I’ll be yabbering a lot in this one, but most likely you’ve already seen the photo post I made on her. This is the end product that I’ll be working my way towards in this long-ass story of Wears-Only-Ropes.

That’s Wears-Only-Ropes as designed by Boogeestro, colored, water and sub by me. So here’s the story. Well really, HERE is her story:

https://bdfanfic.tumblr.com/post/177692269698/you-only-live-18-times-1

So I write fanfiction, mostly based around Prequel. A while back I got the idea to write one using Ra’Jirra from Prequel as a spy in a sort of alternate-universe Tamriel from Elder Scrolls, where magic is fading and technology is beginning to come to power. The first was named “From Elsweyr With Love” – yeah, a take not only from the Bond movie, but some plot elements were lifted from the original as well.

I had a lot of fun writing that, so I did another called You Only Live 18 Times. In an odd way, I did pull some plot points from the Bond movie You Only Live Twice too, though unless you’ve seen that movie recently, I’d be surprised if you spot them too much. This time the story has a nautical slant, though Ra’Jirra still is the central character.

That image up there is part of the story too. By Boogeestro, who I’d only recently “tuned in to” and he did that one for me. I described the CATv3 as a sort of steampunk-JetSki, and he did an amazing job envisioning it. His Ra’Jirra design isn’t hard to look at either!

So I wanted another, and magically found some $ in my Paypal, so I gave him 3 scenes to choose from that he’d be interested in, and he chose the climactic scene from the You Only Live 18 Times story to do. I watched his stream as he drew her, though I had only the barest idea what she should look like.  He produced this…

That design is just nuts. A friggin fluted TAIL? She was more than I’d ever hoped. I can say I suggested the Sailor tattoo on her leg at least.  Well after that, I knew this was no longer just an illustration of a part of the story, this is a damned PROMOTION of it! So I’d better do the colors and background RIGHT. First thing I wanted was to get a color scheme. That crazy aquatic argonian design demands something not too conservative, thats for sure! I ended up going with this:

I liked the look of it, even though it’s far from conservative. In the scene from the story, she’s swimming down to a submarine. I intentionally left out a crucial thing so you won’t know exactly what’s happening just from the illustration. But she’s scared, I’ll leave it at that. So I went and found a tutorial describing how to illustrate an underwater scene in Photoshop. I followed it and came up with this frankly gorgeous background.

I was tempted to stop right there. Looks almost like a cel from a movie – well, other than the boobs and lizard puddy.  But you’ve seen the final version and there’s not a lot more to tell. Just that I really think for a change I did Boogeestro’s design proud with my colors and background. One thing I KNOW is that I love the result.

That’s it. Wears-Only-Ropes, from You Only Live 18 Times.  If you’ve read this far, you might as well read the story. Knowledge of the prior one isn’t necessary, but if you like it, you can always go back to read From Elsweyr With Love. Also, I am writing the final story now, named On His Mane’s Secret Service. This time though, other than lifting the title, it’s a completely original plot.