Happy Birthday Sakura!!! Shirtless Syaraon fanart up!

Chosen One Li Syaoran with Dragon Wings by wishluv on DeviantArt


Happy Birthday Kinomoto Sakura (and a bunch of other CLAMP characters) and April Fool's Day! 

Yes, I know it makes sense for me to draw Syaoran for Sakura's birthday.This fanart was actually finished for Halloween, except for some final details, but I held it off because I was stuck on the background, which I didn't end up changing after all. It has a combination of everything I love, shirtless Syaoran, ripped pants, dragon wings, sword, and even the Li Clan seal ring on Syaoran's finger if you zoom in enough.

This is a scene I've been dying to draw since I wrote it, and I'm glad to have gotten that out of my system. I'm not sure if I will ever draw another shirtless Syaroan artwork though because I think he's generally too bashful to go around shirtless. Though apparently Clone!Syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle isn't. I really enjoyed the whole Dragon Isles arc a lot because it's probably the most cinematographic of the whole New Trials series--hence the movie poster-like theme of this fanart. 

I have so many CCS-related things I want to share, but for now, this is it. I am also working on the next chapters albeit rather turtle-paced. Funny story--my worst nightmare scenario, I lost the whole New Trials Word file the other day--it wasn't in my folder and freaked out especially because I did write quite a chunk recently. I haven't been even saving it anywhere else lately. Luckily, I found it mysteriously moved into a different folder and have saved backup versions of it. Whew. I saw the first cherry blossoms of the spring today though. Spring is so beautiful and work is so burdensome, and time so fleeting. 

Music Spotlight:

Imagine Dragons - "Demons" 
 


I already shared the Boyce Avenue cover of this song a few years ago when I uploaded the "Eye of the Dragon," but it fits this fanart so well (since it's based on those chapters), and this is the original version of course.



///SPOILERS FOR NEW TRIALS CHAPTER 71///

They saw Li Syaoran, with a pair of magnificent black dragon wings sprouted from his back, fly up into the crimson sky gracefully. The wings had ripped through his black shirt. A gust of wind blasted from below, whipping off the tattered remains of his shirt to reveal his chiseled torso.

Syaoran held up his hand and the seal ring, blown up by the wind, landed on his extended palm. He held it up for them to see and slipped it back onto his finger. “Let me repeat one more time. I have traveled to the Dragon Isles and have passed the dragon’s test to become the 77^th Great Elder of the Li Clan. Anybody who wants to challenge me can do so right now, or rest your case.” He glanced down from the sky at the Li Elders, the younger henchmen who had followed, at Leiyun, Jinyu and Wei, watching from not far off, and at Meilin standing off with the rest of the Star Alliance members. For just a brief second, his eyes lingered on Sakura, before turning back to the Elders.

Daifu had reached Wutai and dragged him back onto the rooftop. Doubled over to catch his breath, with his brother supporting his weight, Wutai stared hard at Syaoran, winged like a demonic angel, staring down at him with a strange look of pity, not anger. He was no longer the vulnerable boy who cowered from the Elders, who had knelt before Wutai in the Great Hall to be given another chance a year ago, maimed both in body and spirit.

Wei first dropped to his knees. “I, Li Wei, pledge my allegiance to serve and honor the new Great Elder Li Syaoran.”

With a thin smile, Leiyun also lowered his head, followed by Jinyu, Jingmei and the other younger Lis present.

One by one, the Li men and women dropped down to their knees, right arm on their chest, in a sign of deference.

Meilin stared hard at the strange sight of the proud and mighty Li Wutai glance around him helpless, watching even the haughty Daifu kneel, before finally dropping on his knees. But she did not miss the resentful gleam in his beady black eyes.  

Syaoran lifted his sword up into the sky, and a jet of lightening zapped from the clouded sky, to the tip of his blade. “By the power vested in me by the Dragonlords, I, Li Syaoran, son of Li Ryuuren, pledge my allegiance to the Li Clan, to protect and guide my bloodline as the new Great Elder and Chosen One.”  

Anybody with magic saw an etching of a great dragon facing upwards blazing in gold from Syaoran’s back. Then, the light faded, and the dragon mark disappeared.

From somewhere, Wei produced a long black silk robe with golden embroidery and placed it over Syaoran’s bare shoulders. The robe of the Great Elder.

- Excerpt from The New Trials of Card Captor Sakura Chapter 71: The Alliance of the Stars