Zyra

Here is a character I created from my creature concept, the Shy-Ru. This is a young female equivalent to a 13-14 year old human being. I wanted to do a juvenile concept of this species and came up with this little character. :> Her markings haven't completely come in yet, she is the phase known as "spotting" where the pigments just begin to emerge in spots, the spots widen and turn into the more stripped pattern later in adolescence. The little facial protrusions are still very small and she only has a few. Her purple markings that define the females will also not come in until she is older. For males the red wattle won't grow until late adolescent either. I dressed her in more neutral cloths to show she is of a more average status. (for the contest it was required that I draw the character in nice, formal wear) She hopes to become an intergalactic astrobiologist or captain one day. She is an only child of a middle class family. She loves nature and often spends time wandering the swamps either alone or with her trusted emu-like mount. (haven't finalized the design yet) She has been known to be a bit arrogant and cocky with her skills but is an intelligent caring individual who longs for adventure and to see as many wondrous worlds as possible. 
This was so much fun! I used a variety of markers for this piece. I'm still experimenting with paper. I early like this paper, but I am going to experiment with smoother varieties just to see if I like it more. I originally tried the canson marker paper, it wasn't bad per see, but the ink stayed on top of the paper so I couldn't layer the colors like I wanted. Also, the printer ink didn't absurd into the paper and the markers just smeared it around. I don't ink my marker works, I just copy the drawing onto better paper using a digital copier. Or reprint if I want to adjust some things in photoshop. Her neck is a little too short, but other than that I'm happy with the proportions. I had a really hard time with her anatomy. I ended up really proud, but goddamn it was a pain. I don't normally do human anatomy, or hands, or clothing so there was a bunch of things I needed to figure out. Ultimately I'm very happy with this. There are parts I'm not too happy about, and things to improve upon. But that can be said with every piece ever. XD A lot of my mistakes were  made out of ignorance with the media, I'm still kinda new to markers. But as time goes and as I continue to practice I'll get better. I love markers, but at the end of the painting I feel so stressed out because being flat broke I can't afford new markers or refills. D: I fear the day when I run out of ink. ;_; 
I used prismacolor markers and copics for this painting. I love them both so much! Copics are bit better quality and go on smoother, but like I said I'm broke and can't afford a ton of copoc markers right now. (I'm very slowly building my collection) But I have a good variety of prismacolors and I love them! They worked great with my colics here and I really enjoy them. Prismacolors almost stress me more when they run out of ink I have to buy an entire new maker. >.< I also used Blick studio markers, and for a blatant copic rip-off they are actually really nice markers! The brush tip is a bit stiffer, but the ink is pretty good and it goes on really nice. They only come in 96 colors but that's not a big deal. They're way less expensive so that's a real bonus. If anyone is wanted to try markers I'd recommend them. 
www.dickblick.com/products/bli…
I'd recommend trying them out. :3 The greens were especially helpful with the grassy bits.
I have no idea what the other two creatures are. XD I drew them in the help balance the composition and help relieve stress when the anatomy for Zyra wasn't working. They were more stress relievers than anything. And they were so much fun. <3
Her skin came out much more blue green than I anticipated, but that is probably because at first her skin was too blue...I don't have any actual blue greens so it was tricky trying to astride a good color balance. However, I do love this blue green color and I think it looks great. For the future I might experiment with bluer or greener colors for her skin, but I do really like this blue green! Looks kinda amphibious if that makes sense. More experimentation required!
Expect more traditional art in the future, I got a lot of new art materials for christmas and I'm using them all!   
(c) Denece the sylcoe all rights reserved
Critique welcomed! 5 hours 
Canson Fanboy Illustration paper with Prismacolor premier brush markers, Copic sketch markers and Blick studio brush markers and a digital copier.