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Pachycrocuta — 10.05 marker heroes!
Published: 2013-10-06 06:26:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 4049; Favourites: 77; Downloads: 70
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Trying to figure out copics and some of what I like about Wayne Reynolds' character design. Standard D&D neepery. These guys are all from last month.Related content
Comments: 15
I'm really loving the gnoll ranger, dwarven paladin, and the black cloaked rogue
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Oh, and I love the rams-head hammer design on the dwarf - a nice touch!
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I'm gonna use this gnoll for the char portrait for my gnoll ranger (crediting you of course) - we're in a wintery setting so the breath-fog is perfect
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Thanks! Please do feel free to do both.
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Well done! (especially the outfit design on 4 and the pose on 6. (I never thought about it before seeing this, but it makes sense that anybody who has to reload a crossbow is going to learn to arch their head and back farther back to ease the aches and pains.)
I'm a huge fan of WAR's artwork, too. I think one factor which stands out on his characters is the doesn't-quite-match-the-ensamble look of all the doo-dads hanging from belts and the well-prepared yet not-bought-yesterday-from-the-bazaar ragged edges. His characters often seem to look layered, like they picked up pieces of their armor from town-to-town or from dungeon-to-dungeon. (I figure that in many rpgs and in RL, a person isn't going to just throw away boots that they've had since Level 1 unless the boots are popping their stitching and getting too worn in the soles.) Wayne Alan Reynolds' characters have that distinctive look about them IMO.
Also, maybe it's just me, but his character class artwork in the Pathfinder books (and back covers) usually have a look about them that doesn't immediately betray what level they are. That's a tough trick to pull off. These illustrations of his could be 1st Level or 8th Level, and this vagueness allows more players to be attracted to the look of a character. For artists who aren't WAR, their 1st Level characters seem to have the look them that says, "Come eat me!" taped to their back, and their high-level characters seem to be so over the top that players give up. (Sure, vorpal swords are cool, but whose L1 character is ever going to survive long enough in a campaign to find a vorpal sword? Even if the monsters are a cakewalk, the DM and half the players are probably going to get married, have kids, and move out of town years before the characters get anywhere close to a dungeon where a vorpal sword is available.) WAR's artwork is pretty good about adding loads of detail, yet it's hard to pin down what level the character is, and that's tricky to pull off IMO.
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You also reminded me of William O'Connor talking about his paintings for 4e - that the humans were the guys with the mishmash of equipment, everyone else had cultural cues but humans got the grab bag of whatever they found or bought.
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Good call on William O'Connor. Methinks I need to look up some 4E artwork.
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I think he's worth studying in general. A lot of the armor and equipment he shows makes more sense from a design standpoint than an adventuring standpoint... but oh man, the design standpoint makes so much sense. Characters get strong silhouettes, but different pieces of armor and belt pouches break those up in interesting patterns. Designs on fabric and a lot of diagonal elements to the costumes really build the shape of the figure underneath.
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Every time I see your Gnolls...
...every damn time...
...I want to play one
(The other portraits are great, too, especially (for my tastes) the leaping stabber and the dusky Dwarf woman!)
Light and laughter,
SongCoyote
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Love the gnoll, so few really get them right!
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Agreed, he looks awesome. They all do, really.
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