WIPs for Row of Toes (Patreon)

Firstly big Thanks to all my new Patreons. Want to make good on all my promises going into this new chapter of my art so as mentioned, I will be posting the first of many WIPs here to give a little insight into how my mind works when creating a new image...


So to begin with I wanted multiple Lees as usually my gallery has multiple Lers. The reason for this is that Lers provide their own restraining method, a dynamic between the characters working towards a common goal and more limbs to do tickly things to whatever poor Lee happens to be in their clutches! On top of this it means that the Lee can remain the focal point of the image which I find to be quite important.

Well I decided to flip that a little and try my paw at multiple lees without undermining the principles I just mentioned.

While there are multiple Lees in this image there will only be one who gets the main focus and as such he should be highlighted by being the only one with a visible face and expression meaning that the feelings of the ones sat either side of him can be used to build on the suspense from those already tormented!

With this in mind I figured it would be interesting to have decent variety of paws on display.
These were the first draft sketches I wanted to pull from.

Little characteristic like having one paw over another is something I dont do enough of when Im focusing on just one pair but here I could suggest that it was being done either to relive the soles from its recent torment or as a pitiful attempt to protect one foot from what's to come!

To anyone who didn't know. I always start with a pencil and paper drawing of things before I scan it in to go digital!

Those with a keen eye might spot the Rhino foot making its way in at the right but knowing I had an upcoming piece with a Rhino already in it (and drawn far better then this) which meant that I felt less of a need to include one in the final draft. Besides I had to make sure the feet were all clearly visible from the chosen angle I wanted.

The angle itself is a huge factor for this as its both not a boring flat angle and shows everything I needed from it while tactfully obscuring others.

Having a guard walking down the aisle helped imply that each member from the row would inevitable have to take their turn of tickle torment but also invoke images of someone casually keying a car!

So the key was in fact the key to this image in a lot of ways as I was also looking through my list of tools that had yet to be used and this one became the perfect opportunity to bring it out thanks to the setup.

While not everyone is a fan of the taser alt it was also a tool I had been meaning to use for some time and since this was set in a more modern prison, I decided to use it along with the other guard you might be familiar with by now!

I swear those 2 do EVERYTHING together!

I knew I wanted to use both dogs so I left the arms and tails out to be interchangeable ahead of time.

The reason I flip my ALTs is simply to make the image feel more fresh to the viewers eyes.

In the distance you can see an overhead walkway which I used to dangle cuffs from. This is to help explain how it is that the Lees arms are being suspended over their heads rather then just leave that unanswered, even though there's no need to have cuffs dangling where there are currently no victims!

Given the size differences between each pair of paws, I figured It would be wise to have the larger less interesting hooves from the moose be the ones covered by the action as there was always going to be one pair that was mostly obscured anyway. Thankfully this worked out as the longer face of a moose helped keep his warn out expression just in shot!

The result is an angle that supports the theme of the image, leads peoples eyes into the focal point despite having plenty to look at elsewhere (a common issue with group tickle images is a lack of focus I find), having just enough revealed from the victims face and his immediate neighbour to show that its a traumatic experience and also allowing the viewer to do a little detective work in identifying the cruel Lers involved!
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Hope you enjoyed that little peak into my process.
Decided to start with something more recent so that its fresh in peoples minds.

Future WIPs will have more images to go along with them as I also want to show off how I plan out the positions of characters and why I pick certain species to use in a given scenario (this one was simply a matter of adding variety).

Hope this made for an interesting little read! ^^