Role Playing Game Portraits
A month ago I tweeted an image of some Role Playing game portraits I did in the early '00s inspired by some Tony DiTerlizi 'Flawed Characters' Portraits from Dragon Magazine around the same time. While looking for something else in a file cabinet, I uncovered the originals of those drawings and a few more to boot! I've re-scanned & colored them for the sake of the blog. Here they are with some commentary:

Dwarven Fighter:

My favorite of the bunch. I gave him evidence of some serious injuries (and a dead eye to match) Don't know what function the rings & pins serve on his pauldron straps, but the look cool.

Elven Rouge & Assassin:

I had a backstory for these two, being an arranged couple. The Rouge was a grizzled version of my standard D&D characters (thief with a conscience) and the Assassin is a cold blooded killer that eventually scares the Rogue away. (It's a themed arc-type pairing I'll use in a later story)

Halfling Bard:

Bards get a bad rap, but I think if handled properly, they can be rather cool. Become a minstral that gets in good with the King/Queen and then uses the closeness to his advantage. The $#!+ eating grin on this guy's face makes me think he's already set that plan in motion.

Dwarven Cleric:

I don't get sick of drawing craggy old bearded characters. So often you see D&D Clerics as being clean and neat. So this guy got a tangled mess of facial hair and only a few stubby teeth to push the idea of piety and faith being a Cleric's weapon, not fastidiousness.

Elven Paladin:

After the Elven Assasin drawing I got hung up on doing ringmail with a stencil...but youy can see that it starts to fall apart as a technique rather quickly. I imagined that something horrible happened to her mouth/jaw, so the armor is also cosmetic. And even though back in the 2.0 days of D&D, non-humans couldn't be Paladins, I always liked the idea of non-human holy knights with different deitys and rituals.

Halfling Mage:

This guy looks more run down than flawed & scarred. I don't know if I had a class in mind for him back when I drew him..but after the coloring gave him a bit of a Weasley/Gryffindor looks, I thought it was appropriate he was a mage. It's also fun to imagine a D&D mage that isn't just wearing robes and Gandalf's hat.

I will be offering the original drawings (pencil on 8.5" x 11" paper) of all of the above for sale through my online store later today. Keep an eye on my Twitter feed & Facebook page for more info.

Holiday Sale Reminder:
In my online store you can use promocode MOUSEGUARD to receive 10% off your order! The discount is good on Original art, Shirts, Non- Mouse Guard pieces, Prints, and the Winter B&W edition. The sale runs through the end of the year, so whether you are buying a gift for a Mouse Guard fan, or something for yourself, If it's still December, you can get a discount. I'll be updating the store with more items as the sale goes on (check Twitter or Facebook for updates)

Watercolor Wednesday:
Here are last week's Watercolor Wednesday pieces in case you missed them or wanted a closer look. First up is my attempt at a John Bauer style Giant (though he was known for Trolls rather than Giants...I wanted to draw a giant) This is one of my favorite Watercolor Wednesday pieces to-date.

The second piece started as a bad drawing of a Jack Frost like ice-pixie. The trick to turn it from a bad rough drawing into a watercolor I was pleased with had everything to do with defining the edges of the character by painting in the background space around him. The negative shapes between the icy/snowflakey bits and the happy accents that formed them are where the magic happened
 Tomorrow I'll post a few more paintings in my online store.

2013 Appearances: Emerald City: March 1-3
Fabletown Con: March 22-24
C2E2: April 26-28
Spectrum Live: May 17-19
Heroes Con: June 7-9
San Diego Comic Con: July 17-21

*more 2013 dates coming*