JohnSu on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/johnsu/art/Western-Brave-119313170JohnSu

Deviation Actions

JohnSu's avatar

Western Brave

By
Published:
105.6K Views

Description

This is Lawrence Brecker, an officer / sign painter (he does not get paid well) for a mid-sized town somewhere in the uh, west. He lives in his office at his station, with his bed situated just above his desk. His mom makes fun of him, but he is grateful that she still sends him food even though he is 30.

The thing he is holding in this picture is his Horse. It has zero horsepower. Its main function is to reduce travel friction by floating off the ground while the driver and passengers push along with their legs. So yes, it is essentially a hoverboard in the form of a stick horse. It hovers passively by some sort of magical imagination, and originally belonged to a friend who used to cart ice cream around town with it. In order to attract customers, the horse head plays musical tunes while it moves.

This makes law enforcement a little awkward.



I had not drawn a dude for a while, and I had not drawn a Western pic for even longer (my memory tell me it has been approximately never), so Lawrence here meets both quotas. Designing him was kind of fun, and at the same time a challenge.

I struggled a bit with his hair. Originally his bangs were longer, but I felt it was a bit too...cheap. I said to myself, "Don't be such a thoughtless artist, relying on some sort of formula that says Long Hair = Cool." So I cut his bangs a little shorter and gave him a ponytail. Oh I am genus.

His poncho combines with his sideburns to make him moar manly. Also, it is inspired by a little girl's poncho.

He also has no hat. My brother says that kind of defeats the whole purpose of a Western, and I guess he's kind of right. But I don't like how a hat looks on him, so I am going to say that all he can find are lady hats.

Made in Flash

EDIT: I'm going to answer a couple of the more frequently asked questions here:

1) Why not put a hat on a string around his neck?
- I'm not going to give him a hat if I don't like how it'll look on him, even if he's not wearing it at the moment.

2) Why does he have spurs on his gloves?
- So he can put his elbows on the ground and use them like tiny wheels.

3) I like his zipper
- That is his officer's tag. And his shirt uses Velcro.

4) What are those things in the background?
- Those are ice cream base stations. Ice cream is pivotal to the West's economy.
- Or they might be clouds, depending on what you're talking about.
Image size
1280x800px 475.69 KB
© 2009 - 2024 JohnSu
Comments602
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
HaipaYazoo's avatar
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Overall
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Vision
:star::star::star::star::star: Originality
:star::star::star::star::star: Technique
:star::star::star::star-half::star-empty: Impact

This is simply marvelous. From design to shading to lighting effects. This is quite the eye-catcher indeed. The folds are great and even his pose is great as well. The only thing I have some concern is the background. To me, it seems sort of bland. It just seems so plain to me. Not only that, but (This could very well just be me.) it doesn't seem to fit well with the character. The way they were both drawn isn't very suiting to one another. Don't get me wrong, it looks fantastic, however I think it could have been a little better.

I don't think there was ever a time when you weren't original. Still, I think cowboys on hovering steeds might have already been taken, but this drawing still managed to surprise us all as usual. Even though this is astonishing to see something like this even in your gallery of all people I honestly don't think it had that great of an impact, but seeing this in my inbox was just breath-taking enough to give you this score.

Overall, it's another job well done. Simply superb even though the background still bugs me, but that seems to be more of an opinion than anything else really. The cowboy looks excellent in both design and effects and that goes the same for his trusty steed. Just looking at the saddle on a high-tech horse is just genius enough (with a little exaggeration, but still...). The shine on his steed and his gun is well made.

Very nice! I look forward to what we'll see next.