Hey guys, sorry for the short break but here's my next piece! It's my take on Metal Gear Solid's Raiden!

I was never really a big fan of Raiden, and although I liked the design of his skull suit in MGS2, he was just so...annoying. Much of my hatred was due to the sound of his voice (played by Quinton Flynn) but anyway, now that MGS4 is out and seeing as to how cool Raiden is now that he's the resident ninja of the game, I had to draw him. Although in the trailers he goes a bit too crazy (he breakdances while grasping his swords hilt that's been plunged into the ground as well as grasping his sword in between his HIGH HEELS and slashing around by flipping and somersaulting in the air cutting up the Metal Gear Gekko's who sound like rabid cows with his feet? WTF!?), in the end when he reveals his face and speaks for the first time (his Japanese voice actor is awesome!) he says out to Vamp, "It's my turn to protect you, Snake." It was so friggin' awesome!

Too bad Quinton Flynn is still doing his voice in MGS4, and sure, he's changed his voice to be a little more battle torn, but it still sounds forced and unnatural...Although no one can match David Hayter's voice (voice of Snake), they could have gotten Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer!) or someone of the like to voice Raiden and propel his coolness and erase the mistake of MGS2's wimpy-ass Raiden!

Anywho...back to the piece lol...Took me 15-16 hours across 2 days, and I'm really happy with the end result. I realized that I need to keep my line art defining noses, lips, eyes, etc (in general) in order to keep the picture from looking crappy in an attempt at realism or cel shading. I think I got lucky with the Eureka piece, or maybe it's not even that good, haha! Well, until I truly nail down the realistic painting style or cel-shading, I'll continue to draw in this similar style. I think it looks pretty cool though, as if the image was ripped out of a comic book or something.


Also, for those who are critical in pointing out the mistakes in his suit/mask, I'm putting this down for the record that I used one of the first screenshots released for the game (years ago!)as reference to draw from. This is why the mask is drawn different, and aside from not being able to tell all of the actual clasps and mechanics of the headgear, I had to draw up my own designs here and there, so please accept my image for what it's worth, and not as a mismatch to the official character design!

Oh, and for my sake, if you're a fan of MGS4 and have gotten/beat the game, please do not say anything about the game, I'm still saving up for that MGS bundle! Thank you kindly and I hope you enjoy the piece! Sorry for the super long wall o' text, but hey, no one's forcing you to read it (although I'd love it if you actually did for all my pieces, and if you're reading this now, you're awesome!)

Bye for now and look forward to my next piece...It was going to be Edward from Full Metal Alchemist, but I don't wanna draw two blonde characters in a row! I'm thinking I may do either Big Boss from MGS3 or maybe a Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts character...Vincent Valentine maybe?! Perhaps a generic Judge in the style of Final Fantasy 12?! Will this wait kill you!? Probably not! Just keep it locked to robotsLOVEcandy! Bye! Exclamation Point!