Commission: Zapedy vs Boulgar

Ouch, eh?

Commissioned by animation and musical maestro TEMPHUiBIS (or Temph for short), this piccy features his ferocious fighty characters Boulgar (the weasel bloke on the left) and Zapedy (the green one, who happens to be a curious cross between a human, a serval cat and a sloth) doing what they do best – kicking the corblimey out of each other.

There's a story attached to these two. They're both competitors in the PFU (Pent Fighting Union – like the UFC, except with snarly mutants), they both studied Jiu-Jitsu in the same class, and they really don't get along. Boulgar and his fellow warrior weasels (who enter tournaments as a group named Team WeKlaw, hence the logo on his shorts) are a notoriously nasty bunch; they spend a lot of their time causing trouble in Monamal (the fictional town where the PFU is based) and have a well-earned reputation as cheating bullying thieves. Zapedy, meanwhile, is an honourable and upstanding sort of chap, and he detests Boulgar completely. Thus, when they end up facing one another in the pentagon (the five-sided ring where PFU matches take place), things invariably get a bit brutal.

As you may have gathered from the authentic battle damage, Boulgar and Zapedy are pretty evenly-matched; the big green guy may have the upper foot right now (he's introducing his opponent's face to a downward roundhouse kick, I'm reliably informed), but the weasel isn't going down easily. Sensitive souls should not be concerned, however – they're both remarkably hardy fellows, and they can generally shrug off these sorts of injuries with no more than a couple of light coughs. I just feel sorry for whoever it is that has to clean up the ring afterwards.

This was an interesting one to put together; the characters were drawn and inked traditionally and then digi-coloured, while the background was done (almost) entirely by hand, using pencils for the shading. I then combined both elements in Photoshop, and added a few final touches like the bloodstains on the floor. I think the combination of cel-shaded figures against hand-made scenery works well – it somewhat resembles a still from an animated show, which is a rather pleasing effect.

Zapedy and Boulgar are absolutely totally the copyright of their creator. Don't go down the infringing route unless you want your nose roundhoused into the next county.