Your Drawings

Yes, finally here's some of the things that have been bothering the sad man above. First, the enemy:



And second, his cowardly and ungrateful Emperor:

 

the last piece???
i was hoping that it would last until chapter 4216..... cause i just love it

Roel, that sword does look familiar. looks egyptian

 

Very nice Roel.

Is the top picture a soldier of the bandit army or the Alef?

 

I love the 'chinless wonder' look of Freddie 6th. Not quite as gormless as I'd pictured him, but still recognisable!

btw - is that the certain Fend warrior who so upset our tragic hero?

Now for artistic critique...

Nice shading on the enemie's face. btw, how did you work out the pattern of blood on the sword's blade? Did you experiment with your own one?

My only criticism - Freddie has stains on his armour! He is the Emperor! Emperors do not go around with stained armour. Nothing they do (except possibly eat) would cause a stain... and if it did some flunky or scantily-clad serving wench would be on hand to restore his armour to its sparkling finish.

 

Yeah, I know, sometimes a little bit of favouritism creeps in. I actually did try to give the lady's falcata a foreign decorative pattern to distiguish it from real, Celtiberian weapons of the same design.

Zhukov: she's with the Fend. Daughter of a loyalist, these people were raised knowing only hatred so they are by far the most dangerous enemies of the Empire.

Ricky: the stains are from fighting, or at least being around people who are fighting. No servants are anywhere to be found at that point, having all fled or been killed. The scene in which I pictured him is the last stand scene, and if you put the first pic of Meravin next to him you will see that they are vaguely looking each other in the eye.

Thanks for the compliments, all.

 

Ricky mostly beat me to the punch on detail criti still here's my 2 cents.

All clean and wonderfully detailed work. You seem to have the knack for doing scratches and other damage on their outfits. If you don't mind me saying you seem to habit of making their eyes very big compared to their faces, which I have to admit to me look very odd. Is this a deliberate style choice?

Oh and the second picture definitely looks like royalty. A true chinless wonder.

 

The big eyes are more subconscious than deliberate, actually. I know they are too big, but when I make them smaller I keep thinking they're strange and make my people look fat and greedy.

Thanks for your compliments, everyone. Damage and scars are actually fairly easy to do, it only takes uncolouring one part and shading the opposite part more heavily. This gives a pretty convincing "lifted" segment.

Oh, and Ricky: yes, this is indeed the upsetting young lady, though it must be said that she will look different to every reader in their minds and she bloody well should.

 

Indeed - I notice that she seems quite similar to your other drawn females...

She had more hair in my head, even though that would be very impractical in battle.

 

Argh! Sorry to take your post for an opportunity here, I know you don't mean it like this, but I get so tired of the gaming/fantasy sterotype of the Amazon with long, flowing hair and a steel brassiere for armour! It's so completely unrealistic that you begin to wonder if all fantasy writers and game designers want their female characters to die.

A real Amazon (and I hope I approached that in the pic above) would probably have short hair or at least have her hair tied back so that it would not get in the way. She'd wear a normal padded jacket, chainmail dress or cuirass with no distinct spacing for her breasts - those would be tied down anyway. Her armour would, like with the men, cover all the vital parts of the body and that would indeed distort her figure. She would be tawny and muscled and her hands would no longer be feminine at all due to the wear of weapons training and use.

In short, she would not be pretty at all. How's that to all those sickos who gawk at the female characters in Guildwars and World of Warcraft. Not to mention that "artist" Ebar linked to in the Humour thread...

Ahem, sorry, I think I just torpedoed a plot point in my own story... I shall not be showing this drawing to anyone who has yet to read that part of the story, since they must make their own mental picture of her first and be able to say "No, Roel, she doesn't look like that at all..."

 

I do agree with pretty much everything you write here Roel.
Except possibly the last sentance. Prettyness is in the eye of the beholder...

The 'longer hair' came from my interpretation of your description of the warrior - feminine & flowing were the key aspects IIRC.

Feel free to edit that bit if I give too much away!

 

Sounds like the old chainmail bikini presses Roel's buttons and turns him into an Incredible Hulk. Also have a picture of my own female characters fighting its way into elfwood. She isn’t armoured but she is clothed.



Fear the wraith of the Roel

 

Pedancy alert!; wasn't she wielding a SWORD in the story?
Apart from that nothing that hasn't been said already.
Great work, nice details and my personal image of the emperor was more skinny and wasted.
BTW, do you ever draw happy people or is that a concept you fail to grasp?
Yes I know these 2 have again no reason to be happy in their settings.
Try the "dreamscene" with Meravin and warriorgirl.

 

There is a hell of a lot of flexiblity in what can be described as a sword.

 

There shall be no steel brassieres in my realm. Ebar, I've seen a few of your pics and IIRC the females were wearing a proper uniform, so I don't see any problems.

A falcata is a sword... Well, a sword-axe. Ish. I could draw her again with a proper curved sword if you like, but the whole hand would need to be changed.

Thanks!
The Emperor is described in Chapter 1 as being muscled and everything but failing to radiate strength of will and character. I tried not to make him too stereotypical, as if he had weakness in his genes or something - he is capable, but refuses to put it to good use.

Hap...py? What is this word that you have created?
Funny thing is, I am drawing that scene...

 

Yes a lot fantasy artist have funny ideas about woman. They seem to assume that they have bult in nuclear reactors to keep them warm. Probably housed in the outsided breasts.

Fun but not to be taken too seriously

 

I think this is the answer - fantasy artists draw fantasy women.

Women who in the real world would either have to wear an exoskeleton suit or risk their spine snapping under the weight can leap about wearing esentially no clothing and defeat entire armies armed only with a short sword. :roll:

 

On the subject of Fantasy the writer David Gemmell has sadly passed away.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5224868.stm

 

The lastest bit of my writing has turned up quicker than expected.


http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/libr/e/b/ ... 0.htm.html



Feedback is always appreciated.

 

Even if you think it sucks on a truly profound level.

 

I haven't actually read the rest of your story, Ebar, but this part is very good. And I'm a pretty picky reader.

The loss and regret of the aftermath of a great battle really covers the whole chapter like a thick blanket of style. Even though I haven't read the rest of the story I can already figure out some of the characters of the people in it. And last but not least, the enemy is nicely mysterious. Well done.

If you're going for publishing though, run it by a spell checker or re-read it yourself, there seem to be a few typos in there that are in need of fixing.