"Airborne" by Kate Sky High Frana

 Perched high above the world, the gryphon gazed into the landscape below like a king surveying his kingdom.  The wind ruffled his feathers like the familiar caress of a lover and whispered sweet nothings of the sky in his ears.  He turned his face up toward the setting sun, which perched on the horizon like he was perched upon his cliff.  As if of their own accord, his massive wings stretched up, extending toward the heavens in a gesture of the defiance of gravity.  He coiled all of his muscles and leaned forward toward the very lip of the precipice, then leaped.  His body extended into the open air as his wings came down in a mighty beat, capturing the air beneath each feather.  His hind feet left the solid ground as his wings completed their downbeat, and he found himself in that familiar cavity between the earth and sky, that one place where his heart surged and every fiber of his being became alive.  He opened his beak and shrieked in delight as the blazing sun drenched his feathers in light, and he extended his great talons as if to capture an unsuspecting zephyr in his claws.

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Fun, fun, and more fun!  ^_^  This particular project of mine was for my 2-D Design class in order to express the element of value.  As such, this piece lacks my usual finesse for stupidly tiny details, but it made it that much easier on me to finish before the deadline!  We were also supposed to show the progression of movement and time through three panels of 8 x 8" Bristol board--hence, the storyboard-like triptych.  In the photograph I took of this, the lighting got really wonky and made the far right panel really bright and blurry.  Since my light source is coming from the right, it kinda works for this piece because it makes it look like he's jumping into pure sunlight.  Nevertheless, I'll probably update it with a better, cleaner version--whenever I get around to that, that is.  >_<  Close-ups of each of these panels are also provided...somewhere on here...  O_o