Thank god you're making some new ones @_@ I'll love you forever when these are done. XD

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you KNOW you're talented when you can post an *UNSHADED, SINGLE POSITION!!* of an avatar and STILL make peoples eyes orgasm!

shading - keep it in a comfortable middle. i see more dark-coloured wolves than light-coloured ones, so maybe leaning towards favouring darker colours. as for the actual shading, try to shade the way the swiftkill avatars are shaded. the reason being is that many people will frankendoll the avatar and graft the typical wings used on current wolves onto the avatar, as wall as horns, tails, etc. it would be best if the shading didn't conflict with these accessories, because then it would look like crap and reflect negatively on the avatar. D:

as for markings, belly markings (obviously), back marks, maybe nape markings (some wolves have patches on the neck) and tail. paws are good as well. keep it simple, but still leave room for variety, perhaps more so than other avatars but still not enough to interfere with designs. also try to keep the remap scheme the same as other wolf avatars (example being boots = paws, vest = back, markings = belly, etc etc etc) since many people have their character design and colours set to match the remaps of the avatar and a different remap set would screw their design over if they ever wanted to rp with said wolf patch.

and mutations! i STRONGLY suggest making a custom wing avatar for this. if you do, then it'll lessen the likelihood of having current wings grafted on (as stated during my shading recommendations). given that this avatar is a different size than others, it would be a good idea to make the wings yourself to lessen the visual pain of others lame attempts to try and beautify! an avatar with reptilian features isn't necessary. maybe do a hellhound avatar (batwings, spikes, etc.) at the MOST. if you allow custom edits then i will rape this and make it into a half-mermaid thing as a custom av for one of my characters.

ahem. ANATOMY! the legs are seriously the best legs on any wolf i've ever seen. the snout bothers me though. it seems to dip and curve up again (if you examine the pixels it doesn't really, it's an illusion caused by the sheer length of the snout and the sudden veer upwards at the end). it also seems narrow for its length. i'd recommend making it SLIGHTLY shorter and SLIGHTLY stockier. remember, wolves don't look thin and streamlined, they appear rather stocky and bulky. for the same reason i'd recommend shortening the body just a tad. the tail resembles a horse's tail slightly in the way that it's shaped like a little ~ wave (fuck if i remember what they're called lol). the way it curves up, down, up again. this isn't so much a big deal if the tail moved side to side with each step. perhaps because i'm only seeing one position, but the tail doesn't look very natural right now.

i really, REALLY recommend you animate! and make sure to make pups! it would look so amazing!

and this ends my lengthy criticism-orgy, because i am such a geek, and you are so awesome that i don't even have a right to criticize you because seriously, even the way it is now it rocks like 1991922983838939484% more than other avatars. D: rock on girlfrayund.

Well I knoow you only really asked for shading and coloring tips but the pixel in me feels the need to point out that the alignment is a tiny little bit off. But, that seems to happen with lots of avatars and I'm guilty of doing that too ><

I don't really like the lack of shading on swiftkills wolves. The actual shaded ones were shaded by Mortain and can be semi irritating to pull of a shading style that matches hers.

Shading really just depends on what you want it to look like and what you want to use it with. Using nicely shaded things with unshaded things makes it look out of place no matter how beautiful it is. Rather like using clip art snagged from other games in furcadia really doesn't fit when mixing and matching with default items and custom patches.

I like shading my avatars so they look good with both lights and darks. But if you feel up to it then there's no reason you can't have all three to please those who want to favor the darker shades or the lighter shades but I have to admit I hate shading things to look nice with black or white.

As for markings it's always nice to have a variety to choose from and perhaps mimicking the markings that swiftkill put on her wolves would appeal to the players who have characters designed using those specific remapping colors. I'm not against unique and new designs tho! Nice realistic designs are always welcome in dreams that are trying to stray away from the guidelines that everyone seems to follow these days.

Mutations are lovely if you want to spend that much time on them! Wings are always a plus. If you feel very creative and very bored doing a set of the avatars for each wing variation in furcadia is quite a project - granted it is time consuming.

oh wow biiiiig comment <3!

psshhh you have every right to crit me. your art is fukken awesome.
and also all of your criticisms are constructive and spookily accurate o_o

i will take all this into consideration when i get started on this! amzngly i finished my art project at school today so i gots sum free times for maybe the next 1 - 4 weeks until my unit 3 exam

and yeah, by shading, do you mean mortain's or swiftkill's original, or the swiftkill dires/timbers? SOMUCHSHADINGS!!

thank you for that, it was mooost helpful<3

i know the alignment's off. im an iso-rebel ! fight the power! break out of that viewpoint!

i was thinking of shading it using dithering. its quick and i know an oekaki i can use to upload it as a PNG and dither it using a tool.

i might include lighter and darker versions although it's easy to do this yourself, if you know how(like keeping the same marking pattern but adjusting the shading)

also, thanks for all your suggestions! i'm hoping to create an original set of my own wings(bats, tris, classic/primes) so people can just stick them on other things too.

thanks! <3
i'll hurry ups with them :>!

odamn.
i think i might force myself to make a dream
just so i can have this sexy av.

Make a hell hound version! xD

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I pity you. You just don't get it at alll. . . . . . . There's not a thing I don't cherish.

-drools-
I wanna use it so bbbaadd.
<3.
Oober SEXI!

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