Collab: Fire and Water

The forest before Alter was strangely quiet. Usually there were the sounds of fairies flitting about, or deer foraging for food, but instead there was an eerie stillness. Buttercup presumed that Metallica had scared them off -- prey tended to hide from potential predators, after all -- but that didn't make the stillness any less unsettling. They'd stopped for a brief break, to give the dragon some rest. Perhaps a little silly to stop just before Alter, but Buttercup wasn't complaining -- it was much faster to visit her family by dragon than on foot.

Robert looked around, as if unsettled by the silence as much as his wife. Buttercup decided to rest by the river snaking its way through the forest, reassured by the sound of water lapping against the shore -- it was some sort of sound, which was better than nothing. Finding a sufficiently large rock, she sat down, peering at the clear water. The sun reflected off the glistening surface, though the water was just as still as everything else. Wait -- was that movement? Metallica was lapping up water, the ripples causing the surface to shimmer and shift, but there was something else...a shadow under the water...

Everyone jumped as the silence was broken by a mighty splash, sending water droplets flying everywhere, sparkling in the light. Even Metallica jerked back as he was confronted with a...mermaid? Buttercup stared. She didn't look much like what the mermaids were said to look like in the stories -- gills graced her throat; her fin-like ears poked out of silver hair; when she raised her hands, they were linked with silvery webbing; and--

"Hei! Olen niin onnellinen nähdessäni--"

--and no one could understand what she was saying. She prattled on for a little while, her teal eyes fixed expectantly on them, a jubilant grin on her face. After a minute, she stopped dead, cocking her head to one side, like a bird, expectant. Clearly waiting for a response.

The group stared right back, confusion settling on all of their features. Buttercup squinted. Was she...was she sparkling?

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callisto-chan:

Another collab between erin-hime and I. It's funny that I envisioned it that Coral was going to the Five Kingdoms and come across Buttercup, which is why I gave it the forested background, since...well, there's a lot of forest in there -- it seems more likely that mermaids could cross great bodies of water more easily than people could cross continents. Meanwhile erin-hime imagined it as the other way around. Though Buttercup and co. do have access to a dragon, so that makes it easier. I think I just like the idea of AV-verse mermaids mucking around in the Five Kingdoms. I don't know what Angelus Dei-verse mermaids look like, but for some reason I just imagine them as 'typical' mermaids -- no gills, webbed fingers or anything, just straight-up female torso with fins. I could be wrong, though.

I love how this turned out though! The forest background wasn't intended to compliment Buttercup so nicely, but who can deny that red/green contrast? Coral kind of blends in a bit more than I intended, especially with her silver tail and the grey rock, but the blue still pops a tiny bit. I love how their skin turned out, silly as that sounds -- I like adding that little bit of purple to the pale skintones, it makes them look paler. And while Coral's still pale, you can tell she's not as pale.

Buttercup still stands out a mile in comparison though. It's not just the skin or the fire, but it's that lovely red hair against the green background. Actually it's mostly the hair -- her hair's lovely to begin with but I love how the colour came out. I also love how the fire came out, that's the other thing that draws my eye.

As for Coral...well, I tried to make her sparkly. Didn't turn out as well as I expected, but hopefully you can sort of tell.

The background was fun though. Portraying a heavily wooded area (that I pictured to be somewhere in the Five Kingdoms) was fun, even if it makes for a lot of green. The water sort of balances it out. It's been a while since I drew water, let alone water really up close (rather than torrential waves). It turned out nice, even if it didn't turn out exactly as I'd intended. It still gets the point across! And since Buttercup gets fire, then Coral can get her tail sticking in the water since...well, water is her element. Not to mention she sometimes lives in it.

Even though this took a while, this was definitely fun to work on, and I love how it turned out. I hope you do too, erin-hime!

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erin-hime:</span></span>

I’m not entirely too sure what the thought process was with this, other than the fact that these two characters associate with some element – Buttercup being a Fire Mage and Coral being a mermaid.  So I wanted to draw them together, and the idea to put them in alternate outfits came later.  That part is what I’m really unsure of, although the outfits are rather adorable.    Yes, even Coral gets one, because she’s always ~*~dreamed~*~ of dressing like the humans do.  Granted, in the story, she does get that wish, but I figured I’d play nice and put some clothes on her.