I love it, hopefully my fiance will too (if I can ever get him to check his email). Its so cute. The coloring is fine.

Yay! I hope I didn't make him too cute, hon!

Oh, and I've found a laminator I could borrow- it'll be nicely laminated before I send it to you, assuming the thing works- it's been in storage for gods know how long.

Having it laminated would be lovely. If the older machine doesn't work, I know Fedex-Kinkos does laminating. I can't wait to show it to Asurea, he is going to love it.
The rose is was a very cute touch.

*grins* Well, you'd said go for a bit more of a Valentine's Day theme, and I had him already half-drawn. Ooop. So, since I'd wanted to put his neat tail in there somewhere... I tested the old laminator, and it doesn't look good. I used some scraps of stuff I had laying around to test out the sheets, so no worries about your art being wrecked! anyway, I dunno if it's just that we're using sheets that are too-thin (they are- too floppy once sealed), or if the rollers need adjusting to be a tad tighter, but they left bubbles in the plastic and the seal didn't seem very good. There were little open spaces at the edges of the test-piece I used, but it sealed nicely to the paper itself- I tried to peel them apart and no go. Tight in that department. So, my plan is to go and get some thicker laminating sheets and test those out before I relent and go to Kinko's.

By the way, my fiance loves it but he can be a brat about being depicted as cute.
I figured you would test the machine on assorted and sundry scrap (what else is scrap for). Hope you get it working.

I hope so too. I mentioned that I used scraps because, well, frankly, I never know when someone's gonna assume I'm an idiot. :-P And trust me, there have been numerous times where I have been. Heh.

I think we all have been at one time or another.

*giggles* Indeed. And my moments of derp have haunted me for years. *siiiighs*

I know what you mean, I have had a couple of those moments that will probably permanent scars (the things I work with can bite and bite hard).

Got a few of those myself, some from work, some from making stuff and not being careful with my knives... Ow.

I haven't been bitten by a tool in ages and then Sunday (I use lots of hot tools and molten wax...on the other hand, wax pens are the devil)...I was carving a tail for a pendant and misjudged what sort of wax I was using. It was more brittle than I thought, it shattered and the knife kept doing. They probably heard me cursing three counties away.
I love working for the government, I went into the nurse's station on Monday and got it seen to and I got told to use my favorite medicine, namely aloe (and the go ahead to use tea-tree oil, the nurse even said it was better to use an antiseptic like that than antibiotic cream because it won't create those pesky resistant bacteria). Its only worth telling, since, as I said, I haven't been bitten in a dog's age.

*chuckles* I use aloe a lot myself. I'm out of Ti tree oil, though. I'm a total klutz with my tools- I burn myself on the glue gun, nick my fingers with the Exacto blades, pinch my skin with my gem tweezers (those long things have a lot of are to nip at you with)... In short, if I haven't stabbed, spindled or mutilated me digits at least once during a project, I just don't feel right about it! *giggles. Luckily, my sewing machines don't seem to be interested in getting their licks in, though I have bumped my stupid noggin on the table they're sitting on when I'm hunting for a needle I dropped. Heh.

And people think that arts and crafts is a safe hobby.

No kidding!

awwr very nice murah ^^

*chuckles* Doing these badges is pretty fun- hope I get to do more!

lulz If I had the money Heh

>^___^< I don't ask much- only $20.

I dont even have that D: it's a sad fate lol

Eeep. I know that problem all too well- there have been times when I couldn't even afford a cup of coffee- really cheap, $1.50 a mug coffee...

that's very upsetting, right now I am living off gift cards from christmas lol

At least you got gift cards! Most years, I got squat for Christmas, as most of my family and friends are as church-mouse poor as I am! Hugs were free, and always welcome, though. And we fed each other- that was always cool. Things are better for me, now, but I still remember the hungry days- they aren't all that far back, after all.

cute and very well done

Thanks, hon! I'm glad folks like this one!

More Murranations!

*giggles* Not in that series, but yeah. Heh.

very nice work ^.-.^

Thank you!

Dawrrr too cute and sweet

Cute is fun to do...

It's...cute. I AM NOT CUTE, DAMNIT! *rage roar throw smash break facesmash facesmash* Er, sorry about your wall there... ^( )^;

In all seriousness, though, you did an excellent job. You have the character (and the coloring, specifically, since you said you were concerned about it) right. The only "liberty" I can see you taking is you made the face far more mobile than it is, and it would defeat the whole "cute" aspect 'Gara asked for if you hadn't. My wolfy's happy with it, and I'm happy with it. You did a very good job.

*giggle* Thank you, sir! Yeah, I wasn't sure how to approach the fairly stiff ref I had to use without totally re-making your character- I had no idea if he would be able to make the facial-expressions I had him doing. Our human selves are very attuned to mobile, "rubbery" faces to gauge what the person's feeling, and having a strong-looking, possibly fierce dragon with a rose might not quite convey the "I love you" I wanted to show. I could do a more "serious" feral one, if you like, sometime. It could be a fun contrast to have two very different pieces done by the same artist.

I'll stop pluggin' meself, nao.

But, I'm glad you like it, anyway!

Well, I need more than the one ref I have at the moment, anyhow. Let me get some money and I'll take you up on that offer.

He's not expressionless, but given that his face is basically armored, his expressions are a bit different from a human's. Most of the expression cues used by humans involve the skin around the upper face and eyes, but he's limited to basically the eyelids. Wide-eyed surprise and eye-narrowing anger are about all one could pick up from that part of his face. Most other expressions are accomplished with the jaw and vocalizations. Drop the lower jaw and pull it back slightly, and you get a grin. Vocalize laughter, and you get an amused dragon. Drop the jaw and pull back the lips to bare the teeth, add in a growl, and you've got a pissed-off dragon. Very slight differences in expression can mean very different things, with a human's most obvious cues being vocal. Can be very hard on an artist to portray.

Well, if the lips are mobile, like a dog's, he can smile, just not as wide as I got him doing here. Are the frills where his "ears" would be mobile at all? A lot of expression can be gotten by the simple position of the "ears" plus whatever they eyes and mouth are doing: ears down, mouth open, eyes narrowed- "I'm gonna EAT you if you don't buzz off!" Ears up, mouth still open, corners of mouth pulled back a bit, eyes open and looking at you" Ooh! This is interesting" or "let's play!" and so on. I like one ear down, one up and mouth open a crack for "WTF?" *chuckles*

I'd love to do an "animal" feral pic of him- would be a nice challenge.