Shifting Moon

Well, I'm finally done! My piece for the Werewolf Calendar Contest is finally done! I do have to admit that this is probably one of my best pieces background and lighting wise. I had a lot of fun with this.

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It is commonly believed that the full moon forces werewolves shift from their human forms. This, however, isn’t completely true. Werewolves do shift during the full moon most of the time, but only at will and because it’s more convenient for them. Under the cover of night and the full moon lighting up the sky to see by, werewolves have the chance to shift without being seen by other humans. The full moon also provides enough light for them to hunt, have family gatherings, or do rituals. This time of the month is especially convenient for the werewolves who live mostly as humans and are around some kind of civilization. It provides them with a time where they can shift at least once a month and be safe from human eyes in the darkness of night.
Some werewolves live a semi-normal human life, some a hybrid life, and others a life in the wild as wolves. No matter what though, shifting is part of a werewolf’s life. It can be from becoming a wolf during the full moon for a family gathering once a month to changing back to human once in awhile to stay safe when other people are around. Either way, every werewolf shifts and every time they do it’s always an incredibly painful experience.
Shifting requires a ton of energy and pain tolerance. To shift is to change the anatomy of one’s self at will. All at once, one’s bone structure has to reform and muscles must be grown and morphed. Pain tolerance is built up over time from early teen years to deal with this. New werewolves who are bitten always have a hard time shifting and are not always fully able to stand it. After shifting a werewolf’s energy is at its lowest and it is very vulnerable to others at this time. If one doesn’t shift over a long period of time (usually 4 to 5 months or more), when they eventually do it becomes almost too painful to do it ever again. Pain tolerance from shifting a lot or even once a month for the full moon is something that must be done to avoid this and to keep up their strength so they are not so vulnerable afterwards.


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This werewolf has just shifted and has just fallen on almost all fours due to the pain. A young werewolf like this one hasn't built up a lot of pain tolerance quite yet. He is strong though and is breathing through it to recover. A lone werewolf like this one must be careful shifting because there might be others around. This is why the safest thing to do is to shift under the cover of a forest. Hopefully the trees hide him from the eyes of others.

I put a lot of thought and time into this and had a lot of fun doing something like this for myself for once. I've had this concept in my head for awhile now and I've decided to summit it to the Werewolf Calendar's contest. I've been working on this off and on since the end of July and just finished it about a week ago. The concept came to me when I was studying anatomy and was looking some werewolf pieces. I couldn't help but think how they would change their anatomy and such shifting, so yeah.
This is the smaller and watermarked version. The original scan is being sent to them through e-mail. Wish me luck :).

Also I need someone's opinion. I forgot to add the cold breath coming from his mouth. Should I still add it or should I leave it be?
And as always, critiques are most welcome and appreciated!


Thanks :),
Danea