FFI - Gift for Red Leader

Finally, I finished this picture! I made a bet with that you could get doubles and lasers at the same time in Gradius III (I really thought you could, darn it!). Because I lost, I promised that I would finish this gift for him next before any other picture. Which I did, except for a day of doodling with and Amy.

requested a mermaid from Final Fantasy I, the original on the NES. Now, if you've played FFI, you know that the mermaids are topless. And Red prefers topless mermaids. So, alas, I drew him one. With no nipples, and hair covering where the visible one would be, bwahaha!

This pic was the bane of my existance because it was a full-page drawing in my sketchbook, and I scanned it at 300 dpi. The scanner skipped a bit and moved the drawing over a few pixels every so often, and I had to correct it. And then, Photoshop 5 (and my beloved airbrush) is only on my 4 GB still-running-on-Windows-95, and more than once was there not enough RAM to use certain tools. Remind me never again to work on a picture this big! -_- I forgot. Plus I sent it via ICQ between Red's and my computer, because HE has the tablet!

Now, Red told me that the mermaids live in the Water Shrine (I've never played any version of FFI!), and it looks sort of like the Acropolis or basically Greek ruins. So I drew an underwater palace with a pillar.

Deep underwater, it's incredibly dark, so I put underwater lights on the walls. I wanted the mermaid to be sort of visible, too, so I put a light in front of her, too. Imagine that you have the viewpoint of the Light Warriors as they surprise her with their light! Yeah! I hope all the lighting and shadows seem natural in this environment.

I actually had a lot of fun with her tail. I looked at the game sprite for reference, and her tail starts pink, then is spotted pink and red, and the rest of it is red. I patterned it while I was coloring, and I think it looks good! Unfortunately, you can't see it as well with the lighting effects.

Anyways, hope you like it, !