"Skystar of a Thousand Winds" by Kate Sky High Frana

Perched thousands of feet over the land below, with only the moan of the wind and the behemoth-like clouds for company, the traveler awaits the rise of the sun, when the world is born anew.  When the golden sphere flies beyond the clutches of the earth and higher into the sky than any bird or other winged fancy dares go, garbing herself in robes of the clearest and purest blue, save for the white and silver hems and sleeves, the world reawakens from the dark slumber of night and joins the realm of the living once again.  It was after this triumphant and beautiful majesty that the traveler was named after, and she was well-named.  No other creature is so full of life, and no other creature dares to fly like her.  For she is Skystar of a Thousand Winds, and when she flies as high as her wings will take her, the world might as well be hers.

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This was an on-an-off pic spanning a few months.  I wanted to pay particularly close attention to texture and lighting when I did this one, along with drawing an adorable gryphon with a scarf and goggles for a friend of mine.  The rock wasn't actually that hard to do, but, now that I look back on it, I wonder if I have a life at all.  Done in mech pencil.