Fantasy
Now featuring longwinded commentary for whoever might want to read it!

Phoenix head -- late 1999
[pencil on sketchbook paper]

Evidence that all that practice drawing raptors (for the Whyrl project and for the new TRS graphics) paid off. I drew this while playing Final Fantasy VIII and anticipating what the final boss might look like (I didn't spoil the game for myself by looking it up on the Internet). Some very early rumors for the game suggested that the final boss might be a two-headed phoenix, a possibility that seemed rather intriguing (but turned out to be dreadfully wrong). This drawing is one of the heads, the other one (not shown) being a Medieval-looking lion. I'll have to dig up some sketches of the entire beast, since it is symbolically pertinent to the game: A bird head for Rinoa and a lion head for Squall. I still think a 2-headed phoenix would have been a cooler last boss than that Parasite Eve- and downright nasty-looking Ultimecia. -- April 24, 2000

Lung -- undated, Christmas vacation 1999
[ink and pencil on sketchbook paper]

In case you didn't know, lung is what Oriental dragons are often called back home. (And you don't say it like the name of a breathing mechanism, but more like luung.) I never did much with this drawing, but what's there is pretty cool. -- April 24, 2000

TRS Gryphon -- Summer 1999
[pencil on bristol vellum paper]

This is the original drawing I colored in (on the computer) for use on the main page. It's at its original scanned size so you can see all the detail I put into the blasted thing. I don't know if I prefer the uncolored or colored version more -- how about you? -- April 24, 2000

Naga -- undated, probably Summer 1999
[pencil on sketchbook paper]

My interpretation of a human-serpent hybrid. I still like the arms and hands on her, but, if I redrew this, I'd probably ditch the hair and make the post-pelvic area considerably more slender. -- April 24, 2000

Celebration of the Arts '99 -- June 4, 1999
[black ink pen & black Sharpies on Bainbridge illustration board]

CotA refers to an annual arts festival at my high school (the original one -- I'm completing my senior year at a different, private school). The studio arts class has a little competition in which we all make a T-shirt design to be sold at the festival. I managed to win in 1998 with my artist-dromaeosaur design (a surprise, considering dinosaurs were generally laughed upon at my high school), which didn't sell to bad. There was a possibility I'd win again in 1999 with this piece, but silly procrastinating me didn't finish this design until slightly after the deadline... d'oh. It's probably for the best, though -- two years in a row would be considered a monopoly, ne?

I used a pixie (as in fairfolk) theme because I supposed it held more mass appeal at my school than a "raptor" with a paintbrush would. It was a nice departure, anyway. I think they came out rather nice, especially the hands and feet, which tend to pose many difficulties to me. The characters represent the three main aspects of my school's art program: photography, painting, and sculpture. -- April 23, 2000

Gryphon -- (probably) Late 1998
[ink & white Prismacolor pencil on (!) cardboard]

I can't remember the exact date on this one... An unusual drawing that somehow ended up on the cardboard back of one of my sketchbooks (not exactly archival material, but what the hey). This is one of my earlier stabs at a draconian gryphon, that is, a dragon that could be mistaken for an eagle-lion hybrid. I love using Pilot black ink pens, but the problem they pose became apparent when I scanned this one: The scanner, at least mine, picks up a reddish tint in the black ink, which means I have to manually darken the reddish ink in the scan to make it look like the original. -- April 24, 2000

Hesperis -- March 8, 1998
[black ink pen and black Sharpie on Bainbridge illustration board]

An unusually young client saw a sketch I made of a "Krynnese Red Dragon" on TRS and queried about a poster of that drawing. I would've been happy to oblige, but the original sketch was far too small and messy to make a large poster from. As a result, I got a new commission: To redraw that sketch at the exact poster size. It was a rather fun project, since I got to use this projector at school and hang big sheets of paper from the wall. All that inking was rather tedious, but well worth my trouble. My client got her poster and I got a nice, large renovation of an admired little sketch. My drawing subsequently faced a supposed disaster when I sprayed it with a protective coat -- whatever was in that blasted Pilot black ink, the fixative coating made it leak yellow. Standard reproduction techniques don't notice the yellow at all, but if you're looking at the original, it's clear as day. Regardless, people who see the original think the yellow stain is pretty cool -- gives it a feeling of antiquity, maybe. Well, that's fate for you.

In the Cards -- September 1, 1997
[ink on sketchbook paper]

Look at the date on this one -- it may well symbolize my pre-10th grade (second year of high school) anxiety. Well, don't look into this drawing that much. It's just a silly sketch of a demon sitting on a strangely-formed rock, pondering his hand of cards. I recall drawing demons a lot back then, but that certainly wasn't an indication that I was going to come into school with a handgun and blow away my peers. Demonic creatures, simply, are artistically intriguing and open a lot of creative possibilities. -- April 24, 2000

Deathstrike -- August 1997
[ ink on sketchbook paper; pencil on tracing paper; ink on tracing paper; Adobe Photoshop]

This is a commission I undertook in the summer of '97 but, sadly, never completed. (Doesn't matter anyway -- I never got paid, but I did end up with some neat drawings.) That summer (and the following autumn), I thought I'd try out doing portraits of online aliases, a pursuit that never took me anywhere but gave me some valuable business experience as a result. This here beast is an aerodynamically feasible (as far as I can tell) wyvern, but I can't remember much about the character himself except that he's rather adept with magic. The ink drawing was used for the colored version in Photoshop, which in turn was based on the original shaded drawing. I got far enough into the Photoshop rendering that it looks kind of cool, but it's far from the envisioned final state. -- April 24, 2000

Gazing 'Longneck' -- August 16, 1997
[ballpoint pen on sketchbook paper]

I'm still quite fond of this drawing. It has a certain comical aspect. If I hadn't been so silly and edited out the scribbly background on the scan, you'd be able to see that this dragon is looking into the water (at what, I have no idea, but it must be very interesting). -- April 24, 2000

Felinoid -- August 6, 1997
[pencil on sketchbook paper]

Cute little drawing of a critter that combines vaguely human characteristics with those of a feline. -- April 24, 2000

Unicorn sketch -- May 22, 1997
[pencil on lined paper]

Lined paper isn't exactly the best thing to draw on, but sometimes it just happens that way. A lot of the best sketches happen on the backs of homework; I suppose this is an example. This is a pose drawing for a painting I never quite got around to doing, but that doesn't mean it'll never happen. I think most of this sketch came out rather nicely, except the head is kind of weird. That's what revisions are for, I suppose. -- April 27, 2000

Harpy -- undated, probably 1997
[pencil on sketchbook paper]

I'm not big on cryptozoological hybrids, especially ones that splice two completely unrelated animals -- in the harpy's case, old hag and foul vulture. Just for fun, I tried to draw an animal that might be mistaken for such a hybrid, but is really just a strange-looking bird. I recently drew another concept of a harpy, similar to this one except much uglier, with a distended crop that could be interpreted as a breast, which harpies supposedly had. -- April 24, 2000

DATED, BUT IMPORTANT

These drawing are all rather dated and hardly represent my current state of artistic ability. However, they all have merit, in my opinion, and are fit for public consumption as long as you keep the previous statement in mind. Enjoy!

Jabberwocky -- undated, probably Fourth Quarter 1996
[ink and colored pencil on sketchbook paper]

I was sitting around in some classroom at school, bored. A book was laying around that used that old ink print of the Jabberwockyas an illustration (for whatever reason). That critter is downright ugly (it scared me so much as a little kid that I'd never open my parents' copy of Alice in Wonderland), but it was rather intriguing and looked rather draconian to my dragon-obsessed self. So, I redrew that horrific Jabberwocky as if it were a dragon, improving its looks considering while I was at it. The resultant beast seems like it could make a decent living gnawing on wood and tearing open termite nests. -- April 24, 2000

Cyanith, the Blue Dragon -- Fourth Quarter, 1996
[Prismacolor colored pencils on bristol vellum paper]

An early and daring step into the strange world of color. Cyanith is a Pernese dragon (from the Dragonrider of Pern books, the copyright and intellectual property of Anne McCaffrey), based on the covers painted by Michael Whalen (which I greatly admire). This is pretty good, granted I was a chromophobic artist back then, but it shows its signs of age. I still like the inner part of the right wind and the left arm, but the rest suffers from anatomical and perspective problems. The background is awfully simplistic (but that probably still holds true today) and the fact that I blurred it in the scan is something I now regret. Lastly, my knowledge of how colors behave now is tremendously improved, but I'll stop babbling with that.... (And for those curious in how this drawing developed, take a look at the preliminary. It actually might be better than the final in many respects.) -- April 23, 2000

Our Thoughts Exactly, circa June 1996
[pen on drawing paper]

This was my primary contribution to my middle school, my farewell present before my eighth grade year ended. Our Thoughts Exactly is an annual literature/art publication of my middle school (whose identity has been erased from the scan you can view). I contributed a lot of artwork, a story (Tabrian and Redlock! yeah!), and, of course, the cover to 1996's edition. The dragon theme reflects my obsession at the time, and the influence from my daily viewing of "Gargoyles" is rather apparent. The arms on the dragon holding the stack of books continues to bother me, but that's beside the point. -- April 23, 2000

Tabrian, Second Quarter, 1996
[pencil on Genesis drawing paper]

Tabrian (tay-bree-un) is a cute, ratty-looking dragon-gargoyle in the same basic story as Bellatrix, Orion, Redlock, and Phoenix, all below. He's a loveable fellow (in my opinion) with the fruitless pursuit of getting drunk on white zinfandel (what medication was I on when I created this guy?). Tab (tayb) and his brother Redlock star in a little story a wrote for Our Thoughts Exactly (above), which I might let you read if you beg me via e-mail (I'm just hyperbolizing). The gaping Tabrian head on the top is supposed to be Tab while he's, um, stoned (watch Disney's Gargoyles to see what I mean). -- April 24, 2000

Bellatrix - Second Quarter, 1996
[ballpoint pen on Genesis drawing paper]

Both the dragon (Bellatrix) and the gargoyle (can't remember her name at the moment) were characters I concocted while I dabbled in a roleplaying newsgroup (Dragon's Inn or something like that). Some of the ideas are interesting enough that I might rehash them someday into something else. Until then, this drawing remains a fine example of middle school experimentation. Note the pointilistic approach to the background and the bold (for me at the time) lighting and shading. One of the challenges here was creating a sense of movement, Bellatrix right before she leaps into the air, which I think I succeeded with, at least with the legs (the wings seem a bit awkward to me). -- April 23, 2000

Orion -- Second Quarter 1996
[pencil on Genesis drawing paper]

This character is the brother of Bellatrix above. There was a reason for the lack of familial resemblance, but I was writing that stuff so long ago, I can't really remember. Some aspects of this drawing seem remarkably modern, but it's still very 1996-RKC. -- April 23, 2000

Phoenix -- Second Quarter 1996
[Black ink pen & colored pencil on Genesis drawing paper]

A character from an abandoned story of mine which originated in Dragon's Inn (the same as Bellatrix and Orion). Phoenix (creative name, eh?) is a gargoyle (like in the Disney cartoon) and can be considered Redlock's girlfriend. This drawing is actually quite nice, especially considering the date, and it shines in that it departs from lateral view (which was a pain for me to depart from back then). Unlike the female gargoyles of Disney's show, Phoenix is avian-draconoid rather than humanoid. -- April 23, 2000

Redlock, 1996
[black ink pen and colored pencil on Genesis drawing paper]

Remember this guy? He used to be on the main TRS page (where the gryphon is now). Redlock is Phoenix's (see above) beau and the brother of Tabrian (also see above), and, like both, an avian-draconoid gargoyle. The overall design of Redlock's character shows its age but still has some interesting possibilities. With modernization and a few slight modifications, Redlock would almost look like a Star Wars alien -- don't you think? -- April 24, 2000

Nuboculus, Second Quarter, 1996
[Pencil on Genesis drawing paper]

This is back from those rather obsessive compulsive days when I was bent on scientifically categorizing all of the dragon species in the universe. (Remember Dracology 101? That never happened because I'm long out of this dragon-science phase -- but far from losing my love for dragons.) My project was not noticed too much by the alt.fan.dragons crowd, except for a couple of wonderful souls, namely one named Baxil (pronounced back-heel or likewise). He was great to interchange pictures and ideas with, and the result of that correspondence was this drawing. (Nuboculus is a scientific name I concocted for Baxil's species, from Latin words for "cloud" and "eye.") While this drawing does not represent the current state of my ability at all, it exhibits some nice shading and texturing, not to mention a rather interesting approach to a background. Unfortunately, the way I drew him back then, poor Baxil could never get off the ground. -- April 23, 2000

Kirin sketch -- undated, probably Second Quarter 1996
[black pen on paper]

I drew this during spare time in art class, probably as my eighth grade year neared its end. No one in class seemed to appreciate my Oriental unicorn too much, but I'm still quite fond of this drawing, especially the legs and some of the scales. The lines in the background are supposed to suggest a rainbow. -- April 24, 2000

Gorbash -- undated, probably early 1996
[ink on sketchbook paper; Corel Photo-Paint]

This handsome fellow is a main character in the Rankin-Bass animated film, "The Flight of Dragons." It's a little corny, but also rather funny and intellectual, making it well worth any dragon-lover's time. (Many of the characters were borrowed from Gordon Dickson's book "The Dragon and the George," including Gorbash.) He was one of the original graphics I prepared for TRS's debut; Gorbash (hope I'm spelling that right) has since been replaced by a hissing eagle on the main page, but you can still take a look in case you missed him. Keep in mind this was one of the first drawings I attempted to color on the computer.

Need I mention... Gorbash sure as hell ain't mine. Who owns the copyrights on this guy? Rankin-Bass? Gordon Dickson? Wayne Anderson? Peter Dickinson? Gorbash himself? Beats me. -- April 24, 2000

Dragon drawings, undated, probably early 1996
[pencil on sketchbook paper]

These tidy little drawings sort of symbolize the beginning of my great transformation from lineal simplicity to shaded, anatomical complexity. (Whatever that means!) They were based on ink drawings made about two years earlier, borrowing the general pose and revising everything else. Okay, so the aerodynamics of these things is absolutely horrid, but the overall technique is still kind of ... good. -- April 23, 2000

rachel.k.clark@comcast.net

 The Raptorian Sector -- The Gallery: Fantasy, version 1.021. For optimum viewing, use an advanced browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Netscape). All images and writing © 1996-2003 Rachel K. Clark -- All Rights Reserved. See page's history.