Journey to the East

This couldn't possibly be much cuter! It's so nice to see him happy for once! <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/b…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Big Grin)"/> _{He kinda looks like Abu...}

The background is absolutely FABULOUS! I LOVE the misty effects, the birds, and the delicate little petals...the mountains look very traditional, too (a lot of people fail at that), though the lighter lines in the foremost two look a little too light to me. The "whooshy" effects from his cloud winding around the mountains are a nice touch, too. I also love the shiny gold <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Smile)"/> You did a great job making it look like actual gold - a lot of examples, including in the comics (and my own work), make it look like gold-coloured plastic. AND HIS EYES! There's so much DEPTH!!! The shading/lighting is phenomenal, especially on the cloud! (I'm guessing it was hard to keep it looking like a cloud and not a cloud-shaped hunk of rubber.) And did I mention the colours? IT ACTUALLY LOOKS ASIAN (as opposed to other examples where it's just normal colours with Asian buildings to give the idea you're not in the UK or America etc.). The border is very nice too - I think it solidifies the feeling of depth, but there's something just a bit off with it to me...I can't put my finder on it, maybe something about the gradient colour around the gold clouds...it may just be my screen res. though.
All in all, an absolutely WONDERFUL piece, the best I've seen of Ken (comic art included), and most definitely one of the best Sonic fanarts I've ever seen, too. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/s/s…" width="15" height="15" alt="" title=" (Smile)"/> Many kudos, and God bless!