Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

So, here is my first big project in... well - forever!  I started work on this one about a month ago.  All of the wolves were drawn and colored individually.  Everything else was generated in PhotoShop Elelments Editor.  I had over 100 individual layers in all.  Pulled an all-nighter last night to finish this.

I wanted to do another Christmas Card with puppy!Shadow, but I had no clue what I wanted the scene to look like.  While I was listening to my Christmas playlist, The Best Christmas of All from Disney's Snowed In at the House of Mouse started playing.  It brought to mind all of the holiday themed stories I had written over the years featuring my favorite characters, so I decided to surround Shadow with the wolf versions of all of my childhood heroes who have had the greatest impact on my imagination.

(From left to right)

We have the painting of Benedict Arnold hanging over the fireplace.  It was a little cluttered after I had my cast figured out, but I wanted to include him somehow. 

Next we have Sherlock Holmes, who is perfectly content to just lay in front of the fire, watching the festivities as he puffs on his pipe.

On the grand piano is Erik, the Phantom of the Opera.  Who better to provide the festive music? I dreaded this part of the project the most, simply because I can't draw music instruments to save my life, let alone someone playing them.  It turned out ok and I'm pleased.

The wolf sniffing through the box of decorations is Captain Barbossa.  His was the hardest design to do.  I wanted to have him wearing his hat, but it became to much of a pain in the butt, so I settled for just his scar and earring.  (Yes I realize that they are on the wrong side.  After I drew and scanned it, I remembered that he needed to be facing the other way )

Our final wolf is Capitan Monastario from Walt Disney's Zorro.  He was the first character to have a major impact on me as a kid and the first to really incite my imagination enough to begin writing fanfiction and stories in general.  Though he was only in the first 13 episodes of the series, Britt Lomond's performance was so masterful that, even years later, I still come back to the character of Monastario for inspiration.  For this reason, I decided to have Monastario be the one to help little Shadow put the star up on the tree.  Drawing these two was my favorite part of the whole project

Best Wishes for a safe and joyous holiday season!  Bless you all.

- Shadow

Capitan Monastario and Captain Barbossa are property of Walt Disney Studios

The Phantom of the Opera was created by Gaston Leroux and is now in the public domain

Sherlock Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and is now in the public domain

Benedict Arnold belongs to himself and to history

Shadow created by Shadow-of-the-Wolf

Character designs and artwork belong to Shadow-of-the-Wolf