This blog contains art by me - Jan Pospíšil and all kinds of other things I find interesting and worth writing about.
Here's my portfolio:
http://janpospisil.daportfolio.com/
and my DeviantArt:
http://merlkir.deviantart.com/
A comment on the potential historical influences of one of my older paintings for "The One Ring" made me think about how I came up with the objects depicted in it.
Here's an expanded version of my reply:
The helmet is a composite - the lower/face part is somewhat ancient Greek, but could also be late Roman. The bowl is lamellar, which is more of an eastern construction. The intent was something like a mythical eastern Goth style. (there wasn't a set fictional culture for these artifacts in the art brief so I went with a general "dark ages heroic" style made up of various bits and pieces)
In hindsight, I only wish I did the tail crest better, the way it's attached to the top ridge is quite unclear and lazy.
Here's a compilation of some of the inspiration pieces mentioned:
The sword is quite Celtic, yes - the hilt looks mostly LaTene, but the pommel is inspired by bronze age Persian (Luristan) lobed daggers.
La Tene hilts are mostly reconstructed as horn, bone and wood, the bronze/gold and turqoise stone decorations are inspired by early Sarmatian/Yuezhi stuff. (Afghanistan, cca 1st century CE)
Also I think La Tene scabbards had an attached scabbard slide, whereas I used a sepearate piece slide, which is more fitting for migration period spathas. (and was adopted from the East, all the way from China)
If I were to change anything now, I'd make the wrapping around the scabbard slide better, some kind of twine or string rather than cloth. (or whatever that was supposed to be) Also maybe the slide itself is too clearly antropomorphic.
Here's a compilation of the sword bits I used as inspiration:
I really like this approach to design, it's enjoyable if a sword or another object isn't immediately identifiable as from a specific place and era. It's important that it still fits the general level of technology and mood of the project though!
Just reading about swords a lot helps, seeing what was used throughout the ages. The various designs become building blocks in your mental library that you can eventually pick and piece together quite quickly as they make sense functionally and aesthetically.
Update 2017: After some delays, I finally heard the final word from Fat Shark. They completely deny any inspiration, or even similarity between my design and their 3D asset. Apparently, that asset was inspired by "celtic swords". Well, good to know. Here I was, thinking they just blatantly copied my drawing. Yeah, I'm not gonna go to court for 150-ish USD, which they of course know. Still, I'll leave the blog up, as a reminder of their shameful display. Shame! Boo! Thieves! Sad.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (original post follows below:)
In October I got my friends a game on Steam, which I wanted to play with them.
It's called End Times: Vermintide and it's set in the Warhammer universe.
It's developed by Fatshark.
We had a good time, each playing a different character. After one session, I noticed the elven ranger Kerillian (played by my flatmate) used a dagger with a design which was somehow familiar.
///Edit: The post was edited to focus on the one specific sword design, the rest was confusing.
The way the crossguard is composed of two levels of curls (each curling in the opposite direction), the shape of the blade, even the pommel is heart shaped with inward curled edges.
Here's a comparison (thanks to Hessper), so you can see the designs together :
At first I thought it was funny, a big videogame company using designs from bloody DeviantArt.
Then I thought it was a bit lame. This game is a commercial product, they continue to make money on it, as it's still being sold and played by thousands of people every day.
I thought I should say something, because this should not happen.
It's especially baffling to me, since the game is based in the Warhammer universe, and has loads and loads of existing art under that license, any of which they could've easily use for inspiration.
So I decided to contact them, looking for an explanation rather than big bucks. (don't get me wrong though, I still asked them about a licensing fee)
I wrote them an email through their official contact and waited.
This was in October and I'm still waiting for any kind of reply whatsoever.
To sum up - Fatshark, if someone at the company reads this - I would still love to hear from You and find out how this happened.
Just a quick one today. Yesterday we got a trailer for the Wonder Woman movie:
I've never read any WW comics, I'm not a fan, but it looks surprisingly entertaining.
One thing that caught my eye was the sword she wields.
Now, during her first movie appearance in Batman vs. Superman, WW had a different sword, which I didn't like a lot:
It looks vaguely late-medieval or early renaissance, maybe inspired by the cinquedea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinquedea
Why would Wonder Woman have a sword like that, what historical sense does it make? Of course, the handle is WAY too long and looks pretty stupid.
Her new sword looks like this:
Now, by itself it's not mindblowing, but a few things about it intrigue me. Firstly, the shape of the guard reminds me of this sword from grave Delta in Grave Circle B at Mycenae:
The handle and pommel are more reminiscent of (mostly fantasy invented) twisted "celtic" hilts, but the general shape isn't too far from some Scytho-Siberian swords.
Now, Wonder Woman is an Amazon, so some Scythian influence would be appropriate.
Looking closer at the guard's dragon heads, they really do remind me quite a bit of these Scythian dragons from Central Asia:
Here's a close comparison:
If that's intentional, that's quite neat. Good to see Holywood designers take inspiration from historical designs. (Honestly, I wish someone did WW entirely dressed in this style, not the comicbook nonsensical "armour". But I fully understand why they went with the established style.)
It's been a while! Months even. I'm still working on Six Ages, so I don't have anything not under the death spell of an NDA I could show.
That said, two supplements for The One Ring RPG have been released fairly recently (Horse Lords of Rohan and Erebor) and I did a few pieces for them:
(goblin man and half-orc)
(Angrenithil - "Moon Iron", a sword made by both dwarven and elven smiths)
Now, they might not look that similar at first. What stood out to me especially was the sword! Why? It's a Central Asian type of sword, sometimes called Sarmatian type 1, believed to be derived from Chinese western Han dynasty swords of an earlier period. (often found in Sarmatian graves, typically with jade fittings - disc pommel, chunky box-like crosspiece, a scabbard slide and another piece for the bottom of the scabbard)
The scabbard slide isn't apparent in the Hatra sculpture, perhaps due to poorer ability of the sculptor (it's definitely less realistic and finely carved), but otherwise the form is very close. Especially the pommel, which in both cases ISN'T a disc (as is typical for the Sarmatian/Han swords), but some kind of curved shape, sometimes interpreted as an animal (snake or bird) head.
The basic form of the costume is similar, but that's not surprising between two cultures with a nomadic tradition.
I'm not the first one to point out the similarities either, John M. Rosenfield in The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans draws a comparison between Kanishka and this statue of a Parthian officer (also from Hatra), emphasizing the importance of the sword being displayed:
Same could be said for king Uthal's statue:
Nergal? Herakles? What?
I tried to find out more about why this relief is thought to be depicting Nergal. The other important thing I noticed about the figure - he also carried an axe.
In her paper titled "My Lord With His Dogs", Lucinda Dirven says:
A great many of
these shrines are centred around the cult of a Herakles-figure, who was worshipped
in Hatra under the name of Nergal.
Now, Nergal is usually worshipped like so:
Portrayed in hymns and myths as a god of war and pestilence, Nergal seems to represent the sun of noontime and of the summer solstice that brings destruction, high summer being the dead season in the Mesopotamian annual cycle. He has also been called "the king of sunset". Nergal evolved from a war god to a god of the underworld. In the mythology, this occurred when Enlil and Ninlil gave him the underworld.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nergal I've not heard of a pestilence aspect associated with Herakles before. Wiki says there was a solar aspect of him as well, which I'll have to believe. Still, nothing that would suggest an axe attribute to me. (axes, clubs or maces are typically attributes of thunder gods, or the non-thunderous serpent slayers. This would make sense for a Heraklean aspect, not so much for Nergal.)
The pronaos of the
shrine yielded a plain bronze plate with the inscription nrgl klbʾ.
23 The cover of an
offering box representing a dog in relief was, according to the fragmentary inscription,
made for Nergal.24 The base of a statuette of which only the bare feet, lion
skin and club remain, has an inscription that dedicates the object to nrgl klbʾ.
25 In
the same shrine, an alabaster statuette of a dog was found, with an inscription on
the plinth mentioning three dogs (fig. 1).26 Although Nergal is not mentioned in
this text, it is probable that the dog refers to his cult. The same holds true for a
small altar with a representation on the front of a male figure raising an axe.2
Lion skin and a club sound appropriately Heraklean. Perhaps it was through the lion skin that the connection to Nergal was made? (Nergal being depicted as a lion) Dirven then follows with:
The dogs have a snake for a tail, and from the collar around their neck hangs a
bell. In addition to the dogs, the god is associated with snakes and scorpions. Of
special note are the two snakes that rise like a crescent from the god’s shoulders.
I'm most likely reaching, but various thundergods are associated with serpents (for obvious reasons) and snakes (and Heraklés of course killed two snakes while he was still a baby in a crib. An image, by the way, I've always found curiously similar to the Master of Animals motif...), some even with scorpions. (Frex: A Czech "weather saying": "Na sv. Jiří vylézají hadi a štíři." = On st. George's day the snakes and scorpions crawl out.) And what of Kanishka and his massive mace? I see both the axe and mace as divine weapons (swords representing the earthly warrior weapon). The mace is described by Rosenfield (p.179) as a "makara", referring to the carved metal head, depicting a monster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makara_(Hindu_mythology)
The Makara possessed a dual nature in early Indian art. On one hand, it was the emblem of the fructifying principle inherent in moisture - a king of water demons, on the other it was the emblem of passion and death.
Rosenfield then lists several examples of Makara bringing destruction, as well as another aspect of the club being a symbol of justice. (held by the ruler) Again, I might be reaching, but I'm reminded of the duality of Thunder Gods' axes, hammers and maces in various IE cultures - beside the destructive thunderous use of the weapon, the other end of it often had other effects: - The Balts would throw axes in the fields, put them in the path of newlyweds and under their bed before their first night together. (all to increase fertility) - In the Voroněž region, Slavs would throw an axe over their herd and into a fire, to ensure fertility of cows and also their safety. - In the Ukraine, axes were used in birthing rituals and later put into newborn's cradles. And let's not forget that Thór's hammer Mjölnir and Irish Dagda's club could also raise the dead! (all examples from Perun the Thundergod by Mgr. Michal Téra Phd.)
Where am I going with this?
It would be quite interesting if Kanishka, famous for his efforts in spreading of Buddhism, had himself sculpted as a thunder deity. Then again, we know Héraklés made it into the Buddhist pantheon as Vajrapani, guardian of Buddha himself! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrapani
This depiction is Gandharan, from the 2nd century AD. So perhaps it's not that much of a reach.
In summary: I noticed two swords looked kinda similar. Turns out I wasn't seeing things and that while we might end up with a bit of a divine goulash, looking for these connections is fun.
I ran across an intriguing sword today - a Tibetan infantry sword (amusingly dated to 14-17th century CE. It's funny how either we really can't date something only 300 or 600 years old more narrowly than a 300 year span, or how sword design in Tibet hasn't changed much in all that time) http://www.forensicfashion.com/1578TibetanInfantrySword.html
edit: The actual museum holding the sword dates it to early 14th century:
Either way, it's a beauty! And I immediately thought of another sword I've always liked - the so called "Hod Hill" sword:
The surprising thing - the Hod Hill sword is Roman with Celtic influence (found in Britain) and dated to the 1st century CE!
As you can see in the above reconstruction, the sword had some kind of organic material inserted in the hilt (wood, horn, bone etc.) and only the metal fittings remain.
Looking at the Tibetan sword again, I'm thinking that's probably not the case there. The scabbard seems original and its leather (and wood?) seem to have survived. So did the original sword have hollow hilt bits? Or did it have some kind of organic insides?
The blade is interesting as well, the profile is very close to late Roman spathas and looks more Chinese than Tibetan. (Tibetan swords from that period tend to be single edged and not diamond shaped in cross-section)
Does it all mean anything? No, but it's still a beautiful and intriguing piece. It's just extremely unlikely these two designs are in any way related - kind of like how bats and birds both fly, but aren't that close on the evolutionary tree.
"What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?"
Tonight's post will be another in the "Drawing swords" series!
In the past I've talked about the importance of proportions, axis alignment and other aspects of a good sword drawing. Now we'll talk about weight.
Swords being portrayed as heavy unwieldy bludgeons is a trope I try to fight against. However, in art, giving a sword some weight can be a good thing.
How much do swords weigh and why do we care?
It depends on the sword. You can completely disregard any talk of swords weighing more than 3.5 kilograms.
The biggest swords ever weighed around 5-6 kg and the heaviest among them are considered to be either executioner swords, or parade weapons not intended for actual combat. Of course, weight would depend on the user, strong men could afford really big swords. But!
We're still talking about swords used with both hands, for very specific purposes.
Single handed swords would weigh from around a kilo, to about 1,5 kg. Interestingly - medieval longswords (used with two hands) would fall into the same range! (their blades are generally slimmer)
This is less than most people assume, but it's not an insignificant weight.
What does it have to do with drawing swords?
A lot of information about the human body's anatomy and pose is very subtle and difficult to construct without reference. That's why we shoot reference for paintings, using whatever props we have. We can definitely appreciate these subtleties in art if they're done right - everything just feels natural.
What do we look for with swords? Their weight should affect their wielder's bearing (how much depends on the desired "story" of the painting - are they out of balance, because they're swinging wildly? Are they entirely in control, like the cool calm blademasters they are?) and almost more importantly, the sword should look natural in their hands. A lot could be said about swords not really fitting into hands, clipping through space where palms or fingers should be etc. This can be avoided quite easily - just photograph yourself holding something sword-like.
I apologize for looking tired in this pic, I was quite tired indeed. (as to why there is a stoned frog on the mirror, I have no idea) This is what I use for reference most of the time - an old practice sword. It's wooden, but the shape is quite close and it weighs around a kilo, so it makes a usable substitute.
Two things about using reference:
1) A sword is absolutely the best choice you can make. A broom handle, or a plastic lightsaber might work as well, but you're missing on some of the subtle differences. Sword handles are often not entirely round, instead they have an oval profile. Weight distribution and the object's overall weight also matter - a broom handle or a plastic lightsaber are both very light and will not make your hand and arm react the same way as a sword would. If you weigh them down, be careful where you're putting that weight. (you might end up with an "axe/mace" if you put it at the end of the stick) Most swords have a point of balance about a palm width from the crosspiece. A sword has a flat profile and edges, if you use a round stick, you'll lose that reference information.
2) Learn how to handle a sword, at least the basics. Swing it about a bit, carry it around, even if looks silly. Get a "scabbard" and try walking around with a sword on your belt, try sitting down etc. Learn how to grip a sword properly - most people try to use swords like baseball bats, golf clubs, hockey sticks and other sports gear. (I wrote about that in my sword sins post) Most of the time their grip is way too tight.
Kingdom of Heaven is a good film to watch for sword handling reference, Liam Neeson shows you that swords are not weightless and that it's badass and practical to rest one on your shoulder.
A painter who does swords very well (of course he does, he's a medieval reenactor himself) is John Howe. Here's a painting of his which has been among my very favourite of his for a long time - Yvain and the lion:
It may not seem so at first, but that's one big sword! But it looks just right, like it belongs where it is, resting on Yvain's shoulder as he gazes off screen.
Oh and here's another John Howe piece - "Tom Badgerlock" from Robin Hobb's novels. You can see he clearly took a photo of a friend in armour with a sword. (he describes the process on page 64 of his "Fantasy Art Workshop" book.
Specially for what the fingers do while handling a sword, I recommend watching real fighters and sword users in videos and going through their motion frame by frame. You can also use these frames for pose reference.
I especially like his comment on mostly using the two middle fingers to grip, this is something I came to use myself. The outside two fingers do most of the sword manipulation and allow for a wide range of movement within the grip.
I don't know if this guy does any sparring, but his sword handling and cutting ability is formidable.
They're defenseless plastic bottles, but see how they mostly don't fly off and instead he's able to cut them into tiny slices? That's good edge alignment during a cut, there's little resistance that would otherwise send them flying. See how light the sword looks in his hand? That's practice right there. ;)
What you won't generally get from bottle cutters is real combat stances and intensity, their form is very controlled and they don't move about much. For intensity and intent, I'd recommend something like these guys:
They're using lighter training swords, so it's mostly for the way their bodies move during combat.
Certain aspects of John Clemens' interpretation of fencing manuals are disputed by many in the HEMA community, but you can see the many different types of grips possible in this video, it has nice closeups on the hands.
What should we do about it then?
Painting is often not about recreating reality exactly, slight exaggerations (of things rather subtle in reality, which we don't notice consciously) are quite necessary to make an image dynamic and to improve its storytelling.
Making a sword seem slightly heavier than it would look in reality helps ground it in the scene as a real object, it needs to interact with its environment and with the person holding it.
Looking for examples of my own art to illustrate this post, I realized I don't actually get to do many sword-wielding characters. I also noticed I tend to prefer a specific sword pose, where the sword hangs point down, its weight dragged into the cut. (possibly from a hanging parry, or a thrust position)
I now see things I could improve upon, but the general idea is there - the fact fingers are not wrapped rigidly around the handle, the wrist is not stiff and straight, the way the body turns into the cut (you don't cut with just the arm, it's like punching in boxing - the whole body twists to generate momentum).
That's it for today! It took quite a while to explain something fairly simple -
Remember swords weigh something, that they should look like your character is actually holding them, carrying them, or swinging them with force. Take reference pictures and know what makes good sword reference. Done! :)
This is a copy of my post in a fanart thread over at the Project Eternity forums. PE is an RPG being made by Obsidian Entertainment.
----------------------------------
(Background: During the last hours of the Kickstarter video stream, Chris Avellone expressed a certain opinion on swords. To quote (from memory), it was "Swords are boring!". When I protested in the chat, he continued to say that "If you like swords, there's something seriously wrong with you."
I should probably mention that I absolutely love swords. Swords, to me, are super interesting, I could read about their evolution, design, decoration and other aspects for hours and hours. And not only are they very cool as tools with a certain purpose, their role throughout history (other than "you poke people with the pointy end") is fascinating as well.
I decided I would attempt to prove Chris Avellone wrong.
The next day after the stream, I was sitting on an early morning bus, heading to the city where I went to school at the time. It was dark, the engine's humming made me sleepy, but all of a sudden, an idea for a sword struck me. I kept thinking about it the whole time and quickly typed it all in my phone, so that I didn't forget any of the brilliant ideas. (:D)
Then I got really busy with school and illustration work, so the sword didn't get painted until today. I found myself with a free evening and having backed the Torment Kickstarter, it reminded me of the sword design in my desk's drawer.)
Last note: I had NOT yet played Planescape: Torment when I came up with the idea, I was actually bringing my old CD of PT with me on the bus! I played it about a month later and when I got to Dak'kon and read the description of his sword, I thought: "Oh."
I have to wonder, it seems like the only sword there is in that game. Did Avellone write it? That'd make me SO mad. :D
Wailing Sword of Eír Glanfath
Lore: This ancient elven short sword is made of obsidian, inlaid with copper, the copper handle decorated with opal. Powerful yet unknown magic has been used for its making - the obsidian blade does not shatter on impact, if it's wielded by a warrior of strong will. Mages speculate that the copper inlay transfers the impact and vibrations into the handle, where the opal heads with tongues stuck out connect it to the soul of the user. This puts the mind under pressure, similarly to how ciphers use their gift sometimes.
The stronger the warrior's soul and will are, the more powerful the sword becomes. However, one moment of weakness, one break in concentration and the user may end up blank eyed and babbling, wiggling on the floor in a pool of urine. As a reflected wave, this energy flows back into sword and comes out of the opal heads on the pommel, transformed into sound. It's form and intensity range from subtle humming to blood-curdling wailing.
It is rumored that if an especially weak minded person draws the sword, it'll break in the slightest breeze. Or it may even shatter and kill its bearer with an explosion of burning obsidian shards.
Design ideas:As far as I know, the ancient elves of Eír Glanfath are described as quite primitive, technology-wise, yet with impressive knowledge of astronomy and so on. I went with a very simple, yet ellegant bronze age design - a short leaf blade and a cone pommel. The sword is vaguely reminiscent of celtic weapons, but I didn't stick too close to any historical style. It's magical after all, so it's longer than any obsidian weapon we could reasonably imagine. Beside obsidian I chose the most primitive metal I could think of - copper. No idea if the elves actually used metal or not, this one has that ancient look for sure. Opal is just cool, I really liked the idea of it being a magical transformer for soul energy. ;)
Obsidian I chose for obvious reasons, but also because it's supposed to (perhaps as an urban legend) hold an edge one molecule wide and thus able to cut anything. (if only it wasn't fragile! hey, magic solves that problem! ;))
The copper inlay all revolves around sound. The blade decoration looks a bit like a signal, a sine wave and a snake (Ouroboros? I know they got rid of that, it's an old idea). The guard ended up looking a lot like pointy elven ears, but that was NOT intentional. Maybe it was subconscious. The arms holding the "signal" symbolize the user's soul grip on things being the only thing keeping the sword intact.
The opal faces are pretty self explanatory - the handle ones dig into your palm, make it slightly uncomfortable to use, reminding you of the responsibility you have when you draw the sword.
Possible system uses:
- obviously more damage or armour piercing if the user's willpower or soul power (uh, whatever stat you choose :D) is higher
- regular roll checks if the sword breaks and hurts you?
- maybe there's a chance the wailing (if you do a critical?) scares some of your opponents and breaks their morale?
- maybe you can do sonic attacks by waving it wildly? Or if you hit the ground?
So, that's that. It'd be kind of cool if I could mod it into the game one day, but who knows how that turns out. (2017 edit: It didn't. Boo! :D Obsidian, we want mods!)
I have been painting full page colour plates for it, very much in the style of Angus McBride's plates for the Osprey books.
Each plate depicts a culture-specific event, cultures being represented by four or five characters doing whatever they do and showing off their clothing, jewelry and tattoos.
Jeff Richard and I agreed it'd be good to show how one of these is made, step by step.
Plate n. 4 - Ralios
It all starts with Jeff sending me a brief in PDF. Like this one:
I spent one whole afternoon reading these briefs, googling images and going through my image library, looking for reference for each plate.
Examples of such reference may look like this:
I should note that I don't use these images directly, they're not traced, they're not "Photoshopped" into the painting. I simply want to be sure about how this kind of stuff looks so that I can paint it looking plausibly.
This set of reference is for the barbarian bodyguard of course.
After gathering reference I attempt to sketch a composition of the piece. It's important to decide where characters stand, kneel or do whatever they're supposed to be doing. The have to be placed to make sense in the "story" and also to be well visible. That can sometimes be a problem, but here it was quite simple. A tight group of conspirators standing in a dark alley! Very easy.
I draw and paint directly in a program called ArtRage. It produces a nice traditional look and it feels like using real paint too. (ie it's a struggle all the way through :D)
I actually drew this in two layers - one for the architecture (to keep it in perspective) and one for the characters. So if I needed to erase bits of the characters, I could do so without damaging the scene itself.
You can see I've done a bit of the character design in the sketch already. This plate didn't see many changes from sketch to paint, which is a bit unusual for me.
The scene as described in the brief sounds very dark. Dark alley, in the night, no street lights...I was a bit worried about that. I have to get light in there somehow! I suggested we give the sorcerer some kind of magical lantern and it was okayed by Jeff. I quite liked the idea of a night scene with a purplish tint to the dark city (which is pretty common in big modern cities due to air pollution. Not sure how that happened here, but hey. Artistic license, right? ;)) with a contrasting green light illuminating the characters.
You may notice the vertical and upper facing bits of buildings are coloured more towards cold grays, being "lit" by the sky, while the down facing bits are more purply. This would happen on a bright day more likely, where sunlight is bouncing off the ground upwards onto horizontal surfaces. So it's not very realistic to do this at night, but it serves as a nice compositional tool, to get some of the warm colours into shadows. That balances the use of warm hues through the image somewhat.
The bodyguard's face is also the first one I painted. I tend to start with getting faces "right", because they're the most difficult and fun to do.
I did some work on the right side of the painting and noticed the bouncing light issue. I opted for a slightly more realistic depiction and darkened the shadowed area considerably. A lot of work has been put into the stones of the building and the barbarian's costume is mostly done.
I finished the barbarian by detailing the sword, armour and adding runes to his face and arms. I decided the background could use some work, so I painted the buildings in the back. I've done some work on the noblewoman, but almost exclusively her upper half. Somehow the lower bits weren't so appealing to me in this image. I also started on the sorcerer and it was really fun and easy for some reason. The green light was a joy to use too.
This part was a mix of fun - painting the face of the priestess and less fun - painting the lower halves of the sorcerer and the noblewoman. Lots of ornaments everywhere. I also realized the lighting wasn't quite right on the left wall, so I added cast shadows and half shadows, which framed the figures better.
The last step was to paint the priestess, her frilly skirt, tattooed legs and tighten everything else that needed fixing or detailing. I decided to add ornaments to the stonework to the right, including the Harmony rune inside an Earth rune. I thought those two would be a good choice for masons wishing for their building to last. (that wasn't in the brief, just my own initiative after learning the runes by heart :D)
That's it!
My biggest fear: The architecture. I'm not very confident about buildings, but it ended up being surprisingly alright. Darkness did help for sure though. My favourite bits: The whole barbarian bodyguard was my favourite from the moment I got the brief. His pipe, his scratched and notched sword, the lamellar vest and (my invention for no reason) the detachable sleeve of his tunic. I also quite enjoyed designing the tall headgear of the high priestess and the mitre helmet of the sorcerer. That one especially! I really enjoy how it shows his painted forehead and how it's using his own hair to attach itself to the head. (look closely, there's a knot of dreadlocks at the top, going through the tiara)
Now what are those heavily embroidered flappy flaps going through the ring belt on the noblewoman? No idea. :) Any suggestions?
Thanks a lot for reading! I hope you'll enjoy the plates when they're all printed in the Guide. I know I will spend a lot of time gazing at them lovingly. ;P
I've been thinking about companies I could approach while looking for work. Paizo came up naturally - their main product, Pathfinder, seems to be very popular with players and all the good artists work for them. (gosh, what shallow reasons, right?)
And I thought they may be easier to approach than let's say Wizards of the Coast.
So a few months ago I started going through their art, trying to pick out something I could do, to show I can do their IP and do it with my own twist.
I'll admit, I've never cared that much for paladins. I never had Keldorn in my party in Baldur's Gate II, I never played one in tabletop roleplaying games. Playing a paladin felt almost as a cheat, they were great fighters who could also heal, turn undead and bless. (Yeah, clerics also, I know.)
Still, I really liked the design of Seelah by Wayne Reynolds. Seelah is one of the iconic characters in Pathfinder and I chose her for my portfolio illustration.
I liked the whole backstory with the paladin helmet, I liked her hairstyle, the fact she used a sword and shield and most of all - the confidence the artist painted in her face and posture. This paladin will smite evil and chew bubble gum. She just happens to be out of gum at the moment.
It's quite interesting to go through the Paizo blog and see all the different interpretations of this character by various artists:
I began by doodling Seelah's angry face while gaming with friends. (note - drawing just a head and then trying to use it in the final drawing = bad idea)
Then I struggled with the pose. I wanted her to be cutting up some undead, in that Japanese style where they're already falling into pieces as she's finishing her swing.
The pose I am not too happy with. For one, an overswing this huge (that it tips you out of balance) is a no no in swordfighting. I should've probably gone for something with legs spread wide, stable, heavy and powerful looking.
But I also wanted motion and the destabilizing power of holy wrath to show through in the composition. So I went with this one. (in the end, as it often happens with my battle poses, I found out I've been ripping off Frazetta big time)
The next step was a drawing of the whole scene (in ArtRage) and a rough color study (in PS).
Mmm, yeah. Ghouls swarming behind her, ghouls being cut up into pieces in the foreground. So far so good, although in hindsight this was way too loose. (which I came to curse later)
I dove right in. You can see I rendered Seelah's face completely, while other parts of the image are almost blank. Yep, that's not a good thing to do either.
For some reason I decided to add knives to the ghouls. I don't remember why exactly, maybe I thougth the left arm was almost hitting a tangent with the cape and instead of changing that one thing, I added many other. Yeah, strange idea, not sure it worked very well. (I lost that implied circle in the composition, got a sort of a teardrop shape though. That's not too bad.)
Next step is a big jump, I didn't save the progress in between. I rendered a lot of the ghouls in both foreground and background, Seelah's armour and FINALLY decided to do something about that lazy looking cloudy background. (yay for ruins)
The armour I ground my teeth over. I adjusted the arm pieces a bit, because I couldn't quite see how it would all hold together and move properly. The legs I couldn't do for a long time, the exposed knee is just not right (in my very humble opinion). I don't remember why I didn't put in some kind of inner knee bowl, or a piece of mail sewn to her pants, maybe to stay true to the design.
Anyway, lots of little bits and pieces of equipment to be painted on Seelah, that's for sure.
Then it was a matter of rendering more ghouls and dealing with the shiny flame path of her swing.
Right. If I planned this right, the sword would've been nearly white and the brightest point of the painting, the trail being sort of faintly visible. This way I had a very red hot iron looking sword and a blindingly bright path. What now?
Color Burn layer to the rescue! (in ArtRage! I very rarely use fancy layer modes in AR, but this time was a necessary exception.)
You may also notice there was a weird face thing under the shiny path in the previous version. I only noticed that near the end and almost by accident changed it to Seelah's tower shield. I quite like the idea she swung so hard her shield straps got torn and the shield flew from her arm. (win by accident? \o/)
Then I exported it into Photoshop, tightened up a few places, fixed values where needed, added a bit of glow, pushed contrast and hightlights. Voila! It's done and I need to not look at it for a few days. ;)
This painting hasn't taken longer than usual, but I painted it in bits and pieces when I had the time, mostly during weekends. This is a bad approach for me and it only made it more complicated. By the end I wasn't pleased with it at all and simply wanted to have it over with. I realized the many mistakes I've done and that fixing them would simply be a waste of time. So I bit my forearm and pushed through.
A good lesson it was, I have to plan better before I actually start painting. It didn't end up as horrible as I feared though. Especially the Color Burn layer at the very end made it jump from "what the hell am I doing with this?" to "Oh. I kind of meant for it to be like that in my mind.".
