Lucky Charm - ClaudexAshton

CHARACTERS: Claude Kenny (left), Ashton Anchors (right) accompanied by Ashton’s dragon duo of Gyoro (the red one) and Ururun (the blue).

OWNER: Tri-Ace. As usual. They own much much stuff and I own very very little. *Cries* ;__;

PIC STATUS: Trade pic for (fan source: “Star Ocean: The Second Story”)

MEDIUMS: Artline felt tips (sizes 0.2 and 0.6), Photoshop CS (colouring, lighting effect)

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ARTIST THOUGHTS: It took Ms. Synthetic Neko one day to draw me a trade pic. It took me four months to do the same. X______X So everyone, be careful if you ever ask me to draw something since I have a tendency to temporarily die for many consecutive weeks. O____o BUT anyway, thankfully I got this one out before 2006.

What, not Albel and Fayt this time? SACRILEGE! It’s still Star Ocean though, albeit Star Ocean 2. Ms. Synthetic Neko asked for a ClaudexAshton themed pic, so I took leave from tormenting Albel and Fayt in their cages and had to hunt for fresh meat.

Now I’m a dork and haven’t finished Star Ocean 2 yet since I’m still loitering around on disc 1. *Cough* >__> But I’ve read ahead in character FAQs and found that Ashton’s luck stat never budges from the lowly “18” it starts at, which strikes me as quite amusing since I’m sadistic that way… but still, THE POOR BOY! Hence the four luck clover theme, since I’m quite sure Ashton’s never laid eyes on one in his life. O__o Since I haven’t completed the game yet I also don’t now how well Claude and Ashton would fit together as a couple, but if any of you guys and gals can enlighten me on that question then by all means.

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TECHNICAL STUFF: This was the first time in ages that I’ve drawn something on a clean, empty, spacious piece of A4 paper. I’ve gotten so used to doodling in my crappy sketch pad which is half the size… I should really throw that thing out. X__x It was also the first time I’ve drawn Claude and Ashton, plus the first time in many years that I’ve drawn dragons. Surprisingly then, it only took one day to get the line art done. O____o *Scratches head*

For once I used no ready-made brushes, though I did spend a fair bit of time searching for a shamrock brush and got completely sidetracked by downloading a bunch of totally irrelevant brushes. Instead, I used a heart brush which I’d downloaded in a stamp set and used it to create the shamrocks you see in the pic, and a filled selection made with the polygon tool served as the stems.

Oh and before any hardcore Star Ocean 2 fans point it out, yes I am aware of the following two things which I deliberately disregarded:

1. Ashton is taller than Claude by 20 cm, not the other way around. For the theme of the pic to work best though, I chose to elevate Claude. If it bugs you, then just pretend Ashton is sitting on Claude’s lap – that’s what I’m thinking!

2. Gyoro (the red dragon) has red back spines, but I chose to leave them out since the spines made the top of the image look so incredibly crappy. Pretend he got shaved. O__o

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And that’s all from me, I’ve got a hankering to play me some Star Ocean!! Enjoy Ms. Synthetic Neko, even if it was a long time coming!