My Reviled Rapscallion Reptillian Rival

"We're not friends, we're not mates,
We're rivaled enemies, a lot on our plates!
Never get along, nor see eye to eye,
Doin' what we do just to get by!
Bad blood between us, tension in the air,
As our eyes meet a snarl turns to a glare.
Yet amongst all the friction of our war and hate,
We can't help but stop and appreciate,
That there's something both inside us only we see,
In one another, if it's one thing we two can agree,
Enough to show a sliver or a shred of a sign of respect,
Every once in a while as it seems to strangely reflect.
We've fought our battles, we've battled our fights,
Our history is long, as feisty days turned to fiery nights,
Still in spite of it all, from head to toe and shell to shell,
Interestingly it appears that just as well,
Finding our hearts and our minds briefly connected as one,
Until the moon rises as the sun sets marking the day as done."

_{I really hate that poem.}

So this was a random drawing I started up in Art Academy: Sketchpad on my Wii U on Halloween night, that I didn't really know what it would turn into. First I thought about drawing Koopser in a random costume like a TMNT-inspired thing...but then it was getting late to the point I decided to just make it a simple Koopser sketch. I only had that night to finish it since I had no more room to save any new drawings in the app and I couldn't turn my system off before finishing it, so I had to leave this is a simple unshaded sketch. The composition started to feel kind of empty though, so I decided to include Koopser's rather unfriendly rival Kaiden in this too to give him some company. Was going to draw them giving one another a glare, but I've already drawn them doing that before here: Then it kind of got me thinking about their relationship to one another and how Kaiden always seems to have it out for Koopser and even Koopser doesn't know why; I'm just as clueless as he is. I've always kind of thought it had something to do with Koopser accidentally causing the mutation of Kaiden's tail when they were younger by some sort of event which made street-fighting tougher for him, but I never totally figured it out. Yet this is the first time I've ever drawn them together actually...smiling and not seeming to mind one another? A rare moment indeed...which kind of got me thinking that it's probably only possible because despite the animosity between them, sometimes rivals can see something in one another that they can't quite pinpoint what it is yet it's enough to show some kind of due respect towards them...even if the moment of mutual peace doesn't last very long. I don't draw these two very often (especially Kaiden) but they definitely have some sort of connection with one another. It's been interesting and kind of fun trying to give my characters some more detail and depth, especially when they interact with one another, as well as giving them more of a background to go by.

Toyed around in GIMP after the fact, and now it's finally finished.

Original Sketches:
https://s21.postimg.org/6mjhjjczb/w.....89_dan1kb7.jpg https://s11.postimg.org/mww9ayh4z/wiiu_screenshot_tv_0142c_by_bowser81889_danftl6.jpg/wiiu_screenshot_tv_0142c_by_bowser81889_dan1kb7.jpg

Koopser and Kaiden the Koopa Troopas © 2016  Bowser81889
Koopa Troopa species © 1985, 2016 Nintendo
Art © 2016  Bowser81889