...You might not know this, but about a year ago, I got a piece with Bunsen by Tres-Art. One I called Cave In (it's still in my gallery somewhere). What you might not know about it is... I was honestly disappointed with it. Tres does fine work, yes, and Bunsen was really well done there... Bartan, however, was very disappointing. Like, I'll never remove this piece, but it was to the point where I nearly had a mental breakdown due to me no longer finding "myself" attractive. The piece may not have been the cause of such a thing, but it was involved in the tipping point.

So, I decided to save up for another piece for my birthday about a year ago. I knew it was going to take a while for a slot to come around, and it gave me a lot of time to think about what was wrong with Bartan. What I wanted to see differently, what I felt needed to be changed.

I ended up talking about this to Mr. Cross in great detail. And he's done a tremendous--Tremendous!-- amount of work to make sure I liked the way my bear looked. We're talking body sketches, dozens of head shots at every angle, with and without fluff. Along with several of his equipment, all of which I will slap together for a reference at some point. But amidst all this, he offered (for a little bit more added to the price) a great bust shot, something I could use as an icon as well.

Which leads us here, and again: Cross outdid himself. You're only seeing one or two color options here, but he ended up giving me a dozen backgrounds to pick from/keep. Changed the eye color a few times, added some fluff here and there- this guy had the patience of a Saint. I really can't thank him enough~

Even though the 'Smug' look really isn't in Bartan's character, I still love it. The only other thing I could object to is the Handcuffs were not meant to be literal x3 But the way he did them in the sketch (and the end result, as you can see) looked too badass to say no to. If you're using this as a reference: do note that they're usually just fur pattern/"paint" x3 Someday maybe I'll explain what those mean, but for everyone who's ever read Somewhere Out There Act Zero - Your Life, you've likely got a good idea.

For now, enjoy this over-confident looking furball. And look forward to that other piece that Cross has planned for us~

Artwork © Jaricko Cross (FA: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/jarickocross/) Thank you for all your work mate <3