"She'd never been so deep.


What little artificial luminescence filtered through to these dank, cramped sublevels seemed choked by a thick, perpetual blanket of shadow. It was a greedy darkness, not only hungering for every spare tendril of light, but also quite content in gnawing at the fabric of any uncertain or uncourageous mind that would wander through. She could no longer count the number of times her eyes had darted to one side or another, her breath caught in a silent panic time and time again, as she had glimpsed movement in the heavy blackness all around. A flicker of metal... a wisp of smoke too lifelike to ignore... The ambiguous line between reality and her anxious imagination was becoming more and more undistinguishable with every step she took. (...)

Her plain black running shoes squeaked here and there upon the metallic grille beneath as she trudged her way forward, desperate to escape from the shadows which seemed to follow no matter how fast she went. Cables dangled idly from above, barely restrained by the grated metal ceiling apparently designed to support them, and cracked every so often when the energy plants discharged a surplus from their even more unfathomable depths. More than once, she’d had to dodge a few rebellious wires as they had whipped to life from the coursing energy passing through them, barely missing her cloaked head.

All she wanted was to return to the surface… back to the safety of her apartment on the Main Terrestrial Level... where the light was as fake as the prosperous life it promoted, but where it was also bright enough to dispel these macabre illusions haunting her footsteps.
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This piece comes from the collective RPG my friends and I are part of. I have been working on this particular image forever, on and off... and though it's a lot less satisfying than what I wanted it to look like in my head, it's a lot better than I expected I could do. (Yay for discrepancies like that, eh?) Additionally, I'm extremely guarded about posting any kind of textual work... but because so many people wrote me to know where they could read about our rp, I thought I would answer by posting a small sample. Definately not the best of my writing ability mind you, but this is a scene I've been meaning to illustrate for a very long time. I'll also be submitting this to the comic book society at school, for the back cover.. hopefully they'll find it acceptable. They asked me for something dynamic... I hope this works. The girl is my character Calisto, just for your info.

Now about this piece... this is the first work I've ever done using mostly the computer. I created the background completely on photoshop, and I can assure you that I painstakingly made everything perspectively acurate. I had a whole layer just for my vanishing point, horizon line and guide lines, lol... It was a lot of work. The only problem is that I had drawn the figure beforehand, in markers, and she doesn't quite match the same perspective, though I did my best to make it mesh. The lighting's another story. It was a pain in the ass, and there are a lot of problems... *sigh* In short, it sucks, though I worked a long time on it. There are certain skills I just don't have yet... but I'm working on it. I look at it... and it looks so... unfinished... bleh. But at this point.. I've made too many formatting mistakes to add much else, unfortunately.

I hate coloring in photoshop, but it's something I gotta work on.. I admire those comic artists so much... unbelievable talent. Must get there someday! Anyway... I really really hope you guys like this... it's something I put a lot of work into., and though I already know there are a lot of mistakes, constructive criticism is always welcome.
^_^
(thanks for reading that brick, too lol)

p.s. I put this in fantasy because it had a more comic book style for me... but like.. I guess she's still technically anime.
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Figure: Prismacolor Markers
Background: Photoshop