HOME | DD

Description
Team Noble Nightingales
Rider: Damian Archer
Horse: TS Luminosa
Riding as an individual

I'm pretty sure this is the piece I worked the most on. 40 hours. Well at least I'm quite proud of it.
I actually made this without any brushes, at all, which was... quite an experience
ALSO this has so many details, I think the fountain alone already took a day to draw.

Damian stared at the group of people that had gathered around the starting list. Everyone was trying to take a peek at it after all. His curious face turned to horror as he looked through the list, he has to ride at the start. As one of the first riders he didn’t have the luxury of finding out where the hardest parts of the course were. But most importantly: his starting number just HAD to be 4, his unlucky number. Every time he had to ride under that number a wave of terror would rain over him. And as if on que, Petra called out for Damian. He turned around anxiously waiting for Petra to continue.
“Hey, um.. We might have a teeny tiny problem on our hands.. You see--” Petra trailed off awkwardly. After a little while she added ”Perhaps it’s better you see for yourself.”

Damian followed Petra, who was seemingly moving towards the stables. His mind was running through all the things that could possibly go wrong; perhaps Luminosa had gotten lame, or she’d gotten sick? Or perhaps the mare had escaped, and was running around the perimeter.

But when the pale mare came into view Damian almost burst out laughing. Almost. He looked at the grumpy mare, who was covered in poo stains. They’d have to give the mare, who was already in a bad mood a thorough wash before they could tack her up. They’d have approximately 45 minutes to get ready, which given this setback was going to prove quite the challenge.

When the mare was finally completely clean they only had 10 minutes before Damian had to go to the ring. When Damian got changed and was ready, Petra had already started warming the mare up, but was having quite a hard time keeping her under control. Much less getting her over some obstacles. He quickly walked into the warmup ring to take Luminosa away from her, praying she hadn’t irritated the mare too much.

But nothing was more true as they rode to the ring. The mare was basically snorting at anyone or anything that came too close to her. He silently cursed Petra for working his horse up this much.
Damian was just about to focus on what was happening before him when Petra spoke up.
“I want you to have this. It’s a lucky charm.” She said as she showed him the keychain with a small blue feather hanging from it. She attached it to the saddle before continuing “I know how you feel about your starting number, so I thought this might help you feel at least a little bit better about it.”
Damian huffed “You don’t really believe in those, right?”
“And what if I do?”
“Well, if you really believe in it.. Then perhaps it might help me a little bit.” He replied, trying to sound grateful.
Petra beamed, seemingly realising his way of saying ‘thank you’
They both watched as the previous rider rode the last few jumps before having to enter the ring themselves.

Damian circled the mare around a few times to calm her down.
When it was their time to start, Luminosa trotted around the arena feeling like a time bomb. One which was about to explode. She was dancing around and didn’t want to stand still for one more second.
Luckily enough the mare calmed down when they approached the first jump, happy to be moving again. They were able to cut some turns for some of the easier obstacles, though others were proving themselves to be quite tricky to get right.
Most things went according to plan, until they came to the fountain. Luminosa hated water, even more so when it was splashing so close to the obstacle. She was trying to go around the fountain, but Damian was able to turn her back just in time. They barely made it over the jump. Not that she didn’t jump high or far enough, they almost missed the jump, Luminosa decided she wanted nothing to do with the water and had jumped on the very edge, almost hitting the statue on the right.
Nonetheless, it felt like Petra’s charm was actually working. Perhaps he would get lucky. But just as they came to the last jump, Luminosa got distracted by something in the crowd and Damian hoped they would make it. He didn’t hear any poles falling to the ground, but he didn’t dare look back. They had at least made it through the course without disqualifying themselves. Surely that meant something, at least to him it did.

Word Count: 767

REFERENCES:
Everything was heavily referenced except for the fountain. I had to skeleton trace the figures on the fountain to get their poses right.
For the horse and rider:
fei-fan-production.s3.amazonaw…
Rider Position
www.hipicosantafe.com/wp-conte…

Gloriette
farm8.staticflickr.com/7228/27…
previews.123rf.com/images/luca…
Fountain
www.schoenbrunn.at/fileadmin/_…
sumfinity.com/wp-content/uploa…

I used a 3d model to get the perspective of the obstacle right
sta.sh/01znggodz62s

Team tack/apparel
www.deviantart.com/hclofficial…
www.deviantart.com/hclofficial…

Description
Team Noble Nightingales
Rider: Damian Archer
Horse: TS Luminosa
Riding as an individual

I'm pretty sure this is the piece I worked the most on. 40 hours. Well at least I'm quite proud of it.
I actually made this without any brushes, at all, which was... quite an experience
ALSO this has so many details, I think the fountain alone already took a day to draw.

Damian stared at the group of people that had gathered around the starting list. Everyone was trying to take a peek at it after all. His curious face turned to horror as he looked through the list, he has to ride at the start. As one of the first riders he didn’t have the luxury of finding out where the hardest parts of the course were. But most importantly: his starting number just HAD to be 4, his unlucky number. Every time he had to ride under that number a wave of terror would rain over him. And as if on que, Petra called out for Damian. He turned around anxiously waiting for Petra to continue.
“Hey, um.. We might have a teeny tiny problem on our hands.. You see--” Petra trailed off awkwardly. After a little while she added ”Perhaps it’s better you see for yourself.”

Damian followed Petra, who was seemingly moving towards the stables. His mind was running through all the things that could possibly go wrong; perhaps Luminosa had gotten lame, or she’d gotten sick? Or perhaps the mare had escaped, and was running around the perimeter.

But when the pale mare came into view Damian almost burst out laughing. Almost. He looked at the grumpy mare, who was covered in poo stains. They’d have to give the mare, who was already in a bad mood a thorough wash before they could tack her up. They’d have approximately 45 minutes to get ready, which given this setback was going to prove quite the challenge.

When the mare was finally completely clean they only had 10 minutes before Damian had to go to the ring. When Damian got changed and was ready, Petra had already started warming the mare up, but was having quite a hard time keeping her under control. Much less getting her over some obstacles. He quickly walked into the warmup ring to take Luminosa away from her, praying she hadn’t irritated the mare too much.

But nothing was more true as they rode to the ring. The mare was basically snorting at anyone or anything that came too close to her. He silently cursed Petra for working his horse up this much.
Damian was just about to focus on what was happening before him when Petra spoke up.
“I want you to have this. It’s a lucky charm.” She said as she showed him the keychain with a small blue feather hanging from it. She attached it to the saddle before continuing “I know how you feel about your starting number, so I thought this might help you feel at least a little bit better about it.”
Damian huffed “You don’t really believe in those, right?”
“And what if I do?”
“Well, if you really believe in it.. Then perhaps it might help me a little bit.” He replied, trying to sound grateful.
Petra beamed, seemingly realising his way of saying ‘thank you’
They both watched as the previous rider rode the last few jumps before having to enter the ring themselves.

Damian circled the mare around a few times to calm her down.
When it was their time to start, Luminosa trotted around the arena feeling like a time bomb. One which was about to explode. She was dancing around and didn’t want to stand still for one more second.
Luckily enough the mare calmed down when they approached the first jump, happy to be moving again. They were able to cut some turns for some of the easier obstacles, though others were proving themselves to be quite tricky to get right.
Most things went according to plan, until they came to the fountain. Luminosa hated water, even more so when it was splashing so close to the obstacle. She was trying to go around the fountain, but Damian was able to turn her back just in time. They barely made it over the jump. Not that she didn’t jump high or far enough, they almost missed the jump, Luminosa decided she wanted nothing to do with the water and had jumped on the very edge, almost hitting the statue on the right.
Nonetheless, it felt like Petra’s charm was actually working. Perhaps he would get lucky. But just as they came to the last jump, Luminosa got distracted by something in the crowd and Damian hoped they would make it. He didn’t hear any poles falling to the ground, but he didn’t dare look back. They had at least made it through the course without disqualifying themselves. Surely that meant something, at least to him it did.

Word Count: 767

REFERENCES:
Everything was heavily referenced except for the fountain. I had to skeleton trace the figures on the fountain to get their poses right.
For the horse and rider:
fei-fan-production.s3.amazonaw…
Rider Position
www.hipicosantafe.com/wp-conte…

Gloriette
farm8.staticflickr.com/7228/27…
previews.123rf.com/images/luca…
Fountain
www.schoenbrunn.at/fileadmin/_…
sumfinity.com/wp-content/uploa…

I used a 3d model to get the perspective of the obstacle right
sta.sh/01znggodz62s

Team tack/apparel
www.deviantart.com/hclofficial…
www.deviantart.com/hclofficial…