Reptile Wine

Jam

2010-07-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

Jam, the new Jam anyway. She isn't the cute little bardic half-elf from before, as adorable as she was, she had to grow up sometime and she grew up in a town the equivalent of Thay. A magically-powered, dark town of chaos, luckily it hadn't corrupted her too much. And again, its nearly 1am, I'm done typing.

Relic

2010-07-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

Relic is the sidekick in the comic I'm planning. Essentially, he's the listener, the gossip, the intel-gatherer and the professional swordsman. His general outlook on life is well...cold. Relic's just fine and even full of glee with his killings, his past as a pirate and the trophy on his neck (A requilary containing the finger of a saint he's slain). Yeah it's 1am. I'm done typing.

Gladiators and Lovers

2010-07-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

In this picture, all I can say is that Jam's aged to 16, still a kid but smart enough to be a great gladiator monk.

And this picture's just a warm up drawing of Orea and Acton, the only couple I've ever written.

GIGA SKETCH DUMP

2010-06-20T15:56:00.001-07:00

A couple are reposts but most have NEVER BEEN SEEN BY MOST PEOPLE OOOOooooOOOOO (click to zoom)

also on deviantart!

Elementally Challenged and a sketchdump

2010-06-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a long while, this piece is on my deviantart. That's where you'll find the description for it for a change.

Now stand by your regularly scheduled sketchdump:

Sketch Dump May 27th

2010-05-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

The Biggest Sketchdump To Date

2010-05-11T16:13:00.001-07:00

New Moleskine!

2010-04-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm using a new one. No the other one isn't really full, it's got a few pages left, but meh. Whatevz. Normally this'd be the first page in the new book but seeing as I forgot that I already had something on the front, I drew and inked a picture on the back, so this drawing is very visible from page 1. Meh. I like it.

Yeah, yeah

2010-04-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

Logan wanted me to do a "realistic" picture of Johnny Depp since I almost never do realism. I bent the rules and sketched The Mad Hatter. Hate me? You should.

That Commission From Yonder Back

2010-04-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Remember that? Me neither.

SAT Prep Class Blows

2010-04-14T17:08:00.000-07:00

It really, really, does. So I spent the time drawing Orea deep in mediation and a nature spirit lookin thing. Beats math any day.

Kicking and Dancing

2010-04-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Acton, now with beating gloves! As for her place this time around, thats hush hush and half done. Swapped her knives for fists on the grounds that it's more badass to beat someone to pulp than stab them to one.
And this chick? Well...Yeah, I got nothin'. Potential future Jam? Jam's sister? Jam's mother? Just an elf? Who knows.

Jammin'

2010-04-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

In short, Orea chose Jam from a jar in The Dark Lady, Queen of Death's "Library of Restless Souls" so yes, Jam died before, but now shes back and Orea's sidekick. The Jam on the left, is the typical Jam, smart, wizardly and archer-esque always prepared and reading. The Jam on the right is the result of the resurrection. No one gets a "Get Out of Death Free" card. When Jam is overcome with anger, rage, fear, guilt or sorrow, she becomes Dark Jam, who becomes even more of an uncontrollable killer than Orea, but the good part is that Dark Jam is stronger, quicker and more agile than regular Jam.

This is like Orea the 48th, right?

2010-04-04T19:35:00.001-07:00

Yet another incarnation of Orea, originally she was going to be a demon hunter, but meh, we have enough of those, but what about an angel hunter? Yeah, awesome, right? As for details, those are a bit shaky but I'll say what I DO have down:

-Orea is still a boar-totem barbarian by birth and up bringing
-Orea and Acton are still an item
-Orea works on commission and contract with demons
-Orea is not evil but Chaotic Neutral
-"The Harpy" is a name given by followers of the angels she slays
-"Talon" is just named Talon as an extension of "The Harpy"

-On one side of Orea's inner she has a shaman's healing staff, a wand to concentrate her magic and a pouch of varying ritual candles

-Orea files down 2 of her teeth to make fangs

-Orea is still a badass

Orea of Epitaph

2010-03-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

As the setting changed from deep-underground primal civilization to post-apocayptic scifi fantasy, so did Orea. The only main different is that thing embedded in her chest. It's similar to a PDA, but it projects a magically powered hologram 2 feet in front of Orea, with a configuration similar to an iPhone's, that lets the little device act as a cellphone, gps, inventory and basic camera. The main perk to Orea's model of the PDA is that it can take physical items, convert them to basic data and make them disappear, then when the item is needed again, it reads the data and recreates the item.

Epitaph

2010-03-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

In short, my idea for a setting leaked early...goddamn twitter...SO I MUST STAKE MY POSITION AS CREATOR OF EPITAPH, THE POST-APOCALYPTIC FUTURO-SCIFI FANTASY SETTING.

Basically, in the far flung future where all is wireless yet always connected, shit got real. Apocalypse real. Not nuclear war no, but collision of the realms. A fey realm, one of magic and fantasy, sword and sorcery, collided with the terrestrial realm, resulting in not only mass destruction to both parties, but a combination of the realms. Now the world they once knew was a mere memory, a pdf file in a history e-book. The world now was populated with abberant beings of the direst fel origins and the survivors of the Arcanapocalypse had to band together quickly if they sought survival. Races originally on different planes of being, united under one tattered, homemade banner for the most part, each displaying the ways of their previous culture in an effort to help the other side, and in return, gain the knowledge they possess. With nuclear power gone, the races of the other-realm taught what little magic they had left in their spellbooks to mankind, giving them a power source to the surviving tech. Most of the old society was vaporized, but smaller devices, ones similar to PDAs and cybernetic implants had survived, along with a few other pieces. With magic powering them like batteries, they fundamentally acted the same, with a few chance changes. The newly refounded tech is used by all nowadays, all linking up the magical leylines that control the flow of arcane energy throughout the world, instead of systems like wifi and 36G.

Most cities have been reduced to rubble, but that only leaves opportunities. Scavengers and raiders are the main movers and shakers of the world, usually with knowledge of far off places with the greatest loot they could imagine. The only problem was what lies between Point A and Point B. Beasts of unimaginable terror and atrocity. Sure not all magically altered creatures are bad, but anything with a mouth with more teeth than remaining humanoids on the plant, yeah, those things are bad.

Today's Sketches

2010-03-08T19:01:00.000-08:00

Comission WIP

2010-03-07T14:39:00.001-08:00

First Portfolio Piece: WIP

2010-02-28T18:51:00.001-08:00

Yes, college time is on its way and I still haven't started my portfolio, so I thank the gods for the ability to shit out quality art in a day. I'm still working on this one though, but I felt it's worth sharing, it's Jam in her new wardrobe, a peacoat, hoodie, flannel and t-shirt with lace-up boots, jeans, assorted trinkets and a new sitar to replace her old lute. I'm not sure about the background so far, so it's blank for the time being.

New Sketchbook, New Art

2010-02-13T15:20:00.001-08:00

The best way to start a blog post? Cheesecake. Not the edible kind, the pin-up artistic kind. But yes, this piece started out when Logan suggest a hawt Orea drawing as a warm-up sketch, the original suggestion was Orea in a bikini, but psht, Orea, nor any barbarian, would never wear one. But what would barbarian swim wear look like? Damn near nothing ;3.

Kyler, being a druid, lent herself to being the subject of some awesome nature manipulation spells, the most useless being topiary. An hour of watching the list of everything Logan rolled up in We Love Katamari, she finally rolled up a Topiary Elephant and I was all "WOAH THATS AWESOME!" and flashed back to the old 3.5e druid spell "Shape Nature", combining the two, you get awesomely useless topiary skills.

Acton, being another barbarian, but of her own tribe, has a different fighting style than Orea's bastard sword of total rape, Acton uses two broad daggers in more of a dance-like, elusive, charge that mimics a fox's trickery, each dagger, a fang, and like the arctic fox, Acton doesn't need to see her prey, she just needs to hear it and she can pinpoint its exact location through snow, sand, stone or wood.

I freakin' love Viva Pinata. Nuff' said.

Considered giving Orea an eye patch, mostly to signify her blind rage, her barbaric rage, but then her face became too crowded so I opted out of it.

B.Steam

2010-02-09T17:37:00.001-08:00

B.Steam.

B.Steam is Jessa and My's "adopted daughter", or at least, that's what we call her. Originally she was my idea when I had artist's block and Jessa was giving me new things I've never drawn to get me started, this was followed by a bunch of reference pictures of burlesque dancers, and seeing as that is out of my circles of knowledge, I had to combine it with something I was a bit more familiar, and went with a more steampunk edge, hence the top hat and pocket watch. After the initial drawing, Jessa seemed to love the character, and I just let her have the IP for it, and she didn't mind taking it, then she tweaked her a bit more and said we should share her as she is now a creation of both of ours. My verision of her is black and white, monochromatic with the splash of orange-red for her hair. Jessa's verision is done in sepia, still keeping some color, but we always do that. My Orea has a purple bandana and black shirt, her Orea has an orange bandana and a white shirt, her Acton has streamlined wings, my Acton has bone wings. Personality wise, she's a mix of The Warden from Superjail, Mad Mod from Teen Titans the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, an illusionist and deceiver extraordinaire.

Sketch DUMP

2010-02-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

Red Forest

2010-01-21T19:55:00.001-08:00

Just a piece I promised my BFF and dearest, Logan, combining her terrible obsessions with faeries, geisha girls and paper cranes. Whose awesome? Me.

And here's the WIP. This is the first piece I've ever inked using a paintbrush and a vial of india ink, and by the gods it's now my favorite method of inking.

Gettin' Wilden Up in Here

2010-01-16T22:12:00.001-08:00

BEHOLD! A SEA WILDEN! In short, the Wilden are a DnD race from the Feywild, they're defenders of nature and are living embodiments of it. Typically they're tree-based, but my friend Brian thought there should be at least one that didn't come from the forest. That's how this guy was spawned! He's comprised of coral, anemones, living fish and a king crab. The orbs sticking out of his stomach are almost like fish-tank tumors; the fish are able to swim around in his body, providing him with a rough circulatory system while the fish get a home and food supply. His left arm is actually a king crab, the shoulder is the majority of the crab itself, while one of the crab's arms is large enough to act as an arm for the wilden. And here's the work in progress:
This wilden on the other hand, is a lot less special, he's just a DnD character concept I have. Cross, Wilden Seeker. Unlike other wilden, his interests lie in the jingles of coins and the feel of gems, rather than the earth he walks on or the sky that watches him. He speaks with a heavy australian accent and favors a superior crossbow. and a good smoke.

NYAAHHH

2010-01-10T15:19:00.001-08:00

Very similar to the last Orea picture I drew, it's the newly stylized Jam. This is also just me playing with my prismacolors, for a dollar a pencil, I damn best be usin' 'em. But yeah, the only issue I have with this is that Jam is usually carrying a lot more equipment, so I just need to think of a way that she quickly drops it when its fight time without just dropping it. You'll also notice Jam isn't as sharply drawn as Orea, that was intentional, Jam's supposed to be the loveable sidekick, not the complete bad-ass.

RAGEEEEE!!!

2010-01-08T21:55:00.000-08:00

I actually really like this piece. Not only was it done on the part of the page reserved for space-filler, but I'm improving a bit with the new Prismacolor pencils. I'm also trying to push the style a bit more, exaggerate, add a few more details here and there. Though I do have the strangest obsession with line-weight...

FOOLISH SAMURAI WARRIOR! v2

2010-01-07T21:20:00.000-08:00

The updated version of the last gnomish samurai after it went through the approval process and had to be edited. Now it's more geisha-esque with the makeup and traditional colors. But as a flavor element, Kin Kohana, gnomish swordmage will always have cherry blossom petals magically wisping around her and moving with the spells she cast and flurrying about when she gets angry. Hopefully later her familiar will either be holding a paper lantern or be a living paper lantern.

Deva Druid

2010-01-06T22:36:00.000-08:00

It is 1:36am. I am just finishing this piece. I have to be up in less than 4 hours. Fuck.

FOOLISH SAMURAI WARRIOR!

2010-01-06T17:32:00.001-08:00

So now Logan and I are both in an unofficial DnD group, my gnoll assassin still has to be designed, but I figured I'd get Logan's "Gnomish Samurai" out of the way first. We're playing a 4e game so Samurai wasn't a class like it was back in the days of 3.5e, so I had to improvise. Her options were a Halfling Tempest fighter or a gnomish swordmage, and the fact a WARRIOR could use MAGIC seemed to fascinate her so she picked a swordmage. Her laziness also carried over to the table since her main way of keeping her enemies in check is, not to teleport TO THEM like most swordmagi, no, that requires too much effort, she teleports THEM TO HER.

Reforging

2010-01-05T16:31:00.000-08:00

FEAR NOT, the garb Orea's decked out in was just the result of my boredom, she still wears her usual, casual attire for her asskicking and badassery. THOUGH, I figured such a special little lady needs an even more special blade. Especially since the last one was based on an Urukai design from LOTR. This new one, still has the same inscription as the last, only now it makes a truer reaping tool, and it functions as a hook for Orea to swing from if that gutter is just out of her reach.

Pants Practice

2010-01-04T17:37:00.000-08:00

Since almost all of my characters, males included, seem to be decked out in skinny jeans, I figured it was time to expand a bit and learn how others types of pants move, flow and fall. Ignore the blotches of darkness, it's from a terrible scanner. Though a lot of the darkness is shopped out...meh. The majority of the work is done with a 5H pencil, I just went over and refined the pants with a regular HB pencil.

I'm Sorry

2010-01-03T00:16:00.001-08:00

But I love this:

The Only Interesting Day of Winter Break

2010-01-02T22:28:00.001-08:00

Naturally I'll preface with a bit of art to lure in those with short attention spans:
Ah, retrospectivity. A long time ago, longer now it seems, there exists a place only found in your dre- oh wait no, this little lady came from the terrible minds of Kimothy and I, but has been resurrected as a cameo character in the comic. Her name is and always was Evana; she was the original main character of my comics for as long as I can remember attempting to make them, back when Kimothy was my co-writer. She was a rogue, then a shaman, then a druid, then a sorceress, then an illusionist, and then a wizard, in that order. Those were the days when Orea was only a sketch on college ruled paper, and a story in a leather-bound journal, when Orea was Evana's smart-mouth sidekick, accompanying the ever-changing character of Nathanial who I never wish to speak of ever again. But yes, Evana will probably be making an appearance or two in the comic, just because I can. :3

NOW FOR THE BORING, NON-ART/COMIC RELATED STUFF.

My day: woke up, ate, went back to bed, woke up, ate, got dressed, got money and got abducted. By Logan no less, but no worries it was planned. We headed to the woodbridge mall in her hello-kitty mobile, no, I am not kidding, the innards are plastered with kawaii desu kittens and pink everywhere. But after being deafened by a Taylor Swift CD, we popped in some System of a Down and it was smooth sailing to the mall. Our main objective was to purchase as much Mana as we could afford, and thank the gods we didn't, but I'll address why later. Naturally, after my caffine-related needs were filled, I was dragged around by the leash from clothing store to clothing store, judging all the clothes and the people buying them. Though we did stop at a native-american-style store where I bought a celtic "Earth Connection" necklace, since they were out of Bear Totem necklaces. Then I was dragged around more until I started to bitch and complain that I was hungry and we got Cinnabons. Now here's where the humiliation starts. Logan then insisted we go in the photo booth and take pictures, as long as I didn't pay, I would reluctantly squeeze my rhino-esque frame in there. If a picture says a thousand words, be prepared for four thousand swear-words.
The first photo is the only one I can stand to look at, mostly because the manas I could fit in my gaping maw, blocked my hideous death-mask of a face. Also, regardless of how it may seem, I did not enjoy the licking I'm getting in the last photo. But after another hour or so, we left the mall and of course, forgot where we parked...in the freezing cold...with winds that want to shred us to ribbons. After realizing we were on the totally wrong side of the mall, we scampered around the perimeter of the mall, not having enough sense to go back inside. But the car-related problems only got better when Logan started to drive on the wrong side of the road. Though, the drive to dinner went better than expected, my knuckles weren't white from gripping the hand-rail but a bit of a pale-pinkish. So we arrive at U-Yee's, the most awesome sushi place evvaaarrr. Order 7 rolls of sushi, now seeing as a roll is 6 pieces, that's 42 pieces of sushi between the both of us, including a few extras that found their way onto our plate. We just ordered whatever had the coolest names, ninja roll, godzilla roll, the NUMBER ONE roll, and so on. Now here's why I'm glad I didn't raid the mall of their manas. When it came time to pay, we expected the same price we had when it was Logan, Sam and I. It was twice that amount and neither of us were prepared. Logan was having a mental-breakdown in the bathroom while I had my outsides in Calm, Cool, Collected mode, but was going through a lesser degree of a breakdown than Logan was. We emptied our wallets and pockets, pooled our money and had literally just enough to cover the bill. Then I had to listen to an hour of apologizing on Logan's part for making me cover the majority of the bill. That was all she was doing on the drive back to my house. But naturally, once home, my home, Logan decides she's going to pull up a chair, get comfortable and stay a while. We played Spyro, since Spyro was voiced by her celebrity man-crush, Frodo Baggins. Then when that got boring, we turned on my blue ray of Coraline, and got a quarter of the way through before she had to run off.

And that, despite how negative it may sound, was not only the best day of winter break, but an awesome start to 2010. IT CAN ONLY GO DOWNHILL FROM HERE!

A True Abomination

2010-01-01T23:10:00.001-08:00

I honestly and truly hate this piece, it's a gift for my friend Logan, and since she went to sleep mid-production, I was left to my own means to finish it, luckily all that was left was the background. THAT is the abomination. I'm not even sure if I should disgrace deviantart with this, but I probably will.

Shadar-Kai Monk

2009-12-30T18:22:00.000-08:00

The second post of today, this time with today's warm-up sketch, since today I have to tackle a large, late, gift piece so I did my usual random character rolling to get out a shadar-kai monk chick, and I figured it would be an opportunity to practice some Raven Queen tattoos on a chick.

Gnoll Ardent

2009-12-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's warm-up sketch was the result of opening the D&D 4e Character Builder, closing your eyes, and picking a random race/class combo, it came out really weird. But the colors themselves are accidental, originally his clothes would be all green and purple until I realized purple just ruined the line art and i stopped, stood back, and realized the white fit perfectly. Yay accidents.

Taking a Warm-Up Sketch Too Far

2009-12-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

Here's the finished product.

And this was the innocent little warm up sketch I did in my new sketchbook that started this whole thing.

Stylization Much

2009-12-23T13:46:00.001-08:00

As of late I've noticed my art sort of losing it's luster and sense of life, which I've traced to the fact that I've been hung up on too many minor details and totally forgot about the stylization I once had. Now I've decided to change this.

Firstly, my pride and joy Orea. I've tried to take away all sense of roundness from Orea's figure and posture, in an attempt to show her as being a bit more jagged and not necessarily evil, but less caring than she looked before.
Jam on the other hand is designed to look sleeker and more agile, while still retaining her childishness. The Jam seen here is the Jam you'll see within 2 months of in-comic time.

To The Dogs

2009-12-11T23:59:00.001-08:00

Despite having a busy day (it's now officially 3am) I've still managed to crank out some unnecessary concept art once again. The top drawing, the War Shepard, is the main mode of individual land transport, are similar to German Shepard/Hyena hybrids, they're like modern day sled dogs, only 6 feet tall. The one shown would be more of a scout or messenger shepard, seeing as it lacks the barding and muscle mask a battle shepard might wear. The bottom drawing is just my interpretation of lycanthropic lupines, y'know, werewolves. In my setting they're not only rather intelligent and eloquent, they bear resemblance to the stereotypical brit. These kinds of werewolves are also impervious to silver, that whole "you can only kill a werewolf with silver" thing was just a misconstruen translation, or the equivalence to a world wide game of telephone.

Butterfly Babe (UPDATED)

2009-12-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

Mostly the product of boredom, but I've just been trying to populate the regions of my world I call "The Savage Norths" with various totemic tribes, some druidic, some shaman, some barbarian, some a mix of the three. But I forget what exactly triggered this idea, but it's essentially a halfling butterfly totem druid, who can transform into a swarm of butterflies, in this case, nice teal blue ones, the clan itself is very pacifistic, preferring to spend their time planting various flowers and growing things, rather than fighting or adventuring.

Just designing some general gear for the butterfolk, setting rules for their culture too.

Dem Youngins

2009-12-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

Reworking Orea's timeline so that she was around 16 when her village was burned, then she spent 2 years with the White Raven Clan where she learned the ways of shadow and reforged her bastard sword, then found her way to Dockmoon and met up with little Jam. Though, I've always had the idea of her having burns under her gloves, uncontrolled arcane magic can do that to ya.

Night Sketchin!

2009-12-08T21:13:00.001-08:00

First off, an idea for a steampunk fairy culture, they build their wings, they're flying marksmen, they're the size of elves, they replace the wild-archers role elves typically fit, except they use some degree of tech, steam tech.

I am watching Sweeney Todd. It is my favorite movie

It is late. Full sentences aren't happening.

I am the devil

2009-12-05T17:43:00.001-08:00

To bugs, that is. So here's how I believe I've earned my title. As I was drawing in my sketchpad, I hear a faint buzz that I've come to associate with the stink bugs that keep finding their way into my house, namely my room, namely my desk next to the window with the broken screen. So I figured "Meh, whatevz" and went back to drawing. That is, until it made it's opening move. As I'm working: PLOP. The beast falls down in front of me, onto my sketchbook, desecrating it with it's foul presence. Now I'm on the move, I tilt the pad so the demon slides off onto my empty second desk behind me. As it's trying to maneuver itself out of it's prone position, I grab the conveniently placed can of hairspray, used for keeping up my old, bullet-proof liberty spikes. It's on. I do a quick test spray of the can, success, then the can's nozzle takes aim at this new invader. CHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. The spray connects, critical success, the demon's wings are now bound to its foul torso. It strains itself to lift it's aerodynamic apparatus from it's durable shell but to no avail, it was stuck, flightless with it's extremities becoming harder to operate by the second. The beast attempted to make a hasty retreat through the portal it had used for entry, but as he was creeping toward the midway point, I had discovered my heat lamps. As lamps turned their gaze to the spot of the horror, they sent their scorching rays in the demon's direction, speeding up the hairspray's immobilization process. This was not enough. On went more hairspray, it's delightful hiss, its freezing breath, all pure pleasure. This continued until the beast ceased movement, at which point, most would assume victory was there's, but not me, I had to be sure. As a test, I opened the window the creature was longing for, now completely agate, zephyrs pouring in. The demon suddenly sprung to life once more and continued it's pursuit of undeserved freedom. But being who I am, I just watched as the demon made its ascension until it's victory was in sight. Window open, it was now perched on the window sill and seemed to halt a moment, get its second wind, maybe think about it's family back home, reflect on his recent folly, or maybe just take in the view. But that moment was all I needed, it was still, perfectly position for the impending. SLAM! The window closes, crushing the beast, ending it's struggle for existence. I love me.

Death by Color Theory (UPDATED)

2009-12-04T18:19:00.001-08:00

Just colored the cleric in to match the rest of the scene. The bottom left is where the text goes.

While working on page 2 of the comic, there are some panels that seemed to deserve more attention than others. Namely the slaughter scenes. I've decided to go with the movie-poster cliche of orange/blue for this one for a few reasons. The light blue is an easier, softer color, representing the ease of the kill while the orange is the eye-grabber, really bringing your eye through the picture, instead of just at the picture. And y'know, I can only digitally paint so much before I start to hate it. That's a reason too.

A Preview For Y'all

2009-12-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

This is just a little preview for my readers of page one of the comic, sans text. Spent around 5-6 hours on this and while digi-painting the backgrounds of the comic take a lot more time than just inking and coloring like usual, I much prefer it since it's a lot more fun and keeps my falcon punch away from the tablet.

SeaFox Clan

2009-11-28T23:42:00.000-08:00

Just some concept art for the nearby primal group within walking distance of Orea's home base in Moondock.

The Seafox clan claim the territory north of Moondock, but west of the main road leading out from it. The Seafox clan hosts the monthly Moonfeast on the full moon of every month, to rejoice in the power it confers. The moon is the master of the seas and the mutual connection between these clansmen and the common traders, pirates and sailors that come through this town, and by making themselves more well known and building a reputation they have become many a trade partner, in return offering blessings of the moon to those who need guidance or the blessing of the fox for those who wish this nights deeds be done without capture. Either way, Foxbeard, the clan warden, leads his druids, shamans, barbarians and kinsmen in their daily lives and festivities, and his dwarven heritage lends him an amazing tolerance for the ales he adores so much.

Elven Designs

2009-11-27T23:35:00.001-08:00

So here's the general train of thought: I've been convinced to watch the 2006 movie, "The Fall" and have found it's general character design rather well done. By both taking elements from some of the characters in that journey, in addition to adding a bit of traditional elven flair, I've experimented with the elves I'm using for Orea's world. The elf on top, is loosely based on african tribal warriors, given the colored war paint, then combined with Shaolin monk robes made for one interesting sort of elf...then I got bored and made a different kind of elf. The one at the bottom right, this one, more saracen combined with a little bit of roman cut clothing, but still retaining middle eastern turban and sash. I must say what I'm most proud of is the sword at the left. That creation came purely out of accident. Originally I was trying to combine a khopesh with a kriss, then that idea failed so I figured, when in doubt, just add a second blade. These blades were meant to be pulled apart but then I added the little circle at the pommel of the blade, making it look like a hinge, then I figured that if the blades were to swing open like that, they'd make a pretty fancy bow. So bam. Bow-sword.

Warm-Up Sketches

2009-11-25T14:17:00.001-08:00

Just a warm-up drawing. If you don't say "d'awww" you have no soul.

Another warm-up sketch on the same page as the previous, since I have a larger sketchbook I can spend more time side-tracked doodling. But as to what this is, your guess is as good as mine, though, I can say what it was supposed to be: A masked chaos magic sorcerer who used glow sticks as implements. Then he became too buff and his clothes too spandexy, so at this point, it's anyone's say.

I really should be working on the comic, but now I'm just shitting out art.

D'awwwww

2009-11-24T20:18:00.001-08:00

While working on the comic, I drew a particularly cute drawing of Orea that actually made me go "D'awwww" and I just really like it.

IZ A POEM!

2009-11-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

So basically, Jessa needed to write a poem about Odysseus for a class, and I was able to shit one out in under a minute. It went a little like...

"Brave was this man called Odysseus,
He even blinded a cyclopseses.
Evantually his posse were turned into pigs,
And for a year, he shagged a witch in her digs.
Then the survivors killed some bitchin cows,
And the next morning, they were all like KA-PLOW
Evantually this fucker found his way home,
Where some dumb hobos wanted to get blown,
By the the wife of this man Odysseus,
Which made him even more pissed,
So then he trapped and killed them all like wild boars,
But I still say his wife's a little whore."

Now with an epic reading by Samwise the Ostrich

Fanart Updated!

2009-11-22T12:39:00.000-08:00

Yup! Added another recently received piece :3

Fan Art FTW!

2009-11-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

Sadly, I usually pay/work for the fanart I get, but here's what I've received thus far!:

My favorite piece ever by one Adam Law, inspiration and webcartoonist.

This piece was one of many 10 dollar sketches drawn by Megan Lawton

And this piece in particular, is framed and hanging from my wall, the first and most favorite piece of Orea fanart ever drawn by my bestest artist friend ever: Jessa Rempel!

I HATH RETURNED THE WHIPPING I HAVE RECEIVED FROM THIS! MWAHAHAHA!...done by Logan Streu :3

Anyone who reads this is more than welcome to contribute to my ever-growing dragonhoard of awesome.

Thus Far v2 (UPDATED (AGAIN)

2009-11-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

DONE! Finally! (NOW IN BLUE)

___________________________________________________________________

Since the last drawing was insufficient with countless errors I'd rather not point out, the whip has been cracked again, "DO IT AGAIN!" yells the harpy. So I did. This time I'll wait for approval before I start inking.

Presenting: Jam Sharp-Ears!

2009-11-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

Once a refugee gone street-thug, Jam has always had quite the adventurous spirit. A few winters back, some of the other children, mostly humans, were particularly cruel to Jam, constantly mocking her elven bloodline until she couldn't take it anymore and ran off into the woods for the night. Little did she know at the time, her retreat had saved her life. Around what most would call the late night, and others, the early morn, from her temporary treetop dwelling, Jam awoke to a smell that reminded her of the blacksmith and a sound resembling crushing a page of parchment. It didn't take long for this little lady to realize what was really going on. A fire. Not here, no. Back home. She skittered down the trunk of the large yew she slept in, and let her elven instincts guide her through the labyrinth of forests. When she finally reached her town, she couldn't believe what she saw. "It must be an illusion," She thought, "A foul, foul, prank!" but it was not. Her village was one large blaze at this point, and standing amidst the black, endless smoke, a group, not large by any means, they didn't need many. They were war-wizards. She would never forget their alliance, their crest, or any of their faces. Ever.

Fast forwarding a few years, Jam is now a city dweller, her heritage now accepted and barely noticed. She's in league with the local cutpurses and burglars. It's not a great living, but she has them and they all have each other. Fortunately and unfortunately, she stole from the wrong person one day. While she was giving her usual high-noon musical performance in the the town square, one on-looker caught her eye. A pale, slender woman, unusual facial markings, and a large, hefty sword. Big swords, big wallets. After the show, Jam quickly packed up and blended into the crowd, following the woman into a local tavern, "The Eighteenth Kobold". The woman drank heavily and seemed to be having a merry time, totally distracted. Now was Jam's time to act. She kept close to the shadowed wall, unbeknownst to her, the shadows themselves are what gave her away. But as her small hand wriggled it's nimble fingers in nervous anticipation of the reward her stealth would earn her. A few more inches. Just a few more. In the blink of an eye, maybe even half the blink of an eye, the woman's hand grabbed the little thief's wrist, she knew this was no ordinary woman, and this woman knew this was no ordinary thief.

I Always Have to Hinder Myself

2009-11-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

Y'know, it'd be fantastic if I actually planned out the comic before I started to draw it, instead of making it up as I go along. Today's example: Realizing the character that was supposed to be in the final panel still has to be designed. Go Team Petar.

Thus Far

2009-11-16T18:27:00.001-08:00

Being held against my will with the pictured shotgun to draw this. I'll work on it tomorrow. For now, I'll try to subtly grab some tranquilizer darts. That'll last a while.

THIS. IS. ENTREPRENUERSHIPPPPPPP

2009-11-16T07:02:00.000-08:00

It sure is. That's where I'm blogging from. School. Surprisingly they've blocked my beloved twitter but not this blog giant. One tabs got google wave open, the other has this time killer and the last last my goddamn business plan. Letting my mind wander a bit: The concept I've been a tad obsessed with recently is the concept of a primal paladin for my dnd game. The crunchy breakdown of it is a warden/cleric of avandra gnoll hybrid, so it's out there. I figure the warden's "Circles" are almost exactly like the paladin's "Orders" so that conversion in itself is a solid mechanic. Then, my other half takes over, the cleric, seeing as I'm sadly both the group's tank/healer/leader/scout/tactian since the rest of my group consists of a barbarian who hardcore dances as a precautionary ritual, a brazen bugbear avenger who wears a human head as a necklace/amulet of Bane, and a tiefling warlock who should learn to STOP THROWING DAGGERS AND UP THE PEWPEW. So naturally, it's a burden to keep the group not only progressing, but alive and well. Seeing as our DM plays with the "Critical Failure" rules, dying is a big, constant, issue that has to be resolved with some hot, hot heals and some dues ex machina from time to time. Last game I was a druid/shaman elf hybrid who was more concerned with his own well being than that of his comrades, but hey, I didn't go down once. Thank you fox form. For our next session, everyone seems to be partly or wholly rerolling to better fit our DM's adventure. His style is more of a story-driven indulgence, only leading us to the bigger boss battles, saving the random encounters. Thus far, I know now im a primal paladin, our bugbear is considering hybriding up to a cleric or fighter, our fighter/barbarian hybrid is now going full up barbar, and I'm going to see if I can convince our warlock to go assassin. There's nothing more awesome than strangling someone with their own shadow.

Art DUMP

2009-11-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

Honestly? I'm just throwing up my favorite pieces from my deviantart and twitpic, you can click on any of them to get the full-size. Descriptions can be found at their respective locations.

The Amazing Me

2009-11-15T14:23:00.000-08:00

Honestly, there's never much to say about the creator as much as his creation, so for my first post, I'll introduce my main character: Orea Ahr'lenndar.

Orea was born in The Savage North's, where the fey creatures of legend and horror live, and only the hearty dwell. Born into a clan of barbarians, Orea was trained from a young age to be a tough, gruff, fighter, though there was always something a bit off about her. Her lineage admits to mingling with Storm Giants many generations ago, granting them a natural affinity for the arcane that only truly revealed itself to few who had Storm Giant blood coursing through their veins. Since about age 6, Orea had been able to cast minor magical cantrips, prestidigitation, her favorite. Despite her barbaric up-bringing, she, like many of the other clan females, were trained to be more agile than strong, taking up a more roguish mantle, but Orea rejected that path. With her arcane ancestry, came the spells to enhance her physical prowess, letting her wield her birthrite bastard sword as if it were a common rapier. In time, she was more accepted into the Boar Clan hunting parties, ascending the ranks from being a common hunter to a much desired clan rank, a charger. Orea's unnatural speed gave her the momentum to deliver crushing death blows with momentum alone, ensuring her spot as both a scout and a party leader.

Orea's bastard sword has always had a special enchantment that would be a deciding factor in her life later on, the ability to deflect spells. As soon as her bloodline revealed itself, runes of arcane deflection were carved into her blade, knowing that her magical abilities, combined with her curiosity, might get her in deep with some other arcanists or magi. But no would could have anticipated what happened next, the village burning. Wizards, war mages, on a crusade for land and power, burnt down the boar clan village and scorched its halls and its people, charring both weapon and wielder, leaving them defenseless and afraid. No one would destroy what Orea cherished without retaliation, no one. As the onslaught persisted, Orea rose up to defend her home, knowing she was the only one who could. Like snowflakes into an oven, the wizards fell, their magic turned against them, their glory and hubris met with fury and rage. That sect of war mages died that day, taking all but one of the boar clansman with them, the one who really mattered. After a period of mourning, Orea made her way to a neighboring clan, The White Raven Clan, and stayed with them for a halfyear, learning their ways and coping with her loss. In this time, Orea started worship of their deity, a death god, who viewed death as a means of balance, not of cruelty. Through her, Orea made a pact granting her power over darkness itself, though, she had to give up some free will. As long as Orea carried out the deity's agenda, she can keep her shadow powers. The deity sends Orea's missions in the form of white messenger ravens, who can orally relay missions to Orea where ever she is.