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Negaduck9 — Cantus sings
Published: 2011-06-12 18:25:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 2858; Favourites: 30; Downloads: 17
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Cantus the Fraggle Minstrel singin' his fuzzy little heart out. Yes, he usually plays the Magic Pipe, but you can't sing while playing a wind instrument. I imagine the Minstrels cross-train on each others' instruments.This was the first picture I did with my new Bamboo tablet, and, WOW, having good tools makes a huge difference! It's much more reliable and sensitive than my old Wacom Artpad II. I can control the brush without effort! It responds to a very light touch, so drawing textures doesn't lead to fatigue, tendinitis, frustration, and hastily-slopped-together backgrounds. However, it does lead to hunger pangs, because I forget to stop drawing and eat meals.
This is an inspirational pic for fanfic-in-progress A Wandering Heart . I've had the scene in mind for a while, but the image snapped into focus while listening to Viva La Vida by Coldplay.
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Comments: 44
Yes. His neck, the back of his head, and his cheeks are furry, and it gradually fades out as you move toward the tip of his nose. I suspect that he came from a colony in a cold area.
He also has furry hands and feet. I take a little liberty and draw the fur as fading out around his wrists and ankles.
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It's hard to tell. I got that issue of the comic with him on the cover the other week and his nose looked furless. I've sen the show a billion times but he's got some strange things growing on him.
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You can't take art as reliable reference; I'll take photos and screengrabs any day. That said, do you have the book Mokey and The Festival of the Bells? It has the most on-model art of any of the Fraggle books I've seen. Above the waist, that is; I can tell the artist didn't have full-length photos of the Fraggles in their winter gear. In it, Cantus looks almost perfect--except his mane is orange and his nose is too rounded.
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I know. Yeah, That book is great. I haven't looked at it in a long time.
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Being the nitpicker I am, I noticed a bit of disconnect between art and writing. For example, Wembley's gift was not round and green. I also noticed that the artist seemed heavily dependent on reference material, to the point that many of the background characters looked like relatives or even recolors of the main characters. You can ever see Cantus's's's son running through a tunnel! On the other hand, it was cool to see some actual background characters, like one of the Venerable Sages.
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I'm not a huge fan of that new comic series.
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I was still talking about "Mokey and The Festival of the Bells."
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oh! I must've jumped the gun.
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Heh. I do like the comic series, myself. It can be hit-and-miss, but I thing it's more hit than miss, especially the second volume. I also like how they let the artists draw in their own styles rather than trying to cram them into a "house style"--look at the Marvel Fraggle comics for a contrast. Brrr!
One thing I notice in MatFotB, the last issue of the Archaia comic, and even the animated series: Cantus is there to give advice about matters that have little or nothing to do with music. Um, that's what the Trash Heap is for, not Cantus.
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I hafta read them before I can say much else. I did notice that one that was about Gobo & the meaning of life. Still, they seem like they're trying too hard. Kinda wish one or two of the original writers were involved.
Some of the styles seem kind of like they didn't care though. I know Katy Cook is supposed to be a big deal but her fraggles look like squashes to me.
As for Cantus, that's another reason why I wish they had a few original writers or something.
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Or fanfic writers who reeeally knew the Fraggles. BY and large the characterizations are getting better, but there are still some significant oopses.
As far as Katy Cook goes, her art isn't my favorite, but it's cute, and it gets the story across very cleanly. I've little to complain about, except that all of the minstrels wear exactly the same expression, and Cantus looks like a young adult.
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Yeah, her art is fine. I just wouldn't have taken to fraggles if they always looked that way. Different interpretations are cool... I just got the hardback version of the book the other day.
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Which one, the first or the second?
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First. It's nice cuz I * think * it has all the cover variations. Is the 2nd out yet?
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Hmm... no, the second Fraggle Rock collection is due to be released in January. But Archaia will be reprinting the old Marvel comics in collection format. Whoopee?
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Cool and i think I may have heard about the Marvel reprints. I have them all from both times Marvel did them but the new version will be cool to have... especially if they're updating the coloring.
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I dunno. Those comics irritated me. Mostly it was the god-awful coloring and printing making Marie Severin's art look horrible, but I also thought it was just cheap, using TV episodes rather than writing new stories. The Muppet Babies comics weren't bad, but these... arrgh.
Maybe with better printing and coloring I'll like them more.
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I have a fondness for the Marvel books because they were some of the earliest fraggle things I could get. The coloring was cheap but that's just how it was back then. The 1st two stories were original but not overly interesting. Yeah, new stories would've been nice but I also found myself wanting them to do covers of other episodes as well.
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Which episodes would you have chosen? Off the top of my head I'd pick "Wembley's Egg," "Sidebottom's Blues," and "Playing Till it Hurts."
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Mainly I wanted to see " A Friend In Need " but " Gobo's Discovery " would be cool too... dunno how they'd pull that one off though since there's a lot of singing in the latter episode.
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Heh, if they were doing it now I'd root for some of the trickier episodes. "Mokey's Funeral," "Marooned," or "We Love You, Wembley." The last one could be a real hoot. In fact, if I was ever to comicbookify an ep (in my copious free time), that would be the one.
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Those would be good choices too.
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awwwwwwwww
this is so movign and beautiful!! the atmosphere and the colors are fan -wait for it- tastic!
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Thank you! Glad you like it.
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Looks so cute! Love the alternative with the guitar/mandoline/thingy!
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Thanks! I have no idea what exactly that instrument is. It's part gourd, and part... other stuff, and maybe it's just a general string instrument.
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It looks a bit like gobo's guitar. Maybe Cantus borrowed it
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No, I made sure not to draw Gobo's guitar. The body is much rounder; the gourd was not sliced in half.
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Yeah, okay. I don't watch FR that much...
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Sweet. I wonder if he ever plays Jimi Hendrix.
That's what Ralga (my Fraggle fan character) would probably ask him to play. Well either that or Disturbed.
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It's a pretty safe bet that Cantus, having had no contact with the world of Silly Creatures, has never heard of those.
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It always makes me so happy to see Cantus fanart! This is awesome, I love how you colored his fur
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Thanks, glad you like it! His fur is labor-intensive to draw (and requires 4 layers in Photoshop!) but when it comes out right it's worth it. Wish I could say the same about his tinfoil dreamcoat.
I have a few other Cantus pieces in my gallery, if you want to check those out.
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I checked out your gallery, and it made me smile that you commented on this pic, because in the story I've written Janken (the purple Fraggle who turns up in a lot of my pictures) is positively lovesick over Cantus. A pity Cantus's true love is music.
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Is this story in your gallery? I'd like to read it sometime
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No, it's currently being posted in the Muppet Central forum. There's a link in the comments on this picture. The story is currently in progress. I've got a bunch of other finished stories posted there too, if you're interested in those. If not, well, they're still there.
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Awesome, I'll check it out
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Cool. Hope you like 'em.
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