BIO:
From an early age, Chase wanted a life filled with adventure and exploration. He wasn't more than ten when he packed his bags, geared up with maps, candy bars, and a compass, and slipped out of his village to hike to Mount Verdant, the tallest peak in the region. Three days later, with all of his provisions used up, and his paws caked with dirt and mud, he hadn't even made it half way. He was strong willed, but not that strong, and after an hour of trying to pit his brains against his pride, he admitted defeat.

He spent the next two days hiking back while dreaming of warm baths and a belly full of food, hardly caring that he'd be in for one hell of a scolding from his mother, who at this point must have been worried sick. On the third day, as he crested the hill that overlooked the village, his eyes went wide and tears welled up. His knees felt weak and he collapsed, his heart beating as he overlooked the smoldering remains of his village. Nothing was left but bodies.

Chase was found by bounty hunters, hot on the trail of the bandits who had caused all of this destruction. The leader of the bounty hunters, a grizzled old lion named Hector, told him that the bandits had caused some kind of altercation and it escalated until they decided to raze the village. There was little more to be told, and little more to be known, nobody apart from Chase had survived.

Unwilling to leave the boy to his fate, which would surely be starvation at best, Hector took him in, and began training him immediately. The hunters, who totaled five all in all, became a surrogate family for Chase; Hector as his adoptive father, and the four others as his brothers and sisters. He learned everything from them, first by observing, and later by doing. As his body and strength developed he was able to take a more active role in the team, and soon became a skilled bounty hunter.

He stayed with them for ten years, and during that time, his eyes never left that one goal: to find the bastards who destroyed his village and make them pay. For years, Hector did his best to keep up the chase, to look for leads and follow clues, but with time, the trail ran cold; and there were easier bounties to be had, and bills that needed paying.

Chase refused to give up; refused to write his tragedy off without retribution. And so, against Hector's pleads, when Chase turned 20, he left the group. Since then, he's been a one man army, dead set on his goal. He'll take jobs in whatever town or city he finds himself in, but he never stays long; there's vengeance to be had, and miles to go before he can rest.

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ABOUT THE ART:
I've never done a bio like that before. I hope you guys like it, and if you want more - perhaps with more art of Chase, let me know!

Anyway, I believe this is my first submission for 2018 - hasn't been a big art year so far, so let's set things in motion with a bang. I worked my butt of for this guy, and I am really proud of the result.

I really didn't have any plans for making an elaborate drawing, but I recently bought Corel Painter Essentials, and wanted to try it out. It was pretty awful, and i have a journal entry about that, but it did manage to spark my muse again, and as soon as Corel Painter was uninstalled, and Photoshop was back, I decided to give the brush smoothing in CC 2018 a whirl. It's really, really good. The penmanship has improved a lot from it, and... well...

I guess my art just sort of took off and suddenly I was sketching a new character. I decided I didn't want to do another wolf - it was gonna be something new this time, and hey, snow leopards are pretty interesting to draw, and really sweet lookin'. I also wanted to make something that wasn't just... anatomical, or sexual, but.. just darn cool, and I think I succeeded in that heh. I drew inspiration from Blondie, Clint Eastwood's character in the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. At first, I was going to do a straight up western theme, but in the end, I just kept the poncho.

I spent a lot of time with drawing the paws, and making sure proportions were correct, and while there are some minor mistakes in the anatomy here and there, I think it's generally pretty good. Another area where I paid a lot of attention was to the color coordination - I originally had his shirt green, but that really clashes with the brown and the red, so I ended up making that red as well. I think that was a good choice. Clothing creases and shading took a while too, especially since I actually bothered with thinking about lighting directions this time around.

This drawing took about four days to complete, and I worked pretty hard on it every day. I learned a lot while making it, and like a lot of my bigger drawing projects, I think spending time and getting it right, rather than rushing through it to get it done, is how you improve best as an artist. It works for me at least.