Fire and Music

This is one of my pics that's longer than it is wide. Please view the full picture, and prepare to scroll

The big guy is Cohaas, the only known dracophoenix (dragon-phoenix hybrid) in Quintessentia. He's hovering near the Zoho Bridge, the artistic district of the capital city of Paromdon.

Balodyquil, a.k.a. Ballad Quill, the gryphon musician, and his human friend/musical partner Sondrew Hayne (both residents of Zoho) are trying to dissuade him from doing any damage by using music to "soothe the savage beast."

Cohaas isn't actually the malevolent type, but he is a bit embittered. It's believed that, when mature, he will be the most powerful (and potentially destructive) creature in Quintessentia, so he's been slayed several times before he reaches maturity, only to be reborn, in the manner of phoenixes, to live through his youth all over again. He's supposed to be a teenager here.

He's regarding Ballad and Sondrew with a combination of disbelief, mistrust, and amusement.

These backstories are all part of my fantasy concept "Escapia", but I don't know if this scene will be. While I was drawing Cohaas I came up with the idea for the character of Ballad and wanted to include him.

The original name for the Zoho Bridge was Noho (it was a play on SoHo, like it's a SoHo that does "no" exist.) but then I found out there really was a NoHo neighborhood (it's north of SoHo, who knew?) so I turned the "N" on the Noho Inn sign sideways and made it Zoho.

This was a lotta work, comments are especially appriciated