At the beginning of each year I make an effort to draw Epona, my oldest character.

She is now 12 years old! I started seriously drawing the lion king style the summer of 1997. And I haven't stopped XD. Epona was created in the early days of yahoo chat rooms, to which I role played often, and started to draw often so other users could see what my character looked like. Then I continued to use her when I joined the TLK Fan Art Archive. [link] Its my 9th year at the archive T_T I feel old...

Over the course of this year I decided to create a white cheetah version of Epona. And I couldn't decide if I should do Lioness Epona or Cheetah Epona... so I did both Technicality Cheetah Epona should have the ice clover pendent but you cant see it because of this particular pose and her scruffy neck hairs. Normally I don't use any references for lions anymore because I have them drilled into my head, but I need too for other animals... and I used this photo as a reference for the cheetah pose. [link]

Brushes used: [link] [link]

And I decided to answer some FAQ's I get pertaining to her character design... So many people ask them, hopefully this will clear some things up. here we go! XD


Did you name your character after the horse in Zelda?

Though I really like the old Zelda games, the answer is No I didn't. I really like celtic art and music, and Enya at the time produced a song titled Epona. I thought it was really different. Had I known Epona would have been used in the Zelda series a year in a half later, I may have named her something else.


Why a white lion?

At the time when I was growing up the Philadelphia Zoo had a pride of white lions. They were my favorite animal and were the first place in the United States to house such a magnificent creature. When I set out to create my fursona I always new I wanted her to be a white lion.


What's with the Ice Clover Pendent?

What can I say I love the Irish, XD No really, when I played Ultima Online I named my horse Ice Clover... it kinda stuck ever since. And actually Epona's name before Epona was Ice Clover. I thought that was kind of tacky. So when I was coming up with her design I wanted her to have the Ice Clover incorporated into her design. The best way I could think about doing that was though a pendent. I also have a Ice Clover tattoo on my left ankle... in case you were curious.


Why did you create the cheetah version of Epona?
I actually think cheetahs are cuter then lions... XD I couldnt draw a cheetah for the life of me when I was younger, who knows, maybe if I could Epona may have always been a cheetah. And I'll admit, I enjoy getting fanart of Epona. Lions where just easier for other people to draw. Now with both there is more options XD. *hint hint* XD


Those were the most common, if you have any others you want me to address let me know and I will answer. XD