Caius Ballad [COMPLETE]

I'm planning on redrawing this, so any critiquing will be taken seriously. Thank you.

Edit: good heavens, I saw SOMETHING ELSE WRONG WITH THIS so I had to fix it. This is the fourth revision.

Wishing for comments... If you like this, please drop a comment. Possibly even tell me how I've improved... or not improved...? You can see the full process in this image here: ------->[link]

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The original, un-shaded version has been moved to my Scrapbook. This new version is such a vast improvement over the last two that I decided to just upload it and move the other to Scraps. I apologize for the apparent spam of this artwork.



That's it, I am SO DONE with this drawing. The original un-shaded version can be found here: ---->[link]

I added shading, changed his outfit, lengthened his hair a bit, adjusted his headband/scarf, straightened his... what is that, a bead ornament? hanging off his headband, and polished up his torso a bit. I left his eyeballs un-shaded, though, because it kind of makes them stand out a little bit better. Normally I shade them, but I made a conscious decision not to here. I realize the piece is a bit dark, but too much more levels adjustment and it started getting too high-contrast, so I just left it like it is.

Pulse lettering translation: Caius of the Jenhi clan, from (the city of Paddra) [couldn't fit it all] and Slayer of (the faeryl) [couldn't fit it either].

No jabs on my style, please. I use heavy lines with a vaguely manga/cartoon/comic-book style and have done so for many years. Trying to change to a more realistic style has never worked out for me, so, instead, I evolve.

This is how Caius appears in the story Divisions of Time, which is why his outfit, hair, and headband all look different, and he looks a bit younger too (because he is).

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Drawn on 14" x 17" paper with a no. 2 mechanical pencil. Shaded with a paper stump. Highlights picked out with a kneaded rubber eraser. Cleanup done in Photoshop CS2.

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Caius Ballad and all related entities belong to Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. Divisions of Time and all original entities belong to me.