The character on the right is © D.C. Simpson. The character on the left is © Prince William of Orange.

Nightsky-Bluewyrm! A thank-you pic from last year. I was looking at the very-brightly-colored, almost folk-arty work of Laurel Burch, and was inspired to try a colored pencil piece for Nightsky, who's very colorful herself. Prismas and Design colored pencils on black illustration board.

An overdue thank-you for Chris Sawyer - here's a harpy-type eagle. There was a pic in Zoobooks of a gorgeous blue-eyed eagle that I'd wanted to paint; here's my interpretation (which is not meant to be any particular type of eagle; this is a fantasy creature). The hand is more human-like on purpose, and the feather is because... I need practice with feathers. I tried a flatter, illustrative style and kept the feathers simple so they didn't "clog up" (the piece is small - about 3.6" x 6"). Pencil, gouache on watercolor stock.

A thank-you piece for the creator of the excellent 'zine, Fang, Claw & Steel (http://webhome.idirect.com/~twessner/fcs/fcs.htm). It's a mix of human and wolf features; I was going for effect rather than accuracy, trying for more of a "classic werewolf" look. The neck-fur is a tip of the hat to my feline shapeshifter in this pic: http://us.vclart.net/vcl/Artists/Stephanie-M.-Hahn/werewolves_&_other_shapeshifters/syn-CatHat.jpg, from 1993; I've drawn fur that way for decades. Pencil on cardstock.

Still on a Japanese-influence kick, I tried my hand at one of my favorite creatures from Asian mythology. It's my own version; note I wasn't going for a strict interpretation. I used to draw in this stylized, heavy-line and thick-color manner a lot. Prismas and Design colored pencils on Canson Paper (hence the texture).

Synnabar x 4: my late entry to the "draw your character as cartoony AND realistic" idea. Maybe it's a fad, but it was a good exercise nonetheless. The cheshire-type Synn has a face I've used elsewhere. Pencil on cardstock, touch-ups in Photoshop7.

For Smudge.