ElfQuest Fanart (original art & colorings)

[Jerelyn]

Has to be a shortbow then, or you won't have long enough arms, even if you are pretty tall.

Wouldn't it be anyways?  Long bows, at least the ones in D&D, were 6' tall. Something like that would be for wartime, for the guy standing in a line of archers on a battle field or battlement walls, not for the guy creeping around the underbrush looking for vittles.  Which is what ElfQuest elves or your standard gaming ranger would be doing.

I suppose it would depend on the kind of hunting, though.  If you pardon me saying so, the guy in that picture looks like he is posing to demonstrate, not like he has just spotted a deer and needs to make sure he doesn't make too much noise.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

Couple of things:

1) Most "bow hunters" have limited skill at using a bow.

2) Most "pro shooters" aren't skilled in mobile bow hunting.

3) "Drop, bend or twist the arms, and your shot is altered." Well duh. I didn't say it was easy.

[Jerelyn]

I feel bad for everyone else on these boards....caught between us three know-it-alls.

[Anker Steadfast]

Aye, he's posing, though he is one of the instructors .. I just wanted a picture that illustrated it.
Most hunting today is done with compound bows, which can be surprisingly small.
As for hunting, longbows was indeed used in the old days, especially when hunting poultry since once a bird goes airborne, you need the power in the longbow to reach it.

As for war ... well, they also brought pitchforks to battle, many weapons was usual day-to-day items converted for war .. especially bows, since a good bow was so expensive that an ordinary man would not have enough money to have more than one bow .. heck, a good yew bow had the wood imported from spain or italy.

I agree with Kael's last post, though I think he meant a "pro-shooter" at hunting, not target practice.

And Jerelyn, I bet some of them have learned to skip our ramblings by now if they don't find it interesting.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

Y'know, I've to admit that I've practically zero experience with compound bows, or those release-doohickeys that seem to be all the rage these days. I've shot maybe two shots with a compound bow, so I've very limited sense on how they work in the long run. I've a feeling because of the demand for strength in the initial draw that sideways might be the best way to go with them, but I just don't know.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

Huh. Now that I think about it, the length of the draw is different between sideways and more perpendicular angle. Would make sense that compound bow works only in one configuration, and that configuration is probably sideways.

[Anker Steadfast]

Drawing them isn't the problem, it's all those gadgets .. they are all over the place, they get stuck in all sorts of stuff!
They do make up for it by being easier to hold still, since the draw weight is lower at the peak, due to shaped cams.
They also shoot harder, since you can pull a greater weight, again because of the cams.
And they are short, so you can use them just about everywhere.

... unless they get stuck on something ...

You have *no* idea how much grass can get into one of the cams.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

Too many moving parts... bows are supposed to be simple...

[Cobalt Katze]

Poor deer

[Anker Steadfast]

He he, kinda agree with you there, Kael .. but compound bows are generally just better than the old fashion bows when you weigh the advantages and disadventages between the two types. Just like a modern car is generally just better than a 30 year old car.

And don't worry Cobalt, the only deers I've shot, was some styrofoam ones pulled around in the forrest by a fancy array of wires and trolleys.
Oh, and styrofoam boars too ... those are killers I tell you .. dangerous stuff.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

I dunno... I personally like recurve bows. They've some of the benefits of a compound bow over a shortbow, but they're still simple. You can't get as much force, that much is true, but IMHO under most circumstances you don't need that much force unless you want to play a rifle-shooter with a bow. You can kill a deer with a 55lbs recurve bow, and even big game with 75-85lbs recurve bow.

[Anker Steadfast]

True, but a 55lbs recurve bow is harder to hold still than a 55lbs compound bow, that means the compound bow will often offer more precision.

Either way, it all really boils down to what you like the most nowadays, since you are not dependant on what you catch.
If you had to live on your hunting skills with a bow, I bet you would change to a good compound bow very quickly.
But you don't, so you don't have to like the compoundbow.


And as for the comic ... they have magic, maybe they changed the tree with magic to make them as good as compound bows, plus they train from childhood.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

Ooooooh no, I'd use recurve bow just because they look so damned cool

Speaking of the comic, gotta go...

[Brierlea]

Just doing some catchup.

Those are three great pictures, Foxeye!  Cobalt's is so cute!  Love the kitty with the hair! 

 

[Jamie]

Hey sis ... in case I never told you before .... you drew one damn @*&# sexy set of shoulders on Tier ....  or is it Teir?  The first is the german word for "animal" ... which further enhances the overall appeal, hehehe ... *ahem*

[Jerelyn]

It's Teir, but there's much suspicion that it is a play on the german word, since he has major "animals love me" magic mojo.  Teir is definitely a sexy beast.

[Jerelyn]

Almost forgot: A few more elfquest Wendy-commission colorings (a pair):

Shypaw's commission of Dart and Kimo

[Zeltaria]

Those are beautiful  and I dont remember if I said anything about the picture for your Sister, but i think it's gorgeous and I love the colors you used.

[Jamie]

Hi Jere!  I so sorry for the delayed response, it's been a rather eventful few days ... I love the Shiny Highlights (which reminds me, I watched Serenity again last weekend  )  ..........   I might have a part-time "night/weekend job" at a GREENHOUSE, oh joy and rapture!  Play with plants ... and get paid for it   

[Icebird]

Beautious!

[Martilena]

So, lovely!

[Jamie]

Mmmmmm  Y'know, I just made this tool directory chart  at work, and got all artistic and colorful (much to the amusement of many machinists), and I used those exact same colors ... orangey-brown and blue ..... my favorite colors ...    I love those pics ....

[Jerelyn]

Gosh, we have the same favorite colors...I didn't know!    Well, not so much orangy-brown...more just the general amber shade that is in red hair and skin.  And with the blue's it's specifically the blue that tends towards green that I like. Not full-on blue-green, but not as purply as the one in the Kimo picture.  More like Vii's scale highlight color. 

Speaking of colors, green is really hard for me to use. I think it is because the color space in computers doesn't include nearly all the greens that the human eye can perceive. So I find it reeeally hard to come up with a green that feels natural and vibrant to me. 

[Jerelyn]

More elf colorings:

Sunstream and Ember

[Starrydance]

Oh Lovely! <3

I read this series as a younger person, but I cant remember anything at all about the series beyond their names. =)