Beyond the Cragstone Cliffs

Screw that back wing.
This is for 's contest
This is her dragon character Ranu and my wolf character Rya.
Here, I drew him as a Secretary Bird (yes, they are real, yes they are still alive, and yes, they have very funny anatomy.) Brownie points for red, yay! Also, secretary birds are very territorial and prefer to live by themselves. The way I colored this one makes it kinda look like a phoenix, which are obviously associated with fire. It also so happens that part of the secretary bird's diet includes animals that have died from brush fires. That has something to do with fire, right? And secretary birds, regardless of their larger size, can still fly. Based on Ranu's personality, I thought this was the absolute perfect animal to make him.
Rya is drawn as a otter. What animal is more fun than an otter? Everything is a game to them. They seem to enjoy life and make fun of everything. Sometimes they just don't understand when enough is enough. An otter is a mirror image of Rya's personality. She can't get enough joy out of life. She'll always cheer people up. But she can't see when a situation is serious. Otters I feel are the same way. By the way, I've never even attempted to draw an otter before. So have pity on this little guy.
Figure these two characters go real well together, because their personalities are total opposites. For Ranu, its duty come before play, but for Rya, it's all fun and games. It looks as those Rya may have reached the "child" in Ranu, and they're playing together. I dunno. And the background sorta goes with the whole isolation thing (so does the poem.) I picture Ranu as someone who lives in a more desolate place where fun isn't of essence. Hence the background. But of course Rya doesn't care. She'll make fun out of anything at anytime anywhere. And like I said before, she's very good at stirring up even the quiet proud ones.
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Well, I've never actually colored body feathers or otter fur, so I just went at it, and I love the way both turned out. The colors on the trees scanned really bad, though. And of course, my scanner ate all the blue. XD
And OMG, otters are so much fun to draw! I'm so making an otter character. But I hate their stupid feet.

Lol, longest caption ever.

@ Ranu-
@ Rya and art-