Okay, so Here's my entry for Ryujin Kissaten's OC formal contest.

unfortunately this one didn't come out quite as I had hoped, started nice...but I dunno, it just sort of died a little as I progressed, can't exactly figure out why, just disappointed.

but enough griping - on with the description - these are two of my many original characters, Lance and Nadia - as with many of my OCs, Lance began as a design for a story concept years back, but that fell through, yet I couldn't get him out of my head, so he stuck around, and somehow evolved a personality all his own without a story to exist in, and he's one of my most beloved creations I've made. Nadia is a newer design that I came up with almost as an offshoot from Lance, after basically reviving him after a long time, I decided I wanted to make him a "female counterpart" so to speak - i.e. a potential "love interest" and out came Nadia, who quickly took on her own personality as well. and when I saw this contest, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to show them off, whether I win anything or not.

As you'll see, I decided to go for an antiqued style in the costumes, a bit Victorian-ish, I enjoy doing those costumes much better than modern designs, don't know, I just find them so much more charming. I like how Nadia's dress came out, with the lace and off-the-shoulder sleeves, which I designed off the top of my head. while lance's outfit is meant to be reminiscent of old European military uniforms, which I've always thought quite dashing ^^, as far as his Half-cape, no, I'm not hiding that I can't raw his arm or anything...I just wanted to draw one, cause I'm obsessed with fabric folds. lol

as far as their expressions, I know they are to be serious, but I didn't want them to be stiff, it's against their personalities, so my interpretation (hopefully it's not in violation) of "serious", here, is synonymous with "Composed" or "polite calmness"- and especially in the situation they are supposedly in here - as the name suggests, a formal, but recreational party, a festive, jubilant celebration - so hence they needed - well, at least Nadia - to look like they were happy to be there - Lance on the other hand, if he looks apprehensive or less-than-happy, is communicating just what he should be - see, I've never put him in a situation like this, and thinking of his personality, He'd likely be horribly nervous, having never been put in the roll of a "lady's escort" to a formal occasion like the one implied here. so needless to say, he's a little preoccupied with whether or not he's doing things properly and not looking stupid or, worse, making his "date" look bad. He's actually a VERY modest character, (sometimes almost painfully so) so he realistically wouldn't be used to dressing to the nines like this, and as far as seeing the prospect of things like dancing, he would never even dream of ever getting so far into a girl's personal space in such a way, the thought would likely turn him a but red - He's TOTALLY out of his comfort zone, but is trying his best to make a good impression...Nadia knows this, and I tried to express that in her expression, she's supposed to be somewhat reassuring at the moment, but also unable to keep from laughing at least on the inside at how nervous he is over something like this - on a background note, Lance is an incredibly powerful fighting force, he's face terrible situations without turning a hair, and yet gets butterflies at the prospect of attending a festive afternoon Soiree.

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now for the technicalities -

Original image dimensions: approx. 9"x 7 1/2"
Estimated time: maybe 7-8 hours give or take stretched over about five days or so.
Medium: sketched in 4H graphite, inked with a 005mm Pigma micron, colored with prismacolor colored pencils.

Thank you for enduring my laboriously long description, and I hope you enjoy it.

If anyone viewing this wishes to use or rather, re-use this picture in anyway, please, read the policy at this link first - http://theotaku.com/worlds/bleachaddictsblog/view/74813/original_work_re-use%7Cre-posting_policy/