]

OMG, HOLY CRAP! ...nothing more...

[[666]Flat]

Dude, you should know about now I luv your sw337 sh|t, so I'll skip all the praise and worshippin' and come straight to the point, the major flaw which IMHO should be overworked to make the whole deal even bett4r: the hill in the background is just way too, you know, flat. (I know what you're thinking now, just stfu plz.) It doesn't perfectly fit to the foreground, which looks more plastic than the bg. Teh lighting on your lill' fighta sista just looks delicious, the wolf to her left is very very well done... the wolf lying on the ground at the right side looks a tad soft toy like tho.

Again, your piece rocks nevertheless. Lookin' forward to seeing your project(s) in teh future!
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[B0b]

altho' i love the pic - i have to say that i feel the wolves could do with more detail in them..

nice PIC

[Lunatique]

Here's the step-by-step tutorial:

http://www.enchanted.prohosting.com/goodies/tutorials/scythe_wolf-tutorial/scythe_wolf-tutorial.htm

Ritaku--You might be the only one that likes how I seperated the characters from the background. Everyone else tells me the background doesn't match the characters.

the_insider-- In the tutorial, I described in detail which parts were Ps, and which parts were Painter.

Ghozt-- Took me about 2 weeks total. I wanted to keep the mountain vague, so it doesnt' attract too much attention.

[666]Flat--Ya, I probably over-simplified the background and tried too hard to seperate it from the foreground.

B0b--Hehe, how about mangier furs and twigs/leaves stuck in them?

Everyone else--thanks for the comments!

[agflash]

Hey Luna,

(hope i may speak to you like this)
This work is realy amazing.
Her dress is very detailed, and it looks realy like satin. I'm wondering what resolution do you work.
Anyway this peace is nearly perfect. Some question 'bout patterns: Are those your own, or do yo have a "collection" ? And how do you distort them on the folds or is it paintover?
I've visit your Site and all of your works are amazing, i realy dont' have another word for this. Especialy all the "inbetweeners", i mean all the Steps are cool. Thanks for all your tutorials !

Greetings
Andrew

[Lunatique]

I work at 2550 x 3300 usually. The patterns are just scribbled in. Just draw a bunch of lines and it'll look like pattern design. For distortion, just guess what it should look like distorted, and then draw it.

[agflash]

Thanks for reply.
I was wondering about resolution because some "shots" are very detailed.
I thought it was, more than 5000, but if you say only about 3000 it's simply amazing how detailed this peace is.
Wonderfull work, simply wonderfull!

Andrew

[Malachi Maloney]

Good work dude.


~M~
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