The people of Ua (part I)

[pyraxis]

(click to enlarge)

From left to right:

Ua'roké - Head of the Temple of the Elements. The Raba Ua'lin's closest personal advisor and martial arts trainer. A force for sanity and balance amidst the Raba's cruelty.

The Raba Ua'lin - Head of the house of Ua, the newest and most prosperous house in the nation. Lin took the sagama at thirteen, when her mother Mai disappeared under suspicious circumstances.

Anza Ua'qi - Ua'lin's right hand and sometimes partner. Qi was first in line to inherit rulership of the rival house of Uz, but she walked away against all good advice to join Lin in the house of Ua. She is as gentle and kind as Lin is ruthless, and many suspect she's been coerced against her will by the Raba to serve her. Her mother Uz'jef worries constantly but can not force her daughter to return home.

Ua'vic - Vic was adopted into the house of Ua by Mai when Lin was young in order to block her daughter's growing ambition. Vic was trained to become Raba, but only women are permitted by tradition to rule. Vic refused the magic that would have changed his body to a woman's. He became an ascetic priest and disappeared into the desert, returning only recently.

The Raba Uz'jef - Head of the house of Uz, Masta Ua's main rival. Mother of Qi. Her royal garden is the most beautiful in the nation.

Comments

[yonjuunana.livejournal.com]

Nice drawing! It's always cool to see more art from you, I'm all curious about what everybody looks like. I especially like Lin and Ua'vic in this. You're definitely getting expressiveness across in the postures.

I hope I get to learn more about Ua'vic sometime, he sounds like an interesting guy.

One critique- What's your system for deciding which lines to draw heavier than others? I can't figure out what you were doing there. But then I tend to be pretty obsessive over inking and line quality.

[pyraxis]

I didn't have a system, beyond vaguely thinking I should emphasize the lines I want to draw attention to, and I should sometimes use the thicker lines to create shadows. How would you have done it? What's your system?

I would love for you to meet Ua'vic. He's one of the most interesting people I've ever met. He's also one of the hardest to capture. He cares for very little. There's no way I could go to him and say, "Come to yumeza," or "Come meet my friend yonjuunana". There was a hint that he had a vague interest in yumeza at one point, but nothing came of it.

I'm glad the postures are coming through. I had a hard time with Qi. My women always come out looking androgynous to a fault, so I tried to make her as feminine and attractive as I could. I'm not sure it worked. I think I went overboard with the eyelashes, and she was supposed to have more of a smile. Her body was more shapely before I put the clothes on it. Maybe I should have given her wider hips.

[yonjuunana.livejournal.com]

My system for line thickness: Three things. 1. It's mostly like shading. Choose a light source, have thicker lines away from that light source. 2. Things in the foreground get heavier lines, things in the background get lighter ones. 3. Larger and heavier objects get thicker lines than smaller and lighter ones. That's pretty much it. I learned it from an art teacher back in early high school and I've heard a few other art teachers mention similar things since then.

Hahaha, women are hard to draw! I actually think one of the main reasons I have more male characters than females is simply because I like drawing straight lines more than curvy lines, so I doodle guys more often. (I'm currently trying to draw Ann... I'm lucky in that she's pretty tall and skinny and angular.) I think you did a good job making Uz'jef look feminine. Ua'lin, too.