The Phantom Inker

"You know," said Laura, glaring at them, "you could have just used the money to change me back."

"Nonsense," said Heather. "You wanted to be a centaur, so you're a centaur."

Laura grimaced. "I only wanted to be a centaur because that ass was a centaur."

Kia patted her on the shoulder. "Just because Rob was a jerk doesn't mean every centaur guy is a jerk. And, more importantly, we all know you wanted to be a centaur long before you met him."

"But — look at you two. You don't want to be centaurs. I'm not even sure I do."

"Idiot," said Heather. "I've known you since kindergarten, and you've been horse-crazy since day one. Come on, you obsess over pegasuses, you know the Last Unicorn word for word, you got yourself a vet degree, and your calendar has pin-up centaur guys on it! You know darn well you don't want to change back. You were just dumb enough to fall for the first four-legged cheating slimeball you met."

_"But you — "

"It's our money," said Kia. "And we're supporting a friend in her time of need. Besides, it was only two hundred dollars each. And I haven't been a centaur yet, so it might be kind of fun for a while. I bet Tom's head will explode when he sees me."

"Now then," said Heather, walking over to the television with a data stick in hand, "shall we get this slumber party started? I have girl-power movies, romance movies, fantasy movies, and horse movies. What are we starting with?"

Laura slumped down on the floor. "Anything with all four at once. And you guys better have brought chocolate ice cream."

So after a bit of effort, some of it over LiveStream, I've colored and shaded this picture, and even added a bit of a background. The original lineart was good, and inspiring enough to go further, and this is the result, after maybe 60 hours total of drawing and coloring time, entirely in CorelDRAW. I don't quite know why this picture inspired me so; it's G-rated and anti-male, and yet it's still enjoyable. Maybe it's the interaction between the characters.

My wife thinks the girls look like desserts: An orangesicle, a chocolate shake with a cherry on top, and blueberry pie filling. I guess I can see that.

So, yeah, anyway, Girl Talk. Centaur-girl slumber party. There ya have it.

Feel free to offer comments and opinions! I'd love to hear what you think!

UPDATE, 9/3/2011: Minor revisions to Heather's nightgown, to fix a layering issue, and to make it a little less sheer.