Past and Present

[Wildfire the Dragon]

This is basically showing a bunch of old pictures and the recent ones of my characters. Alright, here we go.

- Jay Tanoshi
Somewhere in Early 2004...

Jay's original design. Basically, he was inspired by drawing a picture of a human version of Sonic the Hedgehog in 2004. The colors were by me, due to being some of my favorites: Blue and Green. The sword was out of fun in this picture, since he originally had a Broadsword.

The spiked band idea was from Paper Mario's Koopa Troopas, since they wore Spiked Bands and Sunglasses. I gave him the power of Wind due to inspiration to Beyblade's Bit Beast "Dragoon." Jay also had a bit of inspiration from Dragonball Z as well.

The name: "Jay" is my nickname, which everyone in real life calls me. "Tanoshi" was supposed to be made up, due to seeing a bunch of credits in most games, but it seems now it's a real Japanese name, hehe. XD

2005 - 2006

Alright, differences. First off, his hair is shorter and more Sonic like, his shirt in also black, and his shoes are Sonic like as well (since he's supposed to be originally a major Sonic Fan) however, not many changes afterwards. His colors were still the same though. Also, his personality in this picture shows him being the calm type as well. Overall, not much of a change.

Spring 2006

Jay is a Dragon! This happened due to a causal RP with Garral Yulong, however, it seem like a good idea to let Jay be a full Dragon, well...not 100% full. The hair stayed almost the same, and the eyes too. The horns were a bit of trouble, due to cause I wanted to make them have a "hole" on it, and facing them upwards was a odd move. He also had 3 head spikes sticking out of his head, since he was supposed to look a bit like Gar, and since Gar had head spikes, well...you know, but they were a lot different.

The clothing was different, since I was going for something...I dunno....different. Gold and Black seemed like a good color combination (and due to watching Dragon Booster), so..yeah.

August 2006

Here's where Jay's design got seriously altered. First off, I gave him a default color which is Emerald Green. The clothing got changed too. The jacket was going to be Black and Gold again, but I decided to put Blue in there. The gloves were originally black and fingerless, but after watching Legendz: Tale of the Dragon Kings and spotting Shiron...I gave him the same set of gloves, also a bonus by drawing a collar for him, which was going to be a spiked collar. The hair design was due to the fact that I somehow drew the horns lightning shaped (so Gar and me would look more similar), so yeah. I also added a extra spike.

Present

I decided to modify his clothing from his past, looking more detailed. The toeless boots were a inspiration from both a artist on DA named Hunter Bahamut, and looking at a couple of characters from Legendz: Tale of the Dragon Kings. I also made his hair more spikier and longer. I also got rid of his head spikes since I liked it better without them. The cresent mark on the forehead is due to a certain thing in a RP, so it may disappear really soon. I also decided to give Jay a bit of muscles to show that he does tend to work out and spar more often once in a while. Jay is still growing.

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Drago Ryoukai

February 2007

His original appearance. First thing, I wanted him to have fur which was inspired by the artist Hunter Bahamut. However, problems were colors. I had a choice between Blue, White, and Gray, and chose Blue since it looked so cool. LEVEL UP ! ! He's supposed to have a connection with Jay, which kind of shows due to the crescent mark on his head. I also wanted to give something I was planning to give to Jay: Feathered Wings, colors though, have not determined completely. The clothing was just to give him something while I thought of something.

March 2007

Inspiration from Hunter hits again! I gave him clothing to look like he was more from the past (which he's supposed to be). I also got rid of the wings for some odd reason...his fur is basically Blue and Light Blue. The hair is also Black. I can't really explain the other things, so...you see it though, ya? LEVEL UP ! !

Present

Well, I gave him more changes. The inspiration here is NOT only from Hunter Bahamut, but another artist named Dreke, which gave me a couple of ideas, like the claws and talons being black. Also the clothing came from him due to a Trade he did, and it looked pretty aersome. The clothing wasn't copyrighted, so...I guess it's alright. The clothing here is basically Black and White, nothing special. There's a lot of visible inspirations of Dreke and Hunter you can see, but if you want a link to their pages, I can show them.

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Alright, I'll stop here. I had a couple more characters, but problems were:

1.) I forgot where the inspiration came from.
2.) Forgot the times
3.) They're minor or unfinished.

I may try to show them later if possible. If you guys have ANY questions, go ahead and ask. Thanks. ^^

[Rackinac]

I see that as you go along your art style gets more and more creative. I like it~

So yes, you have made much improvment over the timeline. If I could make a recomendation for future art, try some creative backgrounds. Maybe more than one character interacting, the more the better! Your character has a lot of personality and you should show it through your art.

I would like to see more~

[red.yoshi]

Pretty much what Gem said. Great art there Jay! You have really improved since I first remember seeing your art! Great work =).

[Masakuni]

Wow, you seem to have improved alot over the months. ^^

[Moot]

I always did like seeing these timeline things and how people improve over the course of however long. I can see a definate improvement over the course of the past while but the one thing that hasn't changed at all is poses. Everybody is just standing there, and as good as the actual art is, it looks wooden for want of a better word.

Maybe sacrificing some of the smaller details would make it easier to get some different poses going? Its always easier to vary things the less complex something is, I find.

_{before anyone chimes in I know I've been guilty of recycling poses}