This is awesome. I love the shading, especially on the background. I really can't find a single thing wrong with it.

good stuff, didn't know their tails were so flexible the background is good. My only criticisms (go easy on me replying because I have yet to learn how to properly critique) are:
It's probably just me but the azura's left side (especially the ear) looks a bit big, you got the structure of the pose right (btw, good pose) but with that pose your character is angled back, so the side of him that is not 'forward' ie his left side....could be slightly smaller than his right, foreshortening and such.
Also, more of a question than a criticism: how much fur do the azura have on them? I'm not trying to tell you how to draw your own creation, but depending on the amount of fur, muscle groups (such as the ones on the arm, neck, and abdominal muscles) would tend to have a mane-like set of hair (neck) or 'thick patch' of fur rather than show the actual muscle under the skin (as with humans).

meh, well that's me trying to be a critic, you can see why I don't do it because I suck so much at it.

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What?

I don't actually think a rat's tail is able to hold stuff, it more or less just sits there, but this is not quite a normal rat though so I'm entitled to some neat little extras
I was thinking the prehensible tail would be like a genetic thing present in about half the population of Azura's species... that's if I ever get the time/inspiration/sugar-high to write about him.

Thanks for the crit, believe me you're a lot better at it than you think. (this isn't about the "Tyler's smart" thing so don't mention it or I'll punch Alistair at school )
I've been experimenting with a healthy medium size for Azura's eaars. Back when I first made him, I had no idea, so they looked like dog/cat ears. [link] The left one's angled away from the viewpoint so maybe I over compensated for it or something, I'm kinda seeing what you mean though...
I've never really been that good with foreshortening (you should see some of my doodles, iiurgh), thanks for pointing it out though, I'll make sure I work on that in future.

Azura's fur is rather short all over, I'm not that settled but it wouldn't be much longer than an inch or two. I'd have it longer at the back of the neck and shoulders but most of that's under his armour so you can't see it. Again I've thought over this a lot and done woefully few drawing experiments with it. Maybe I can have long and short, like giving him a summer/winter coat or something (Oh the things that can be learnt from cats!). I'll talk to you at school, and if we're in the same class you could give me some help with it.

Well... long reply lol
Thanks an awful lot for the Crit, whether you think so or not, this is exactly the sort of stuff I'm after. I'll have to like... I dunno... buy you one of those whittaker bars that you usually get at the canteen or something...

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Brought to you by the Idiot Inquisition "What can we say, we just fucking hate them"

DA says this would-be critic isn't rich enough to be allowed to write proper critique... but I do it anyway.

Woo! Thanks!
Guess that means I'm doing something right!

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Brought to you by the Idiot Inquisition "What can we say, we just fucking hate them"

DA says this would-be critic isn't rich enough to be allowed to write proper critique... but I do it anyway.

No problem!

ah the good old "or I'll <insert method of injury> Alistair" threat. I'm quite a fan of your drawings though, and yeah, any time you want to just sit around, drink caffeine-ated drinks, and theorise about the mechanics and details of fictitious things I'm there. Or any time you want to play cards. But yeah, the idea of a winter/summer coat makes sense and sounds good.
I have to say I like your Azura armour, but it would also be interesting to see different formats of armour or clothing, or a few 'classes' of Azura in the future, maybe some priests or really huge steroid Azura Berserkers in heavy armour. Although I suppose Azura are more likely to ally with/enslave/domesticate other races/animals respectively to cover such classes.

Thanks for the link to the concept pic (I assume it's the concept pic). I love sketches and the like with footnotes and annotations (and you'll see quite a few on my drawings if you look very closely, or rather you'll see where I edited them out in paint, full view 'Sonorious' and you'll see what I mean, I had so many annotations on that picture that they more or less filled up most of the whitespace in the pic.

Just looking at the concept pic, I'd say your original idea of tribal tattoos or some sort of clan symbol is definitely a cool idea that you should/could incorporate a bit more into future azura (plural Azura? Azurae? Azuras? Azurii? (pronounced Azuree) Azuri (pronounced Azu-rie, personally I think this sounds a bit cooler than the others, problem is it also sounds like another race entirely)?


As I may have said before, when/if you ever do start writing on them, I'll be among the first in line to read/offer literary criticism.

How did your NCEA E subjekt examz goe?

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What?

Firstly whoa... seriously go have a look at the size of these comments! xD You probably scared everyone else away!
No worries, long comments are great!

Ah... I think you might have misinterpretted something though, Azura is a single character, not a race. The race itself is heavily based off the Nezumi from MTG but I want to deviate as far as possible from the Kamigawa storyline and make them something completely different. But I still like the idea of doing one or two other characters of the same species.
_{If you 'because I'm stupid' me on this point I won't be impressed, let's have rational conversation plzthanks.}

I see a lot of "character sheets" about for characters and that pic was my completely ignorant of how to do one attempt at one. Turned out my best coloured drawing of him as well.

The tribal thing was an idea I was playing with. I'd imagined Azura's species to be a tribal, almost feudal sort of race, the likes where the current lord is the one who murdered the last lord who killed his predecessor etc. I did a a basic sketch of Azura without the majority of his armour, but I didn't try any designs for the tatoos (something I think looks infinitely better on characters than RL people). I might do another sheet thing with and without the armour...

The whole sit around drink caffeine and discuss stuff sounds like a damn good plan, especially with some mtg on the side. We should arrange something sometime...

I'll tell you about E subject at school, this comment doesn't have room for all the expletives.

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Brought to you by the Idiot Inquisition "What can we say, we just fucking hate them"

DA says this would-be critic isn't rich enough to be allowed to write proper critique... but I do it anyway.

not a very inspiering picutre? well not every picture has be about action-poses and backflip-bushido-tricks, I think this looks great! your shading tecknicues is as detailed as ever, perhaps even more this time now that you've added a very nice looking background.. I like how the tree behind him looks old and dried up as if it's counting it's last hours.. and the way you've only shaded the tops of the trees longer behind is a really neat effect making it look like there is a fog consieling them...
you could have perhaps shaded the ground/grass abit futher behind into the background since it seems to just dissapear right behind him.. but over all this is a GREAT leap into drawing backgrounds for you!

As much as I love seeing more drawings of Azura in his cool combat gear, it would allso be fun to see a picture of him in his sneaking gear too^^ (like the one you once draw a picture of)

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Feeling rebellious? or just like drawing revolutionary themed drawings? then join the Part Time Revolutionary! ~PT-Revolutionary

I will just give some normal comments since I can't think of any advanced critiques.
summing up---it's good. I like the robotistic tree and the shade.