Grimal by Lionus (2002)
An art swap between myself and the furry artist Grimal. The piece was done to Grimal's somewhat moody description:
The gentle tapping of small raindrops against thin glass becomes more of a lullaby as time passes. The window's not entirely closed, allowing the yellowish light from inside the small room to form steamy, chimeric forms in the cold mist.
Inside, some movement beside the shadows the light forms on the scraped, gray walls, tell the room's neither empty nor lifeless. With his back turned toward the window, a creature wearing a red cotton t-shirt with a yellow stripe across its middle scratches the back of his neck with a furless, long-fingered bony paw. The shirt seems to be the only clothing he's wearing, but its long enough to cover his torso and a good length of his thighs. He sort of turns toward a nearby mirror, seeming to examine his own image. His face's features are rodent-like: pointy muzzle, long whiskers which move a bit, large visible incisors under his blackish nose. He doesnt smile. The fur on his head and neck is a dark, grayish brown, not too long, but dense, and well cared for. Before his gaze can turn toward the window, though, he walks toward a well disguised closet in the gray wall, allowing you to realize he must be some 5' 8 tall, and neither muscled nor fat. His arms are long and thin, and his legs look well toned, also covered in the same fur, and end with similarly long-fingered furless feet. From below the shirt, a rather long, and relatively thick rat tail trails behind him, but certainly not without movement of its own. He opens a tall door, and he reaches inside for something. His also furless ears flick as he takes a thin, long necklace from which some sort of silver-made symbol hangs. He puts the necklace around his neck, and rubs his paws over his side and front, straightening the shirt down. He turns toward the mirror again, his gaze meeting that of the ephemeral image in front of him. Expressive eyes (somewhat sunken in their sockets, or perhaps the fur around them is darker and its what gives that impression) speak of the pain and joy he's been through, of tiresomeness, perhaps, but also of determination. He doesnt look happy as he runs some fingers through his cheektuft, and he closes his eyes, or more accurately, he shuts them at a sudden stroke of something which could as well be a memory, or a realization. He runs his dark rosy-red tongue over his lower lip and shakes his head once, neither forcefully nor chaotically, making the symbol hanging from his neck glint with a reflection of the scarce light, and it is clear this symbol is nothing more but a stylized letter 'g'.
Actually the description sounded a little creepy, and maybe that is what gave me the idea of the old wallpaper and moody feeling of the pic. In any case I like the way the rainy window came out and the lights out beyond it.
Pencil and PhotoShop.
