Edit: NO idea why the picture flipped. The app won't let me update, and I'm too tired to fight with it right now. I'll fix it later.

First complete drawing after a double hit from COVID knocked me down last year. I don’t super love it, but I don't hate it, either, which is an improvement for me. I like it at least well enough for a first post.

Mike is a huge pain to draw ... so I'm glad I finally have at least one drawing from the past 5yrs that I can refer to. He has prominent features with proportions that are elongated or exaggerated, and he's really bony. Meaning: after all this time of not drawing people as much as I used to, I need to learn to draw them again.

The headband is mostly drawn from a creature cultural motif I came up with, with a subtle Navaho influence, which fits the character's familial background. The feathers are all _Ryozae_ (my dino aliens), and they're all from people he knows or has chosen to honor for personal reasons.

Mike's also an ass, and will do stuff like this at least in part because he knows it will disrupt the masses. (He goes by his surname "Blackwood" throughout the series, only officially picking up Lushonra near the end.)

An old one from my DA account. Pencil with digital colors. Zick is an _Aemarri Ryozae_ (space dino, carnivore type) of _Kagurral_ ethnicity, Star Runner species (based on _Deltadromeus agilis_). One of three central characters in the _Ryozae Alliance_ series. I spent a crazy amount of time looking at hats and formalwear for this drawing. I had no idea how complex menswear could get until I did this. Good grief.

The Ryozae Alliance (c) Alysa Taladay

https://taladayarts.wordpress.com

Read now! https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/61294/alliance-the-ryozae-alliance-book-1

Prismacolor marker on Bienfang marker rag paper. Not sure how I feel about the paper. I'm a bit dyslexic, so while I did manage to hide/incorporate most of my mistakes, I also got myself mixed up on one notable occasion, so that's why there's an inconsistent dark yellow area.

Yellow: Rocky Desert
Orange: Sandy Desert
Purple/Green: Icy desert, Snow, Cold
Purple/White: Glacial regions
Light Green: Grasslands, Steppe, and Temperate Forest
Dark Green: Tropical Forests and Wetlands

Not pictured: Brutally cold regions in the north often covered in ice and snow. Mostly over that big yellow region to the West.

This is a lot of fun to do because every line tells its own story, sometimes geological/environmental stories, and sometime geopolitical ones. You start to imagine where conflicts might occur over land rights and resources, or where alliances may lie. There just isn't enough time in the world to tell them all! (Although if I could do this for a living, I would certainly try!)

Refvrenzo is one of several planets from The Ryozae Alliance series. Book 1 [now uploading](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/61294/alliance-the-ryozae-alliance-book-1) on Royal Road.