81 - More Than A Guardian

100 Theme Challenge #81 - "Protection"

...And, glancing up to Koto’s face, the threat was very much the same and didn’t need words to be expressed. Although the red panda captain was weak and fading, the message in his cobalt eyes was as clear as day.

Hands off the boy or you’re a dead man.

Whoa, angst art from me? This is new...

Something I did fairly quick and in one sit-down - I know the postures are off and such, but I was doing sketches for possible cover art of "The First Step" when I conjured this up. I wanted to show what kind of shape Koto was in at this particular point of the story. I'm so mean to my characters.

And you'll notice that I gave Koto a slight trim. I took away his "sideburns" (so to speak) in order to make him look slightly younger. And I personally loved working on his facial expression. Also notice that he is sporting Kuai's fatal bite mark.

Please comment!