Seth and Mina - Mothers of Colour contest

This is my entry for s 'Mothers of Colour' Contest - [link] which I almost missed the deadline for (It's still before midnight in Canada, I believe - Thank you Greenwich Mean Time for not being so mean) mainly for procrastinating and sketching it on Sunday night and digitally colouring it Monday evening ^^

I looked through the character archives ([link]) and was drawn to Seth and Mina, Colour's nod to Sonic the Hedgehog and Mina Mongoose - [link] After several pieces of crumpled up paper, I looked through the gallery again and almost settled on a fox pair (since I am used to drawing that species) but something kept calling me back to Seth and Mina and after looking at some online images of pregnant couples to inspire me, managed to come up with what I think is a decent picture.

I seriously enjoyed doing the background - it's been a while since I've done one this intricate and since it's meant to be heading into summer (though try and tell that to the month of rain we've been forceast here - which, paradoxically, will not help the hosepipe ban) I decided to go for a seaside theme - complete with windbreaker and beach ball - I'm of course assuming that Seth and Mina would be able to get to the seaside, not sure of their exact circumstances) - and look! Seagulls! Or strangely shaped letter W's - your choice. I was going to go for my lineless art, but I find shading never comes out too well with that, so I opted for keeping the lines in. I'm quite amazed that the lines on the path and railings came out that straight - only the lines going straight down are actually done in the graphics programme I use, when it tends to be any lines, since they always come out wonky, which I'm putting down to the paper I'm using, which is meant to be good for markers (as I want to try using my rarely-used copic markers - seriously, this was the last time I posted a picture using them - [link] - I should really get my money's worth)

Mina came out pretty well, I think - I tweaked her clothing a little (since I doubt her t-shirt would fit anymore) but kept the same basic colour scheme. The swirled design on her trousers was a late addition (as in, just before I started inking it) and inspired by a similar design on the jeans I was wearing today - though mine are purple - and done by selecting the swirl I had drawn, colouring it the same colour as the jeans and then using a lighter colour to dot on the transparent swirl. It may have involved layers, I have no idea as I still don't understand them Same thing goes for Seth's clothing - a bit of a tweak (long sleeves, shades of colours reversed, so the t-shirt is lighter and the jacket darker) and some tweaking on the trousers as well. No feet - I would have liked them, since I'm trying to break the habit of *not* drawing them, but I had no room left to sketch them. I changed Mina's necklace, as I love designing jewellery, but omitted Seth's... it is a choker? Not sure, brain is going into meltdown. Lastly, ironically, given what the contest was *about* it is a bit hard to tell, but Mina is pregnant, she and Seth are just cradling it as they pose for an invisible camera.

That's all for now, folks - coming up to half past one here and if I don't go to sleep soon my brain probably will crack ^^

Hope you like it and hope we can do a trade soon! This contest has got me fired up again ^^