Well, it's neither in this case, although "magitek", which it is, could reasonably fit under either. And I'm pretty sure I like them because I like machines in general. Especially implausibly complex ones.
Hmm... yeah, I sort of thought about that too, but thing is, in this case it's supposed to be the "end" of a motion, like one of those stereotypical ninja slashes. I guess I just need to experiment with the pose, but it's kinda hard to do when you're not working with vectors.
As to whether or not that's Rainbow... ho, now dot's an interestin' metzaphysical qvestion, to quote a certain Jägermonster. Well, she is, and she isn't. So far my favorite nickname for her was Rainbow Slash.
Hmm, that's an interesting exercise. I should try that sometime - I usually depend heavily on details and structure to form the object's shape. Thankfully, there's a mighty overabundance of chairs visible from where I'm sitting.
Quadrupeds in general are kinda hard to convey motion for, because they never seem out of balance unless most of their legs are off the ground. In this case it's even harder, but I'll experiment.
Actually, while I don't need being told when something is great, I always need being told when something is wrong, and I appreciate feedback in general. So, thanks!
And whether or not it's from a story is an equally interesting "metzaphysical qvestion". It is from a story, but that story hasn't been written yet, so...
Oh, and I switched from Painter back to Photoshop yesterday to give Rainbow her colors back:
Spoiler
Yeah, it looks even more static when cleaned up. I'll have to think about using motion blur and light streaks to convey that for the final image... assuming I even get to that stage this time. I'm not too happy with the shading here either, and the tail's a little too much of a mess (not to mention I just cut it off like that).