AS&SH: Radioactive Viking Zombie (complete process)

It has been a while since I did one of these series posts about a drawing I have been working on, and so what better opportunity than to hit something that I started and completed in a single day. Today. 

+Jeff Talanian requested a few more drawings from me (I guess he likes what he sees in my work), among them this guy he entitled "Radioactive Viking Zombie"...yea, I thought the same thing. In fact when Jeff told me about it, he actually said, he wasn't sure how artists rendered "radioactive" but that was why he "wrote words" and I did "art stuff".

To be honest, I have to admit, at first I wasn't sure how it was done in black & white ink either. I was not sure there is a lot of precedence here either, and after scanning the interwebs, I was proven right. So how was it done? Lightning bugs. 

That's right, I studied pictures of lightning bugs, you might say that I am a veritable guru on the asses of the critters now. What better creature to learn from that one that glows-sort-of-radioactive-like. 

Before we get to all that though, here is where it all started. The sketch. 

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015.

 I got the initial pose down. I wanted him hunched over, pointing at his prey and carrying a giant axe. He had to be crooked, stooping and feral. He was not only a gritty viking, but a zombie too.

Next came the transfer.

I know high tech. The initial sketch was done on copy paper, like all of my pieces start out. Then I take them to my high tech light box (light provided by mother nature, and hugh piles of reflective snow!) and transfer them line by line over to Bristol board. It holds the inks better and doesn't bleed. 

Here is the initial transfer. 

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015.

Pretty basic looking at this point. Just the outline (it would probably be nice to print out for kids to color in!) You can see that not every line gets transfered. Alot of the original lines are left out, and new (better?) lines are put down on the final.

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015.

So here you see I added a bit more detail in pencil and then started the inking process. I have decided that the light will be coming from pretty much everywhere (as he is radioactive, did I mention that already). But if there were light that shown through on the drawing it would generally be coming from the upper left. 

You can see that the inks really start to bring this guy alive (so to speak). I have really worked the ring mail here, leaving rings hanging off of his chest, as if it were a full shirt, but missing most of it. His sword strap is detailed in,and a ripped (Gaunt +Jeff Talanian ?). But still, here I haven't gotten enough done to really see the final details. This is just the first pass with inks.

Here is more ink work.

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015.

Working my way through the drawing, I have added details to his left (right) arm showing bone and muscle through torn/rotting skin. As well, his right (left) thigh has some rot, with muscle and sinew showing there. The outline of the axe got inked as well. 

3rd inks.

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015.

More and more inking, almost done though. His helm got a bit of work, as well as his hair, beard, braids, and cloak. His boots are starting to take shape as is his fur "loin-cloth" (What do you call that thing anyway that hangs around his waist? If someone has an answer, I will send you a piece of original artwork. Post your answer in the comments. I will contact the first comment-er with the correct answer, with original artwork options to choose from.)

I blocked in a sword too. This was an addition that wasn't included on the initial sketch but I needed to put something hanging from his strap, so I put a big sword there. Seemed to hang right and it balanced him out a bit too. Doubt he has the braaaaiiiiiinnnns!! to use it. 

His chest got a bit of tearing skin with muscle and ribs showing through at this stage as well.

Next, inks are done (well, mostly). 

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015.

Helm details are finished, I wanted it to be covered in leather, so I made it patchwork, with stitches, also some traditional iron rivets. More inkwork on the hair, beard and braids. Finished up his left (right) leg, and boot detail. Poked a toe through the hole of his right (left) boot (reminds me I have to throw these socks away. My foot looks something similar.)

His axe got a bit of detail here too. with chink marks along the edge, and stamped/carved motif along the flat part.I detailed the handle a bit here as well, working the wood grain in. 

His cloak was completed, darkened several times with hatching and given spots (not sure what animal has spotted fur like that, but I saw something similar while watching "Gladiator" today.)

Now come the markers. This is where we start to get the final feel for the RADIOACTIVE nature of this dude. I start with 10% Neutral grey, and progress up to 40% neutral grey. 

The trick here is two-fold. 1st, I left a white outline along every edge of his body. Where-as usually my markers go all the way to the black outlines, with the radioactive nature of this guy there needs to be a highlight that is basically there to show that there is light/glow coming from within him. 

I think it is pretty effective. Again, only on his exposed skin did I leave the high-light along the edge of his body.

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015.

2nd, I added outward playing lines with the fine tip of the marker. I was careful to again leave a white space between the outline of his figure, and the "glow" lines. Those are very sporadic too. They dont all touch, and they are not all the same length. That was key. I went over those glow lines with 10% neutral grey - 30% neutral grey, as I didnt want them to be as dark as the Viking himself. 

A a final tough I added "squiggly" lines to some of the glow. Very light, fast and sporadic again. 

I made several passes with marker, and I was working rather rapids, so I didn't get up to scan in multiple images of the marker work. 

However, here is the finished piece. 

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. Licensed to Jeff Talanian.

I added the ground in here, and some finishing details. Overall this took roughly 3 hours of work. From concept to completion. (That is not including all the running back and forth to the computer to scan.)

I hope you enjoyed the write up on this one. 

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome. 

Kickstarter: Pyramids of the Lost King

Just before the beginning of the year, +Johua De Santo approached me about doing this kickstarter project he had in the works. He said he needed a sample piece of artwork for it with a giant flying snake, and an Egyptian rider. That can be seen here. 

He came calling again for another piece and this one he wanted to have crows flying in circles around some ruins. I started with that idea and continued adding details until the final product was produced. 

The ruins are representative of one of the actual locals in the Pyramids of the Lost King supplement. But if you do not support his kickstarter, you and your adventuring party will never find them. 

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015.

"Pyramid of the Lost King is a decentralized sandbox adventure centering around an area of the Desert known as the Narrows. The Narrows is a section of desert that is divided into a northern and southern half by a massive slab of sandstone over 200 miles wide and 300 feet in height. The only way (aside from walking around) past this slab of rock is through the narrow canyon the area gets its name form. The Narrows and the desert around it have become a hot bed of activity as the merchant guilds have come to rely on it for their caravans to the Last Lands. However, the desert around the Narrows is still unexplored and dangers, both ancient and new, encroach." - Joshua De Santo

Support his kickstarter here.

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.

Random Gamers Guild: Quesh'tar

I have been working my way through Matt Hargenrader's project "Dwellers in the Dark Places". The underwater race of Quesh'tar were odd for me to work on. Their bodies are not exactly solid, and as such becomes a challenge to illustrate in black and white. 

Each of the following Quesh'tar (in order from young to old) have different abilities and defenses. Check out "Dwellers in the Dark Places" when it comes out. 

First we have the Quesh'tar Adult.

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. Licensed to Matt Hargenrader 2015.

I started with this one. They are three legged and three armed beings, living most of their lives underwater. These are your average Quesh'tar, the workers, the breeders, the everyday inhabitants of their realm. 

The Adults spawn buds on their bodies which fall off and become the young.

Next come the Quesh'tar Juveniles. 

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. Licensed to Matt Hargenrader 2015.

These young Quesh'tar have very little defenses, their carapace is not developed and they spend thier days eating and growing. 

When the young get bigger, they molt and become one of two other varieties. Either the Quesh'tar Morphians, or the Abomination (a rare occurrence, during times of duress.)

Here is the Morphian, these are the warriors of the group, the middle young.

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. Licensed to Matt Hargenrader 2015. 

Heavily influenced by crabs and other underwater crustaceans I wanted to portray that these Quesh'tar were fighters, and defenders. However, they would not be the only Quesh'tar that could hold their own in battle. 

When they age the crab-like claws drop off and they return to a more normal Quesh'tar Adult form as above. 

This final illustration is the Quesh'tar Abomination.

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. Licensed to Matt Hargenrader 2015. 

With their massive hooked claws, and their snouts that spit black ink like substances into the faces of their enemy these things are formidable, violent and aggressive. They are rare, though as I stated earlier and only appear when other Quesh'tar are threatened.  

For the backgrounds I tried to maintain a nautical feel, with sponges, lichens, ship wreck pieces, and other fauna of the ocean floor. 

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.

AS&SH: Monkey Men of Lemuria and more...

Well, it has been a long time coming but this is the final illustration for "Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess" Supplement for +Joe Salvador. Although I suspect +Jeff Talanian is not done with me yet!

Drawing this project to a close with the finished pieces of artwork seems like a great idea. So here goes nothing.

The first piece I did was the Auchenia, a prehistoric mix between a camel and llama with the trunk of an elephant.

Next came the Edmontonia, His heavy armor and protruding spikes help him aid in defense. 

I took a break from the traditional dinosaurs with the Terror Bird, this giant flesh eating bird of prey runs on the ground and though he has wings cannot fly. 

I returned to the traditional prehistoric lizards with the mighty Allosaurus. A thundering lizard not quite as large at the T-rex but just as notorius. I placed the girl in the foreground to show his scale, placing him smaller than the T-rex but still equally brutal.  

From there we looked at the Equijubus, a vegetarian breed who are often hunted, by tribesmen for both food and domestication. I thought that adding in the bowman helped show an action scene and registered surprise on the face of the dino.

As I progressed with this project I found I would do several sketches at a time, working on two or sometimes three dinosaurs at once. It helped me complete the job more rapidly, and that way I could fit in all of my projects and meet my dead lines. I worked on both the Ceolurus and the Shunosaurus at the same time. I saved adding the hare into the Ceolurus scene before finalizing it. 

Next came Pegomastax, the sketch for which was one of my initial sketches and I dug the little guy so much I told myself that once I had the majority of the prelims done and the inks done on the above illustrations, I would go back to the Pegomastax.

After Pegomastax I recieved notice that +Jeff Talanian needed several more pieces done, and one of them was the Tomb Guardians or Terracotta Warriors. 

By far the most difficult of these illustrations for me was the Strycosaurus. That head of his just didnt look right no matter what I did. I turned it left, turned it right, and finally caught this somewhat 3/4 view. Then positioning that head atop his body without him goring himself was the next feat. Accomplished I moved on.

The Touijangosaurus came next, and while I had a simple sketch of him from the beginning, raising his tail and looking behind him, I didnt actually work on him til near the end of the project. The plates on his back were difficult to get right and I thought I was going to wear a hole in the sketch paper from all of the erasing. I managed it all right, and eventually got him transferred over to Bristol and inked him in.

He looks like a happy go lucky kind of dino, and no matter how I tried I could not get the smile off of his face. It tormented me, and still does. Still, maybe he is thinking, "Go ahead make my day!"

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. Licensed by Jeff Talanian, North Wind Adventures LLC. 2015.

Finally I come to the Monkey Men of Lemuria. These guys were an addition to the project list and I had a ton of fun sketching them out. I pieced them together from sketches of several furry arms, heads hands and other studies I did to try and master the fur and highlights/shadows. These guys were so much fun to draw, including the glyph stones and tails. 

They are semi-intelligent and often take stuff from men whom they encounter, thus one has a rather elegant head band, one has a golden chain about his neck and one has a bit of rag tied as a scarf over his shoulders. 

I really enjoyed working on this project, I hope that it shows in my work. I truely think that some of this is the best stuff I have ever done. 

Extra Special Thank You goes out to Jeff Talanian of Northwind Adventures LLC and Joe Salvador writer of "Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess." Be sure to check it out when the Kickstarter hits. 

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome. 

AS&SH: Styracosaurus

I am nearly done with all of the illustrations for +Jeff Talanian's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea campaign setting. +Joe Salvador wrote "Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess" adventure, and these will accompany that in the bestiary sections. 

For this one, I worked on the pose for quite some time. Nothing seemed right until I rose him up and turned his upper half. I really would have liked to include a saber-toothed cat attacking him, but there just wasn't room. 

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. Licensed to Jeff Talanian 2015.

The drawing board has one more for this supplement, the Monkey-men! 

That should be fun. 

While I am at it, what are some of your thoughts on using dinosaurs in your campaigns? Do you use them only in certain areas? Or are they pervasive creatures that adventurers could stumble upon anywhere? Me personally, I have always wanted to run dinosaurs, but just never have. Now that I run games for my 12 and 8 year olds, perhaps now is the time. 

Thanks for looking and comments always welcome. 

RGG: (Matt Hargenrader) Phreen

Matt Hargenrader asked me for several more illustrations and the Phreen is one of them. He had some basic sketches done some time ago, and wanted me to update them for his project. For the Phreen I kept the initial concept, gave it a fresh coat of paint (ink) and he he be. 

Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. Licensed to Matt Hargenrader 2015. 

I started with the idea that these things stalk high above their prey and then wind their way down atop them or simply drop on them. What better way to show this then to have it perched upon a tree hanging off of a cliff face. 

I particularly like the roots of the dead tree. They stand out and help build the scene. I really have been sketching a lot of rocky outcroppings, and such, and really working on my technique for rendering them. I came along way with this but think I have some more improvement to go. 

One would think that rendering stone, dirt and rock would be easy, but it is in fact not. You begin with squarish shapes and then add texture and refine it until you have something that is random but precise. I obviously am no master of this, but hope to improve with projects like this. 

Overall the composition of the piece is pretty good. In hindsight I think his upper body should have been dangling a bit more off of the tree and the tail should have been used more as stability. But hey, every artist thinks they could do better, and I am no different. 

Let me know if you have any technique suggestions for rocks/stone etc and how I could improve. I am always open to all forms of criticism. 

Thanks for looking and comments always welcome.