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Merowynn — Al'haya: Plains Unicorn

Published: 2009-06-12 05:17:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 6110; Favourites: 190; Downloads: 282
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Description This is for 's Design a Mate contest: [link]

Al'haya is a Plains Unicorn, which means she has a heavier build, like a Fresian, a striped pattern for camouflage, and a very unique stand-up mane. She's a spirited yet gentle mare, and probably balances out the more fiery stallion disposition of her mate. It was pretty difficult to make a big gal like this look feminine, but I think I pulled it off alright. I went with a golden color for her, so that she could be told apart from her mate at a glance, but I made sure to include all the important markings for the breed.

This is easily the most difficult digital piece I have ever done (although I'll probably be saying that with each new piece for a while, since I'm trying a lot of new techniques). It's all digital, from sketch to final product. I still have issues with my light sources, but overall I'm really happy with how it turned out. I may have gone a little overboard, putting a hair texture on the edges of all her markings, but I really wanted to see what I was capable of. What really made this girl what she is, though, are the colored outlines. As soon as I finished those up, she went from "pretty" to "wow". Step by step progression is here: [link]

If you click "Download" she's at full resolution, which is HUUUUGE. I'm requesting a critique because this is an all new digital painting technique for me, and I need to know if I'm doing okay... is this professional grade? I know the anatomy's a bit off, since I used *no* references for my sketch, but seriously, how's the paint job? Any tips/tutorials on applying light sources?

Paper texture from cgtextures.com
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Comments: 36

AleksaSilverstar [2021-01-17 04:02:47 +0000 UTC]

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charlover [2011-10-19 08:53:47 +0000 UTC]

all i can say is .....WOW!

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Merowynn In reply to charlover [2011-10-24 23:55:17 +0000 UTC]

Thanks so much!

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Ventarix [2011-07-31 20:43:19 +0000 UTC]

She's beautiful!

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Merowynn In reply to Ventarix [2011-08-01 22:21:17 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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Ely79 [2011-06-01 14:39:24 +0000 UTC]

Really nice! I love tiger-unicorns!!!

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Merowynn In reply to Ely79 [2011-06-02 03:52:19 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, she was a lot of fun to draw.

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Raven-of-Ravencharm [2010-12-20 04:21:39 +0000 UTC]

Very well done, I love it!

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Merowynn In reply to Raven-of-Ravencharm [2010-12-21 00:06:21 +0000 UTC]

Thank you.

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Darling96 [2010-11-11 16:36:47 +0000 UTC]

I love love love this Awesome

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Merowynn In reply to Darling96 [2010-11-13 20:08:59 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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Darling96 In reply to Merowynn [2010-11-13 20:27:42 +0000 UTC]

youre welcome

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bluebellangel19smj [2010-05-24 03:11:15 +0000 UTC]

Beautiful!

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Merowynn In reply to bluebellangel19smj [2010-05-25 21:14:32 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

bluebellangel19smj In reply to Merowynn [2010-05-26 06:29:04 +0000 UTC]

You're Welcome!

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Mr-Shmo-Shmo [2010-03-15 21:00:42 +0000 UTC]

awesome picture

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Merowynn In reply to Mr-Shmo-Shmo [2010-03-15 21:49:12 +0000 UTC]

Thank you.

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Mr-Shmo-Shmo In reply to Merowynn [2010-03-15 21:57:55 +0000 UTC]

no problem

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Celtilix-Anthro [2010-01-30 00:01:54 +0000 UTC]

wow....shes beautiful....just amazing, amazing.

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Merowynn In reply to Celtilix-Anthro [2010-02-04 06:33:16 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much.

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Celtilix-Anthro In reply to Merowynn [2010-02-04 15:40:04 +0000 UTC]

^-^

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zStars [2009-12-24 20:33:17 +0000 UTC]

oh teh epic! She's gorgeous!

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Merowynn In reply to zStars [2009-12-27 23:03:01 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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queenbee123123 [2009-12-22 11:07:55 +0000 UTC]

WONDERFUl, BRILLIANT, AWSOME ....etc

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Merowynn In reply to queenbee123123 [2009-12-22 18:51:21 +0000 UTC]

Thank you.

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BlueWingsWolf [2009-09-07 17:15:58 +0000 UTC]

holy cow!! she's look so AWESOME!!

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Merowynn In reply to BlueWingsWolf [2009-09-07 20:03:50 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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FFgirl7 [2009-06-30 03:21:25 +0000 UTC]

Wow! She's beautiful! Love her markings!

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Merowynn In reply to FFgirl7 [2009-07-02 16:28:40 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I had a blast with her markings, I haven't worked on a stripey animal in a long time.

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WolvenYoukai [2009-06-15 01:53:38 +0000 UTC]

My god this is gorgeous <3

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Merowynn In reply to WolvenYoukai [2009-06-15 23:49:23 +0000 UTC]

Thank you.

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WolvenYoukai In reply to Merowynn [2009-06-16 00:19:15 +0000 UTC]

Welcome

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CrimsonCaveDragon [2009-06-12 15:23:45 +0000 UTC]

This is simply stunning. I'm really blown away. The gold and black are a beautiful combo, and her face has such a lovely feminine line to it. The posistion is so eyecatching in its movement, and I loooooove the fact that you can see the backbone on her and how the stripes begin to descend on the opposite side of her body. You really have outdone yourself. Gorgeous! Thank you so very much!!!

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Merowynn In reply to CrimsonCaveDragon [2009-06-23 20:12:29 +0000 UTC]

Thanks so much, I'm really glad you like her. ^_^ I have so much fun drawing horses and unicorns, so I couldn't pass up your contest. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the entries as they come in.

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madxkitten [2009-06-12 14:57:11 +0000 UTC]

awwww. this looks wonderful! great idea!

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Merowynn In reply to madxkitten [2009-07-02 16:28:51 +0000 UTC]

Thanks.

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