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Description

When the Four Month Siege of Jungingenbourg inevitably culminated into what was widely agreed to be the exceedingly one-sided, two hour-long Battle of Jungingenbourg, the weakened members of the elite Nachtgarde fell in a matter of moments, at orders of the King they had all once pledged to protect. Among the betrayed royal guard was the renowned swordsman known as Grigor the Bulwark, AKA Grigor the Bullheaded. After fending off a few week’s starvation, three direct arrow hits & about forty-five enemy troops, Grigor unwittingly caught the battleaxe of some lowly soldier from behind, right between the head & shoulders, cleanly decapitating him in the process. The only problem? Grigor woke up. First his head, then his body.
It was a bit of a surreal moment for the seasoned warrior. He felt himself moving as he slowly lifted his body off the cold, hard ground, only his head remained in the same position despite the sensations of movement he was feeling. Realizing the enemy was still nearby & that the ruins of Jungingenbourg were aflame around him, the stubborn swordsman began operating on pure instinct. Grigor quickly tried to gather himself (literally), & move immediately. It wasn’t until the former stronghold was an orange dot on the horizon that the gravity of the situation truly hit him.
A severed head wasn’t the type of thing you’re ever supposed to come back from, let alone able to still move & feel through your own disembodied body. It was a both medical & physical impossibility. Finding himself in such a condition surprised Grigor, sure, but ultimately not as much as it probably should have. For you see, the realm wasn’t always at war. During these stretches of peace, the Nachtgarde were free to their own devices. Grigor was prone to a bit of moonlighting. Among the many odd jobs he excelled at was witch hunter. Mages, sorcerors, sorceresses, warlocks, & wizards, if you cast spells & caused trouble, Grigor would be there to collect your bounty. Over the course of his work, he became familiar with the ways of magic, & was no stranger to the idea of things like Immortality Hexes.
The nature of this kind of spell is that the target suffers from an eternity of being unable to die & would gradually be driven insane by their own unending existence. It was Grigor’s assumption that something of its ilk must have been cast upon him at some point without him realizing. By whom? With so many bounties collected through the years, he was unsure if he’d ever properly identify the true culprit. But whether it was some vengeful captive burning at the stake or a hateful victim at the business end of his blade, Grigor refused to be troubled by his situation. Madness & suffering could wait. With his fellow Nachtgarde slain, betrayed by the very King they had all once swore their very allegiance to, he had a purpose. And what had been intended as a curse was now the very thing that was going to help him see it through.
Now Grigor, AKA Grigor the Shorn is on a slow journey back to the Capitol. He sticks to the smaller roads & towns, trying to keep as low a profile as possible. Besides having to lug his own head around now, the only problem with his condition is speech. Talking is quite difficult now, but then Grigor was never much of an orator prior to his current situation anyway. And although it sometimes attracts the unwanted attention of carrion birds from time to time, Grigor also became accustomed to leaving the bloody stump of his shorn neck exposed. He felt it offered a great deal in raw intimidation factor, for which he wasn’t wrong. For the King has caught wind of the “headless corpse.” He’s heard that it’s supposedly returned from the dead & intending to murder him. Frantically, he spends his borrowed time either sending waves of soldiers at the monster, hoping to stop it, or amassing an even larger defense force around his own castle. Haunted, he grapples with the question of how to kill what’s already supposed to be very much dead.

After getting a little bit of paid work, balancing my energy levels from dealing with my dayjob, & toiling on something I might eventually put out as a possible webcomic, I didn’t post much of anything for most of 2014 & it kind of bugged me. So I’m giving Character A Week another try for 2015 & I decided to start it all off with this guy. In all honesty, he’s one I had laying around for quite a bit left over from trying to do character challenges before, but the armor detail kind of kept me from ever actually seeing him through all the way. That & the fact that I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with the waist & leg armor. The inspiration for the character originally came from Highlander roots, sure, but also Mazinger, which as a kid I saw translated as Tranzor Z. In that there was a villain with a detachable floating head (Count Brocken/Decapito). And while Grigor’s wouldn’t float, part of me liked the idea of a big, bruiser knight sort of guy who carried around a Zweihander & a severed head with long hair that he’d use in combat maybe sort of like a morning star or something. That said, I started this before reading Andrew MacLean’s Head Lopper books. If you haven’t read them, it’s about a long haired, long bearded swordsman who tends to go around decapitating things, much like the title suggests. I dug them. And while I wasn’t directly inspired by those, I feel like this is very much in that same whole head space (I drew the long hair & beard on my guy way before seeing any of that stuff though, swear).
Fantasy generally isn’t my preferred genre. Whenever I start trying to make a fantasy character I tend to want to stick them in a group of other adventurers in like a JRPG context. For instance, despite what seemed like an interesting enough back story already, I kept seeing this guy as sort of like Auron in FFX. That kind of older, enigmatic swordsman/occasional mentor archetype in maybe a Final Fantasy or something. But then over time, I thought it’d be interesting if he’s more antagonistic, like the villain of a slasher movie. And that’s where I ultimately took the back story, Shogun’s Assassin territory. The king’s horrified of this ghostly murderer but is also completely unable to stop him. I think that was the right choice (though maybe should’ve played up the betrayal more, eh whatever at this point). Aesthetically, I was trying to go for a medieval armor style that was a little less cliche than the plated knight armor we see all the damn time. For some reason I also thought it’d be cool to make it look like it’d be comfortable for combat during cold weather & I started adding a kind of Eastern vibe/Viggo the Carpathian look to it. Except for the legs where I guess I just kind of copped out & went with plating anyway. I probably went way more ornate than I should have. Like an asshole, I got a little too caught up in noodling the details. For instance all the line work of the fur detail in the cape. You know, the same lines I didn’t think about burying in dark, dark brown bear fur & all for nothing. Ugh, my wrist hurts. Coloring was a chore too, but it came together kind of quickly. Still might be a little too dark, but I’m happy with it on my own monitor at the moment.
Oh & before signing off, in terms of other character stuff I’ve done already, I’ve compiled most of my favorites into the makings of an artbook. The only problem is I keep having ideas for more characters & part of me looks over to my shelf to see the thickness of Katsuya Terada’s Rakugaking & not view it as the work of some mad man, but some lofty, aspirational goal. So I’m half ready to put something out, half wanting to keep going & put out something crazy, yet substantial. I dunno. At any rate, hopefully more characters will follow throughout the year.

Description

When the Four Month Siege of Jungingenbourg inevitably culminated into what was widely agreed to be the exceedingly one-sided, two hour-long Battle of Jungingenbourg, the weakened members of the elite Nachtgarde fell in a matter of moments, at orders of the King they had all once pledged to protect. Among the betrayed royal guard was the renowned swordsman known as Grigor the Bulwark, AKA Grigor the Bullheaded. After fending off a few week’s starvation, three direct arrow hits & about forty-five enemy troops, Grigor unwittingly caught the battleaxe of some lowly soldier from behind, right between the head & shoulders, cleanly decapitating him in the process. The only problem? Grigor woke up. First his head, then his body.
It was a bit of a surreal moment for the seasoned warrior. He felt himself moving as he slowly lifted his body off the cold, hard ground, only his head remained in the same position despite the sensations of movement he was feeling. Realizing the enemy was still nearby & that the ruins of Jungingenbourg were aflame around him, the stubborn swordsman began operating on pure instinct. Grigor quickly tried to gather himself (literally), & move immediately. It wasn’t until the former stronghold was an orange dot on the horizon that the gravity of the situation truly hit him.
A severed head wasn’t the type of thing you’re ever supposed to come back from, let alone able to still move & feel through your own disembodied body. It was a both medical & physical impossibility. Finding himself in such a condition surprised Grigor, sure, but ultimately not as much as it probably should have. For you see, the realm wasn’t always at war. During these stretches of peace, the Nachtgarde were free to their own devices. Grigor was prone to a bit of moonlighting. Among the many odd jobs he excelled at was witch hunter. Mages, sorcerors, sorceresses, warlocks, & wizards, if you cast spells & caused trouble, Grigor would be there to collect your bounty. Over the course of his work, he became familiar with the ways of magic, & was no stranger to the idea of things like Immortality Hexes.
The nature of this kind of spell is that the target suffers from an eternity of being unable to die & would gradually be driven insane by their own unending existence. It was Grigor’s assumption that something of its ilk must have been cast upon him at some point without him realizing. By whom? With so many bounties collected through the years, he was unsure if he’d ever properly identify the true culprit. But whether it was some vengeful captive burning at the stake or a hateful victim at the business end of his blade, Grigor refused to be troubled by his situation. Madness & suffering could wait. With his fellow Nachtgarde slain, betrayed by the very King they had all once swore their very allegiance to, he had a purpose. And what had been intended as a curse was now the very thing that was going to help him see it through.
Now Grigor, AKA Grigor the Shorn is on a slow journey back to the Capitol. He sticks to the smaller roads & towns, trying to keep as low a profile as possible. Besides having to lug his own head around now, the only problem with his condition is speech. Talking is quite difficult now, but then Grigor was never much of an orator prior to his current situation anyway. And although it sometimes attracts the unwanted attention of carrion birds from time to time, Grigor also became accustomed to leaving the bloody stump of his shorn neck exposed. He felt it offered a great deal in raw intimidation factor, for which he wasn’t wrong. For the King has caught wind of the “headless corpse.” He’s heard that it’s supposedly returned from the dead & intending to murder him. Frantically, he spends his borrowed time either sending waves of soldiers at the monster, hoping to stop it, or amassing an even larger defense force around his own castle. Haunted, he grapples with the question of how to kill what’s already supposed to be very much dead.

After getting a little bit of paid work, balancing my energy levels from dealing with my dayjob, & toiling on something I might eventually put out as a possible webcomic, I didn’t post much of anything for most of 2014 & it kind of bugged me. So I’m giving Character A Week another try for 2015 & I decided to start it all off with this guy. In all honesty, he’s one I had laying around for quite a bit left over from trying to do character challenges before, but the armor detail kind of kept me from ever actually seeing him through all the way. That & the fact that I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with the waist & leg armor. The inspiration for the character originally came from Highlander roots, sure, but also Mazinger, which as a kid I saw translated as Tranzor Z. In that there was a villain with a detachable floating head (Count Brocken/Decapito). And while Grigor’s wouldn’t float, part of me liked the idea of a big, bruiser knight sort of guy who carried around a Zweihander & a severed head with long hair that he’d use in combat maybe sort of like a morning star or something. That said, I started this before reading Andrew MacLean’s Head Lopper books. If you haven’t read them, it’s about a long haired, long bearded swordsman who tends to go around decapitating things, much like the title suggests. I dug them. And while I wasn’t directly inspired by those, I feel like this is very much in that same whole head space (I drew the long hair & beard on my guy way before seeing any of that stuff though, swear).
Fantasy generally isn’t my preferred genre. Whenever I start trying to make a fantasy character I tend to want to stick them in a group of other adventurers in like a JRPG context. For instance, despite what seemed like an interesting enough back story already, I kept seeing this guy as sort of like Auron in FFX. That kind of older, enigmatic swordsman/occasional mentor archetype in maybe a Final Fantasy or something. But then over time, I thought it’d be interesting if he’s more antagonistic, like the villain of a slasher movie. And that’s where I ultimately took the back story, Shogun’s Assassin territory. The king’s horrified of this ghostly murderer but is also completely unable to stop him. I think that was the right choice (though maybe should’ve played up the betrayal more, eh whatever at this point). Aesthetically, I was trying to go for a medieval armor style that was a little less cliche than the plated knight armor we see all the damn time. For some reason I also thought it’d be cool to make it look like it’d be comfortable for combat during cold weather & I started adding a kind of Eastern vibe/Viggo the Carpathian look to it. Except for the legs where I guess I just kind of copped out & went with plating anyway. I probably went way more ornate than I should have. Like an asshole, I got a little too caught up in noodling the details. For instance all the line work of the fur detail in the cape. You know, the same lines I didn’t think about burying in dark, dark brown bear fur & all for nothing. Ugh, my wrist hurts. Coloring was a chore too, but it came together kind of quickly. Still might be a little too dark, but I’m happy with it on my own monitor at the moment.
Oh & before signing off, in terms of other character stuff I’ve done already, I’ve compiled most of my favorites into the makings of an artbook. The only problem is I keep having ideas for more characters & part of me looks over to my shelf to see the thickness of Katsuya Terada’s Rakugaking & not view it as the work of some mad man, but some lofty, aspirational goal. So I’m half ready to put something out, half wanting to keep going & put out something crazy, yet substantial. I dunno. At any rate, hopefully more characters will follow throughout the year.