Orks - 10

Back to orks after Fight On #9 illustrations done.  Photoshop about 45 minutes on top of a sketch.

Strange thing inked

Using "Fantasy Genesis" again for this one.  Test using the hot press paper and Series 7 brush my wife bought me for my birthday.  The brush is tough to get used to!

Patches for Wildlings

Fight On - Disco Mage

Illo for Fight On! 9.
Description: An evil high priest in a mirror-covered disco robe (wide sleeves, high collar) with a disintegration pistol and a magic mace

Sketchbook Page

Random faces.

Fantasy Genesis 2

More sketches from FG.

Fantasy Genesis

There is this cool book called "Fantasy Genesis".  These 2 are working from it.

Orks - 9 - Secksy

This guy draws beautiful girls:  http://idrawgirls.com/
I do not.
Was really just testing using darker lead for my sketches (2b in a lead holder).  

Orks - 8 - Funky...

I don't know what the hell this is.  I could keep working on it and make it a little better, but prolly should just leave well enough alone.

Fight On 2 - Redux

Back to this one...trying to refine.

Orks - 7 - Painty thingy

Very loooong night...

Orks - 6 - Photoshop Process

Long night at work on an outage call...

Orks - 5 - Sketches

Using colored pencils (red and one blue) for construction lines, then going over with pencils.

Fight On! 3rd Pic

Description was a metal giant hanging from chains. 

Fight On 2

Research for illustration with this description:

• On a mountain slope: beehive huts surround an ancient, half-ruined monastery still in use and a giant sculpture of the god Thek being carved out of the mountainside, “200m high from the visible eyebrow down to the tip of the nose, and consists of the right eye, right cheekbone and the right side of the nose. Much work is being done on the left eye, hollowing out the socket. The pupil is already made and serves as a shelter for the priests working on the project. It certainly looms very impressively, and there is a permanent frost on the top of the cheekbone and on the contours above the nostril.”

 

 

 

Fight On 1

Inked.  Still looks like shit.  Added some pencil shading just to try to salvage somewhat.

Put in a ink wash.  Looks like crap now.

Sketch for final.  Trying to make it look like his inking is bringing the map to life, difficult idea.

Roughs for Fight On! illo.  Description is: "• a picture of someone drawing a map of a fantasy world"

Orks - 4 - Weight distribution

Playing around with masses and distributing the weight in different parts of the body. 

Orks - 3

Orks - 2- D&D to WOW

Orks have been portrayed a number of ways in RPGs and other games since the first days of D&D.  The pictures collected below show some interesting similarities and differences.  Some of the things that seem to run throughout all of the pictures are pig-like snouts, large pointy ears and green or brownish-green skin.  Sometimes they seem to be ordered, sometimes disorganized.  Savage versus more tribe-like.  They seem to like axes, and if armored it has a hastily put together from scraps feel.

Orks - 1 - History

Orks have been around for a while and have been rendered in many different ways.  As the start of the project, I want to go back and publicly research the history of Orks from a literal and artistic perspective.  Let's challenge what we know about these fantasy creatures.

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orc) (the supreme source of all knowledge...and yes, since this is a fantasy creature, I can surely use it as a reputable source to quote) defines orks as:  "various races of tough and warlike humanoid creatures in various fantasy settings."  That's pretty generic.  They credit Tolkein with the first modern usage of the word "Orc".  There are a bunch of older references to Orc in the article and you can peruse those on your own time.  Pulling out interesting things:

- Origins of the word are "demon", "hell" (orcus), "corpse" (orcné), and "giant", "ogre", "hell-devil" 

- Description from 1632 fairytales of "orco":  "large, speaking, mannish beast (hairy and tusked) that lived away in a dark forest or garden, and that might be evil (capturing/eating humans), indifferent or even benevolent"

- 1656: "Orke, begotten by an Incubus"

- "Tyrolean ork which may be either a house gnome or a mountain spirit that acts as protector of wildlife"

- "In Tolkien's writings, Orcs are of human shape, of varying size but always smaller than Men, ugly, filthy, with a taste for human flesh. They are fanged, bow-legged and long-armed, and some have dark skin as if burned. In a private letter, Tolkien describes them as "squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes ... degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types".^[11] They are portrayed as miserable, crafty and vicious beings."

So, there's some interesting stuff right there.  I'm especially honing in on the last description quoted about them being derivative of Mongols.

So, things I want to consider in future posts:

- Orks in D&D, both from description and from Art

- Orks in Warhammer and how they differ

- Realistic versus fantastical views on orcs

- Comparing orcs to animals and other groups

- Orc costume, armor, etc

- Orc habitats

100 Posts on Orks

So, I have a new idea.  It's inspired by this post: http://agent44.com/blog2/?p=838, but more specifically around the "pottery parable" linked within that post.  I'm going to do 100 blog posts about Orks.  These will be history, research, doodles, sketches, digital art just about Orks.  What the goal of this project is to push past my normal preconcieved notion of what an Ork should look like and maybe get some good deviations from the norm.  I also hope to improve artistically by trying different artistic techniques, both from a tools and approach perspective.  Maybe this will be 100 boring posts with a bunch of doodles, but hopefully we get something interesting.

New Earth Defense League

Umbrella

Soul Corp

Have this inkling of an idea for a webcomic growing.  Curious to see where this goes...

Kobolds

Mermaid

My daughter loves mermaids.  I've always wanted to do a whole series of mermaids based on fishes and models from each country, like maybe a Koi and a Japanese model.  Bought a new sable brush and wanted to try inking with a brush.  Wow, it's hard to keep a consistent line and I respect (even more) comic inkers that use a brush.  I don't mind failing cause I learn every time...

Ranger Convention

 

"So, I'm like tracking this ogre into his lair.."

"What?  Hut or Cave?"

"Dungeon actually, abandoned of course."

"Phew.  Dungeon?"

"Ya, I know, right?"

"So, I'm right on his ass.."

"Wait, so like how big?"

"What, the ogre?"

"Naw, the dungeon?  10x10?  20x20?"

"Dunno, didn't measure.  I'd say, from like here to over to that tree over there, about that long."

"Eh, about 20 feet, looks like."

"Right.  Whatever.  So, there's this big oak door."

"Hey!  You guys hear that?"

"What?"

"Duh, I've been hearing it for the last few minutes.  I think that's Ranger Johnson coming, he's loud as shit!"

Dad's Armor

I've always loved how wacky the WOW armor looks.  Nobody could ever move in that stuff let alone fight epic battles.  But it looks cool!  Here, I imagined a child inheriting his dad's armor and strapping it all on.

Distraction - Colored Orc Snowboarder

When you have nothing original, color something old. 

Distraction - Dead Weight

Inspired by this cool RPG idea being discussed on Story Games.

Orc Snowboarder

While I have enjoyed the Elven speed skaters this year, it is the Orc snowboarders that are really showing off.  [Deck design by Warhammer Online].

Departure - Wow Toon Commission

Feral Satyr

Blah for inspiration lately.  Had to force myself to sketch this one (and it shows).

Doomed Celestial

Loved Tony Dowler's small dungeon Shrine of the Doomed Celestial and had to pay homage.  Still learning how to ink with a quill pen.

Blighted Gorge

Trying to come up with some new ideas for making maps.  I don't think this is it, but maybe getting closer.

Guest Artist - Jacob's Yop

Ancient Orc

Storm Creeper

Castle (Revisited)

I was dissatisfied with the skewy castle.  Straightened up the lines and colored digitally.

Housing in Dusk Hollow

Some of the houses hang from the cliffs tenuously, like bats from cave walls.  Some are dug directly into the stone, with vertical shafts for light and air.

Little Dungeon(s)

If you want a cool little dungeon to explore when trekking across the Crystal Mesa, you need to visit the Hall of the Crystal Giant.  Dowler's blog was definitely an inspiration for this one.  The other ones are cool too...just this one fit with what's going on here.

Castle

A castle in the Dusk Hollows.  Gotta start using a straight edge for sketches, as this one is pretty skewed.  Started off as just a building but only had strange round windows and so I imagine that dragons fly in an out of those as access.

Mangy Troll

Guess "mangy" quickly read in my brain as "redneck" cause this troll got overalls.  Was trying out a new brushpen I got, but the lines are too thick for my tastes.