The subject is awesome, but I think I'm impressed most by the mountainous background and snowdrift. XD Nonetheless, this is serious talent.

--
PORK CHOP SANDWICHES.

I'm starting to put more work in backgrounds. They're fun to do if you put the time into it.

--
English doesn't borrow from other languages; English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and sifts through their pockets for loose grammar.
-James Nicoll

I am the butter on the toast of lies!

Yeah, up until recently I incorporated little or no background in my art.

--
PORK CHOP SANDWICHES.

I love he snow effects!

*Fuzzy feathers* =3

Wow. That's just amazing, Mera. I really, really, really love the snow. The flurries, the sky -- and those hills. Even THEY are detailed. Just amazing. I love the rownell (did I spell that right?) and their master, I think it is.

--
List of doom!

... *insert some witty quote here!*

I love moody weather pieces, this is so gorgeous. The markings on the Rownell are so well placed- especially on the wings- (and I love the concept of climate variations giving the species a different look) and that SNOW is so cool. How did you manage that effect? It's totally convincing.

someone asked me the same question on a forum. Here's exactly what I said as I'm lazy tonight and don't want to re-type all that.

"heh, I have NEVER made snow before, so I learned a lot mostly by using reference. in order to create the snow, I got a small circle brush set on white dodge *dodge so it would show past some of the other white areas, I never will suggest to overuse this brush, use non-dodge and non-burn things if you can*

and then on a separate layer I just made a bunch of dots.... in fact, I was lazy, I just made a bunch of dots in a square, and then went copy, paste, paste, paste, paste... until the entire layer was covered up. *as I was using Photoshop I had to merge all the snow layers as I did this*

and then I had a ton of un-snow looking dots all through my page at random spots. I'm using Photoshop by the way, and I go to
filters -> blur -> motion blur.
you can choose your angle and the distance of the blur here. I put the angle around -50 for the sideways slant *with wind there should be a slant* and then distance at a whopping 2 pixels. I clicked okay, and then it gave me snow!

That wasn't all I did though, I also put a wind effect in. This wind effect, however, is optional.
on a new layer above all the others, I took a circle brush [white, dodge optional, but I would suggest against it], on a low opacity and flow, and I drew it in waves that went with the wind. I curled each of them up towards the end, but that is my own style being put into it. Basically, I went over the wind again and again and again. until it was the way I wanted it. Just make sure that you don't make too many wind swirls, and also, don't make them too hard. you -want- them to be wispy. "

--
English doesn't borrow from other languages; English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and sifts through their pockets for loose grammar.
-James Nicoll

I am the butter on the toast of lies!

Cleeeever! Thank you so much! That's such a neat trick to know.

you're welcome. It's a trick I picked up awhiel back for how to make quick rain, so I just tried it out in a different way and got snow.

--
English doesn't borrow from other languages; English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and sifts through their pockets for loose grammar.
-James Nicoll

I am the butter on the toast of lies!

absolutly wonerful

IluvsnowIluuuuvesnow ,especialy snowwy senes xD