Apollo's Kiss - December

I was very fortunate to be accepted as part of the Werewolf Calendar this year, and here is my finished piece! The calendar is now open for orders, please visit the following link for purchasing information:

[link]

I wanted this piece to convey how lonely living in an extreme environment can be an an individual. The long, cold, dark nights living in the arctic, without a pack, can be harsh on the heart of such a social creature. The sun's warmth can mean a lot to someone who has been waiting through a long night alone. Seeing that first light peek over the horizon and feeling the sun's warm kiss is like a comforting embrace from a loved one when times are hard. This werewolf has been through hard times, but life is looking up for him. The sun is warming his back, and soon he'll be on the move to find better days.

This digital painting was done without my usual greyscale marker "under painting" ( [link] ) so that I could preserve the very exact saturated colors. I chose this color scheme from a photo I took from a winter sunrise in the mountains. I may try to do more solid digital painting without marker bases actually!

Wow, a Daily Deviation feature?? Thank you *KuroiChoucho for suggesting my piece and thank you ^Pixel-Spotlight for featuring it! And thanks everyone for their kind words, I really appreciate it!