Oathbound

From (our) left to right: Commander Pyrite (in red), Queen Tanzanite (seated), and Commander Krisite (green). They’re all =Jateshi’s characters. There are four Commanders altogether, but the reason I picked only those two is because they’re the two with the highest rank (though I believe Pyrite is a rank above Krisite).

This was originally sketched in early December (around December 8th, I believe), simply for the hell of it. I set it aside for the time being, having other things to work on. A few days after sketching, I posted a meme on LJ with the winner (that is, the person who correctly guessed the most songs) receiving a picture. Jateshi ‘won’ the competition, and although she said she wasn’t going to hold me to the meme, I decided it would be a good incentive to finish up the picture I’d sketched a few days before.

Well, we can see how well that turned out. I was preoccupied with updating my own site at the time (we’ll put it this way, it had been a few months since an update), and I didn’t do so until January 20th. I came across the lineart again not too long after that and decided it was time to colour. (Surprisingly, I didn’t have many, if any, qualms with the lineart. Usually when I look back on old lineart/sketches I’m dissatisfied with one aspect or another, but not this time).

So to get to the point: sorry, =Jateshi, for taking so long with this! If you remembered, thanks for being so patient; if you didn’t…well, enjoy the surprise.

I’m fairly pleased with how Pyrite and Krisite turned out (I love Krisite’s hair; it looks cute with the little buns), though Pyrite’s hair was difficult, since it called for black hair with red highlights. What I did for that (and Tanzanite’s hair, for that matter) was just make it a really dark red, use the dodge brush to bring up the red highlights, and then just darken the rest until it’s black. Looking back, I thought of another way I could have done that, which probably would have been easier, but oh well.

I like how Tanzanite turned out; I especially like her eyes. (The black marks on her face are signs that she is controlling Metallia, but I decided to stretch them a little so they wrapped around her eyes as well, and I like the look. Reminds me a little of the classic “Ancient Egyptian” look). Design wise, although Tanz is probably one of the hardest to draw (I spent pretty much all of January 26 just shading her skin and hair, nothing more), I think I like her the best. (Even if her hair is a pain to draw and colour, I really like the way it looks!)

I figured out why too (I’m rambling, I know…) – she’s bright. Look at her – she uses yellows and reds and pinks in her design; that’s a lot more colour than any of the other main villains. Beryl stuck to purple for her clothing, Wiseman’s cloak was either grey or dark purple (can’t remember which), Mistress 9 stuck to dark colours, as did Nehellenia. Only Galaxia breaks that trend, and it’s because her uniform is gold armour. Tanz here has bunches of different colours in her outfit, and it’s rather refreshing to see.

Anyway, I’ll stop rambling and leave you all be now. Enjoy, jateshi!

Characters depicted © =Jateshi ( )