Artist's commentary
NT10 232
Round 7 in NT10: Kamijou Touma vs. Academy City, although it is not much of a fight and more of a "let's run for our lives because we have no way of fighting these things." This one took a while. While Touma was easily lined and colored in, Othinus was a bit of a concern, as I wanted to use better colors instead of the one I did NT09 322-323 as I felt it was out of place, specifically referring to her greenish robe in the other image. Now the most difficult thing about this one was the mecha, the Modelcase_Railgun of the foreground behind Touma and Othinus. It was my first time coloring those kind of things and I thought I would just merely apply the style I use when coloring metal object. Moreover, I had no idea of the contours I should use for the lineart of the mecha as there are currently no full body artwork that shows the front of the mecha. In the end it all ended up as guest work. Still, at least it was described as a "praying mantis"-looking thing, so I kinda had an idea what it looked like in my head. Smoke is there for the burning tanks those little buggers blew up.
The "Smile Status: Protected" is a little meme going its rounds in English-speaking sites, referring to the rather cliched line of: "I want to protect her smile." which of course this series is not a stranger to. This image was no exception and someone edited the aforementioned text on the illustration. Just a little bit of fun.