Ashfur of the Opera

This is for the Halloween contest at . The theme was "dark love", for which you could depict anything from characters dressing up and trick-or-treating to (literally) tearing each other's hearts out. I decided to go the less violent route, and once I came up with this, I simply couldn't say no to it. It's Ashfur as the Phantom of the Opera, leading Squirrelflight away to his lair and forcing her to leave her true love, Brambleclaw, behind.

The picture should make sense to anyone familiar with Phantom, but for those who aren't, well, that's pretty much exactly how it is. Basically, the Phantom is in love with Christine (Squirrelflight), but Christine is in love with Raoul (Brambleclaw). Early on in the show, after Christine and Raoul are reunited for the first time since their childhood, the Phantom abducts Christine and brings her down to his lair, which is full of candles and dramatic fog (thus the fog rolling in around Ashfur and Squirrelflight's paws). And meanwhile, poor Raoul is left behind, cluelessly scratching his head and wondering where Christine has gone. Spoiler alert: the Phantom becomes insanely jealous of Raoul and, determined to win Christine's love, ends up killing several people before threatening to kill Raoul as an attempt to force Christine into an ultimatum so that she'll spend the rest of her days with him. But, of course, by the end of the show, Christine and Raoul end up together anyway, leaving the Phantom heartbroken.

Seems like something Ashfur would do, doesn't it? I suppose this is bending the rules of the contest just a tiny bit, but those who know Phantom will understand -- that show is dark love at its finest.

Wowwie. This is something I rarely say, but I'm proud of this thing. I experimented with a bunch of new things, especially with the lineart, and I think it all worked! Fitting the Phantom mask on Ashfur's face was a bit difficult, but I love how it turned out! I was originally going to put a cape on him too, but I decided that he looked better without one. And yes, I know that cats move both legs on one side of their body at a time when they walk -- but that's just so darned weird to draw. Overall, the time and effort I spent on this piece definitely paid off!

Tree brushes (for the tree silhouettes in the background): [link]
Cloud brushes (which I used for the fog): [link]