I like it. Though something about it doesn't sit right with me. I can't really put my finger on it. I'm thinking it's the ears. Just weird seeing jollins ears sit like that. I know it shall grow on me though. Other then that it's good. I like the blood splatter in place of spots, very nice touch. Nice job Rah. At this rate you shall have the Jollin's in every colour by the end of the year!
What bothers me is that it's looking at the viewer, but pouncing at something else. I know it has to look at us, by rule, but animals focus on their prey when they pounce. Nobody jumps at something and takes their eyes off where they're going to land--there isn't even the reaction time unless it's a really long fall. Otherwise it's a really good Jollin, I just think a slightly different angle would've deawkwardized it. Yes, that's totally a word.
It looks bored, and sort of saying "Well, if you're gonna MAKE me look scary..". The ears are a bit awkward, and the fact that it's not looking forward just makes it seem....awkward.
I have liked all of the jollins so far, but this one is certainly my least favorite.
Not really liking this either. The colours are fabulous! But the ears and the expression makes it look more like a vampire bat than a fox. I dunno, it's just....unnatural for ears to do that?
As others have mentioned, the ears bug me too, if it is pouncing at something, shouldn't they be flat on his back? And the fact that he is looking at you makes it seem like he isn't attacking something, like Cyro stated. so instead of midjump, to me he looks like he is suspended by invisible wires.
But the blood looks really gory and drippy and I like the blood as spots.
I'm not the first to say any of this, but even so, I'm going to say it too. I usually really like Rah's bloodred and graveyard pets, but this one has me confuzzled.
I can deal with the ears, in and of themselves, because lots of animals prick their ears when they're posturing - it makes them look bigger, and bigger=scarier. So I'm good with that, and I like its head as well. It looks nice and muscled. I'd even really like its expression, if where it was looking made sense. I think we're supposed to think it's pouncing, but for reasons I'm going to discuss, it just can't be.
So I think, with the way its ears are, and the way its conformation is at the point the image is snapped, so to speak -- it's got to be falling - and maybe that is the intent?
As has been mentioned, animals pin their ears when they pounce; both for the wind resistance and to keep them from hitting on anything, and then either making noise and warning the potential prey off or snagging on nearby underbrush and thereby spoiling either the timing or the aim of the leap.
Plus, when animals leap, they push off of their hindquarters and tuck their forelegs into their chest. Conceivably, this pet could be transitioning from the push-off to the landing. but its hindquarters aren't really extended enough to support that. And its front paws aren't reaching for its landing either.
So I think it's falling out of a tree or some such. The ears up like that would work if it were going down quickly. And it does kinda seem like it's reaching for the landing with its rear. If the members of the species are little tree-dwelling things, it could be dropping onto the shoulders of its intended meal.
Or, if we want to come over all lolcat and stuffs, it could be standing on the shoulders of its invisible prey, nomming its tasty invisible brain and then raising its ears to hiss at another of its kind it sees approaching.
...that actually kinda seems to fit the pose most. And now I kinda want one, so I can make it do that. =D
I agree. I don't know what the intent was, but it definitely looks to me like it's falling, not pouncing. Like the blood is from its owner's dinner, which it was eating while its owner's back was turned, and its owner came along and shoved it off the table, and now it's in the process of falling.
(This is a pretty regular occurrence at my house, less the blood.)
I'm afraid I don't really care for it. (Sorry, Rah!) My first impression when I saw it was "Oh, look, DIAGONAL" and that's still my impression: a very strong diagonality that's not really working for me.
This is the worst Jollin, next to the graveyard one. The eyes and the ears just totally destroy everything. Even the pose to me doesn't even make it look like it's pouncing on something.
I think the looking at you thing is due to the fact that all pets need to be looking at the viewer.. I think an exception in this case would have been better, as well. Though he could be annoyed that you walked in on his ambush. :P
Foxes do have their ears up when they pounce... see this picture, this picture and this picture (and this cute video). I agree that it would have been better if he was looking at the ground rather than the viewer, but I can buy the explanation that he was interrupted mid-pounce.
It's not the ears that do it for me, but more the overall dynamics of the pose. It just really doesn't look like it's pouncing to me. The fact that attention isn't directed at whatever it's pouncing on is probably one thing that does it.
For some reason it seems very limp in the hind end to me, almost like the hindquarters are hanging and are going to come forward so the animal can land on it. I don't get a sense of action being directed forward, but more of the animal being suspended in midair.
I'm not saying that a fox can't ever take that pose during a pounce, just that to me it doesn't convey pouncing.
I agree in retrospect that the Jollin's attention being on its audience makes the pose seem a bit nonsensical, but when I first saw the pet what bothered me was that it looked like it was being supported by its tail rather than in mid-leap.
For me, this seems like a case of the pose being limited by the dimensions of The Box: if the Jollin were more horizontal, like in the pictures that Cranberry posted, I think it would have worked much better, but that would have been difficult to do in a perfectly square box.
I do like the blood splatter on this pet, though, and how the red spots on the coat look like blood smears (at least in this image; it might be different in the larger image).
Cranberry wrote:Foxes do have their ears up when they pounce... see this picture, this picture and this picture (and this cute video). I agree that it would have been better if he was looking at the ground rather than the viewer, but I can buy the explanation that he was interrupted mid-pounce.
Yes, they do have their ears up when they pounce, but this seems a bit exaggerated, yes?
It looks like its bored or uninterested.
