interest- birds of prey

[indigowulf]

I got these from Stalit (with a loan from Calomel to help me bin) and she's also doing the shading on them. They will be run on both sites. Im so very excited about these. Wanted to check interest here and get advice on a couple things.

Progress updated!

Unisex chick:


First set:
<<decided to be male
<<decided to be female

2nd set:
<<decided to be female
<<decided to be male

Heres a finished version of the chick, the first one she templated, and I colored this one. Im so in love with the work!


So, what I need opinions on, which one of each set is male/female. And is set 2 a mutation, elder version, or it's own breed?

[Kadana Sorano]

*steals eagles*  Ahem, I didn do nuffin!  <.< >.>

First set, left one male, right one female
Second set, left one female, right one male

Differant species.. or breeds.  Maybe a differant kind of eagle form the first?

[indigowulf]

My ideas for backstory so far: they are mystic birds, who are invisable to most. The native american dream catcher idea expands with these, so that not only do the dreamcatchers trap nightmares before they come to a sleeper, but these birds are an intricate part of the system.

You see, a dream catcher only has so much room, before it gets full of nightmares and cant do its job. One of 2 things happens. Either the dreamcatcher clogs up and no dreams at all get past, even good dreams, and the sleeper loses thier mind- or the weight of bad dreams breaks the web and all dreams get in.

The birds of prey have a symbiotic relationship with the dreamcatchers. They feed on nightmares. This makes full tummys for the birds, and keeps the dreamcatchers from breaking.

Over time, less people know about dreamcatchers and use them. However, more and more are using other methods. Nighttime prayers for a barrier of words, smudging with insence makes a screen of smoke, and many other nighttime rituals keep our nightmares trapped in suspension before they reach us. The birds have learned to relate to all kinds, and still guard our sleeping minds.

Summoning a personal guardian bird requires elements of ritual. Beads, commonly used in prayer as well as dreamcatchers. Insence, commonly used in many forms of meditation, cleansing, and prayer. String, wax, gems, and other various things, also used as some part of the recipe also have thier place. The creation of a proper "nest" of these items, one which is woven loosely to serve as a net as well as having a roost, is required to lure one to you.

A pair of adult birds will only produce an egg if thier is a proper nest prepared for the hatchling. It is virtually the same process as summoning a guardian in the first place.

so--- thats a working idea. very rough idea, needs refining and tweaking. feedback appreciated.

[YourLoveOnly]

I would make them two seperate breeds, only problem I have with that is that they'd share the baby stage. But I would still think different species fits better than mutation or elder version.

1st set: female, male
2nd set: male, female

[JBGarrison72]

I agree with Kadana's assessment that the "active" birds should be the males while the posing birds should be the females (though YLO's opposite assessment does have merit as it would show the males as looking pretty while the females do the real work, lol).

I love the overall idea that these are not just eagles (I don't believe the beaks are short and hooked enough to be hawks), but in fact spirit animals... dream feeders.  Gives you alot of free reign to go bizarro on colors and special additions if you want... luminescant eyes, auras, etc.

I am a bird of prey phreak so yes, I am 100% hoping you do this.

I actually disagree with YLO on the point of making separate breeds.  I say keep it simple.... but if you want to have genetic poses, then use the second set of pics as well... I guess if the 2nd pose is genetic you can call it breed/pose, doesn't really matter... I'm more inclined toward "pose."

[indigowulf]

they cant really just be different poses, since they have different traits. look at the tail and the top of the head. Its not a matter of "if" I do them, its just a question of "how" cuz I already paid for the lines lol.

Im loving the feedback so far, ty!

[JBGarrison72]

Oh, my mistake; I didn't click on the images to see larger versions.  Lines on my monitor are so light that I didn't even see the head crest feathers. *rubs eyes*

[indigowulf]

website created, located here: http://birdsofprey.freehostia.com/index.html
still need: fleshing out story, ideas for ritual items, and names for the 2 species.

Shadow Raptors?
Death Divers?
Dream Eaters?

Please read website before offering names, it will make a lot more sense if ya do

item ideas:
string
bead
scented grasses
tufts of fur
word of power (in a sealed envelope?)
feather
rare gem (for the rare species)

of course must have the roosting stick.
Items done so far:
feather (used one of my old lines):

bead:

roosting stick:

[indigowulf]

Progress update: Stalit is working hard on them. Here's the first adult she's doing, partly done:

[YourLoveOnly]

That looks amazing!

[indigowulf]

I know right? She's amazing!
Im so excited about these!

[indigowulf]

update!!

[indigowulf]

Need to know what people think of this- I want these to be mildly RP..

I just got this hairbrained idea. Not ordering customs. The closest thing to a custom would be to roleplay finding the bird. You could describe the location, the dreams that attracted it, the ritual, how you felt, ect, but not describe the bird itself. So, everything would be inspired by the rp.

I wonder if that would make them better, or scare people away?

[red_uni387]

LOVE.

offer that as a option, since it's not really a custom that way I'd personally love to find birdies that way, but sometimes people may want to get special charries and stuff, and that needs to have exact hexes and stuff ^^

[YourLoveOnly]

I would offer both options. I love the RP-inspired thing, but you may also want to get that one perfect bird that you just need to describe.

[indigowulf]

based on feedback here and pi, i think ill go with the rp thing for most, and make the real full customs be rarer but still available. My problem is i  *refuse* to do things that dont match the anatomy. So, if someone wanted the mona lisa on the bird, they'd be SOL. not cuz im afraid to try to do a mona lisa ref but i wont put it on feathers lol.

[YourLoveOnly]

This asks for pretty bird mimics.. *wants to make it a hummingbird* xD
No, seriously, this does ask for bird mimics. I love owls..


So I'll probably get owl mimics ^^

[indigowulf]

Theres no reason they couldnt have hummingbird looking ones. They are other-realm creatures. Colors can be as varied as we want. It's just patterns that I refuse to see stray too far from natural. Considering things like poison arrow frogs and fish, natural has a huge variety of options. But Im not going to draw daisys on thier noses for anyone no matter how hard they beg

Some premades I have of chicks, since that's the only file I have so far, show some color variety.: (yes, Im planning on having adults have more details then chicks generally)

[Kadana Sorano]

I love the back story.  I adore the idea of rp'ing finding them.  But yes, I will deff want reguler custom/mimics, as I just HAVE to get a pair of bald eagles.  Or atleast a male.. got to represent my son after all *snugs*  I love the tie in with the native americans and the dream catchers.   hehe I have two hanging form my bed, one on each end

[Silvanon]

Mm, I'm seriously no good at RP, but these are totally beautiful!

For the genders, I agree with Kadana:

First set, left one male, right one female
Second set, left one female, right one male

[indigowulf]

once again, need advice on this. I know a lot of people who template with photoshop put the highlights layer to "overlay" but I hate how you cant do black, or you completely lose the highlights. I normally set the transparancy to around 40% and set it to "value" instead, so it becomes a lighter version of whatever color it is over.

I want to know which of these looks better, I used a bird with some black areas and some non-black to show how both look.

first one:


second one:

[YourLoveOnly]

I prefer the first one. ^^

[Kadana Sorano]

first one

[indigowulf]

hopefully the last question.. is the giant image above too big, should I resize it and risk losing quality? It would make it easier to post in profile pages and such, but is that important enough to risk losing quality?

here is sized down version. does it lose too much?

[Kadana Sorano]

I say keep it big.  When you size it down, I can't tell a difference between it and the second big image above any more.  (the highlighting I mean).  So unless you can fix that and make it visible again once sized down, I'd personally prefer a larger image.

but then.. I don't keep my adopties on my presentation any more for the most part, but rather put them in my pb and link to that.  So maybe other's feel differently *shrug*

[indigowulf]

actually, LOL I messed up and sized down the one without the nicer highlights. So ignore that part thats what I get for having to many side-by-side compare me images in the same folder.

[YourLoveOnly]

I don't think it loses too much and I know I really like being able to keep them on a display page or adoptie website or something like that.

[indigowulf]

theres a roleplay up for these in critter explore.. At least the one being used for examples here is going to find a home in that thread. (plus its baby pic, since we already know what it looks like all grown up ) I already have 4 more premade chicks who I can give out, but if there's no participation, that wont happen. They will end up being intro weeks chicks instead.

[YourLoveOnly]

I'm a bit too busy for RP right now, but if it's still up and running by Monday I shall try to join in.

[Kadana Sorano]

yes yes, I've been waiting for others to join that.. *tries to shove people in at random*

[indigowulf]

which cert?





or come up with a more "typical" cert?

[Neocridders]

I will most definatly be stalking this adoptable. Oh, wow. I like the second one a tad more, but I think both would be fine for a cert.

[Kadana Sorano]

I do like the transparency, but the second one looks VERY nice, with the clouds in the background.  I only don't like how the background just sort of fizzes out at the edges.

[Stalit]

Just an idea for the species names.
How about Common for the basic/normal ones. And the other breed being something like Tropic(al), Northern, Eastern. Things like that. I can't think of any more examples right now.

A more 'typical' cert would be much better. Nothing big, just enough to fit the information needed.

[indigowulf]

in sticking with the story/background, what do fans think of Dream Eaters for the common species, and Shadow Raptors for the rare?

and for fairness of feedback, here is an example of "more typical" cert. personally I like the transparency with nothing best, but I want what the *fans* like best.

[Kadana Sorano]

I like Dream Eaters as the over all adopty name.  I do like Shadow Raptors as a sort of "species" name, but for the second line art it doesn't seem to fit.  They do look more like tropical birds then predatary raptors.

I don't like that last cert example as much as the first two.  The text is harder to read (for me atleast) and the circle within the circle border, along with the theme story of the adopty, has me thinking it's a dream catcher that's incomplete, and my mind wants to see it "finished".

[Stalit]

I was meaning what they would be called in their natural world. But if your talking what they would be called on earth than thats a good idea.

I made that in MSpaint so there wasn't a transparent option. They will be transparent. And most likely different fonts too. I was just trying to create a universal cert. As the poses of the bird vary in sizes and such, having a full cert like your example with the clouds would be rather hard to keep.

Edit: Like I said. Its JUST an example. It is changeable. It could be a box, a circle any shape really.
It was done in just a few seconds, just to show what I meant. Thats all. I can do a proper one if people would prefer..

[indigowulf]

Its ok, Im strongly leaning towards pure transparent, or a simple shadow box like I have on my Equigons.

example:

[Stalit]

Something like that would be great. But not so bright. 

[Taruia]

I personally like either the background or the transparent over the box things. I think those detract from the elegance of the lines and shading of the birds. And it's not just the color.

[Stalit]

Current progress of Common Female:

Inking Done.
(A few things have already been fixed up since I uploaded this)

[Spixy]

I prefer the second cert with the blue sky.

I'll definately be stalking these! I'm in LOVE! O_O
I'd say resize them with the option of a link to a larger version.

[Kadana Sorano]

Sky cert still has my vote as well.

And yes, I considered asking for the re-size option as well, (because I think they would be lovely as screen saver/wallpaper's) but, I didn't want to be the one to suggest it, knowing how many other things you have to do/run lol

[indigowulf]

it wouldnt be outside the realm of possibility to allow people who are interested to purchase a full size (around 900X600) uncerted image of thier own birds for use as wallpaper (other then the current premades I have, as I didnt save them larger) from this point on, Ill start saving a full size version of everything just for that option.

[Kadana Sorano]

aww *snuggleluffsupon* as always, you're teh awesome

[Spixy]

-agrees with Kadana- that's awesome of you indigo, considering the extra work and extra space it'd require *squishes*

[Stalit]

Been busy lately. Only just started the shading. To be honest most of the time I cant really be bothered shading.   

I still stand by what I said about the sky cert being not capable with all the different sizes of lineart. Something simple would just look so much cleaner.
- It just looks weird due to the different style.

[indigowulf]

Let's see, only got 1 fan comment on the boxes so far, and it was negative, so unless there's a ton of posts saying they love it, that one is off the list.

I'm trying to make sure I'm doing what the fans want- since without fans, there's no future, no matter how well done or well planned.

If they overwealming vote sky cert, it would be resized/shaped for each bird. Right now cert is still up in the air, from not enough feedback.

[Ravvana]

I like the first cert, the nice plain one

[red_uni387]

I agree with Ravvana the sky cert is pretty, but Ty's right, the style just doesn't match and makes it look kinda weird