(click for (much) bigger DA version)

Grandfather wolf passes by

During the deepest of winter, and particularly the night of Christmas eve, it was well known that all sorts of things walked the night, drawn to the light of human settlements. The great dire-wolves were one of those things. In the norse mythology, the wolf Fenrir was destined to one day slay Odin himself as his pups ate the sun and the moon. The notion of great wolves remained in folk tales ever after. So if you knew grandfather wolf was prowling the land, it could be a good idea to keep him satisfied by leaving him a Christmas present.

My Christmas card for 2020, the latest in more than a decade of yearly cards at this point. Painted in Krita. Feedback is appreciated as always! I will also try to release a timelapse video of the creation process soonish.

EDIT: The timelapse is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsSWy8gEu6I

Merry Christmas!
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Griatch

Excellent creation, Griatch ! (BTW, DA version is even more mytical!).
Because I know you like comments, here my little penny_
- personally I would have added little thin strokes of warm light coming from the house in the area inside the red borders, both in the big tree and in the border of the wolf

Merry Christmas, Griatch!

That looks amazing! Merry Christmas to you as well.

That's a good idea - I have now updated the image with some (pretty subtle) hints of light on the fern and on the 'edge' of the wolf. Thanks for the feedback!


Thanks!

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Griatch

Wonderful as usual. Love your stories that go with your paintings. Scary though they may be - sometimes.
Like the subtle bits of lighting in it too You must have updated just before I saw it at DA.

Excellent, Griatch; always look forward to your Holiday renders. Just hope this wolf don't blow the house down.

Thanks! Well, there was plenty of light in this already, but dinasset suggested some more


Yeah, hopefully he's only interested in that bone. Thanks for the comment!
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Griatch

Thanks a lot, Griatch. Your creations are always awesome. One always enjoys seeing each detail in them. Congrats!

Thanks, glad to hear that. Merry Christmas!
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Griatch

I agree, and offset the wolf to be either slightly darker than the background to give the image more contrast, or a slightly warmer color (the lights from the house and poles, for example).

Great painting and story Griatch .

Thanks for sharing and hope you have a wonder Christmas .

Thanks for the feedback! I already applied some warmer colors after @dinasset's original feedback. Do you think even more colour/light would be needed? I don't want the wolf to stand out too much either.


Same to you I always try to put some sort of story together with my images, that's an important part (for me) to sort of 'get' the image I'm doing.
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Griatch

Since there is no moon in the sky, it’s hard to suggest a deep contrast. Not sure why I failed to see the large bone with the bow, on the bridge.

That's interesting! Without noticing that, I imagine the image does take on a very different meaning
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Griatch

My first thought was: that was one big chicken/cow/pig/Turkey...

Fantastic painting Griatch I like the way it takes awhile to see exactly what's happening, I saw the bone straightaway but at first the rear parts of the wolf seemed to be hills. Time to panic when the hills move nearer!

Another fantastic job Griatch. Now I can be assured that Christmas is near

Glad you like it, it's a bit of a balance to find between the clarity and 'mystique' of the image. That is indeed one big wolf ...


Thanks! This tradition has been going on for a good while now.
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Griatch