Happy holidays, Ritona Raito!! Don't know you exactly but I've seen you around TheO a lot, so I guess I know you a bit :D Hope you like your gift!

Oh, and I recommend you view the 1920 x 1200 version, as usual.

...'cause I'm pooped. Seriously, all the creativity I had left is gone, and I don't think I'll be able to churn out anything else this year D: But hey, I hope this one's worth it. Here's the creative process:
- [a week before the deadline] "Meh, there's still time."
- [3 days before the deadline] "Meh, there's still time."
- [2 days before the deadline] "****, there's no time!" *panics* I look for a scan. I don't have the slightest clue what to make. I find an old, abandoned, almost-complete vector of a Kunie Kanbara girl.
- I finish said vector, slap it onto a white background and stare at it blankly for a few minutes.
- I think of adding smoke. I hunt down CLAMP scans because they've got lotsa smoke in 'em.
- I start vectoring the smoke, which makes me feel happy since I feel like I'm going somewhere, even though I still have no clue what to do next.
- I finish vectoring the smoke and go crazy (to put it lightly) with effects. This finished version is nothing like what I started out with.

The short story behind this (when I thought about it for a bit while trying to explain the clusterfudge): Winter is coming and replacing autumn. Hence the lighting in the lower left corner. And the snowflakes. And her breath. Yes, that's her breath.

After finishing the first version, I thought about adding some shading to the girl. At first I was in doubt about this, since Kunie's style is clean, with no shading. The biggest pain was making the girl blend in with the background; every time I tried gradients for shading, I failed.

I still feel like something's off with the smoke, but I can't quite place my finger on it. And if you suggest I paint it, I'll refuse, since I barely managed to make the breath - and even that turned out iffy.

The scan for the girl. Notice the lack of clothes in my version.
Snowflake vectors from here. Because no way in hell I'd vector snowflakes. Unless I was terribly bored and lacking a productive activity (not gonna happen anytime soon).
CLAMP smoke scans: here and here.
Vector of the girl will be available soon. I think.

P.S. I'm still not sure about submitting this over at MT and AP, since I'm 85% sure it'd be rejected D: I don't really care about the loss of papers, but self esteem is irreplaceable D: What do you think, should I risk it?

I'm now gonna retire and bury myself in yaoi goodnesstexts that I have to read for exams *whines* Thank you for viewing/faving/downloading/thumbing up!