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WhoDrewThis — Tengu Swordmaster
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Published: 2010-11-11 10:56:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 9365; Favourites: 146; Downloads: 267
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Description
The second pirate- an unnamed tengu swordmaster. Tengu are trained young in the art of the sword, and can easily take to even the most exotic swords they encounter. So one seemed a natural fit for a rag-tag crew of pirates.The robe is a mix of 33 layers of color, highlights, and shading; I wanted this guy (gal?) to look badass, even with his (her?) multiple weapons sheathed. The lettering is just some random brush strokes; don't go a-Googlin' for a similar set of letters, unless you're bored or something.
I just finished talking with *Benchak about putting his mad statting skillz to work getting these pirate guys up to Con snuff. Also, while I can often imagine some cool character image in my head, applying numbers to 'em sometimes feels like saying, "OK, here's what this guy CAN'T do anymore," instead of assigning skills and abilities for what they CAN do. Plus, Ben's got the rules down better than me, which I am immensely proud of.
The student became the master, slew him in honorable combat, and took over his dojo years ago, and said master still hasn't even noticed.
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Comments: 43
This may be my favorite thing I've seen on DA in quite some time.
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It's the favorite thing I've ever done for most folks. Maybe I should do more.
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Was casting about for a good icon and GM for a dungeon run dropped this master on me. *awe* *speechless* (Do you have any free time for commissions and what kind of rates would they run?)
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Far and away my most Fav'd piece.
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This guy is amazing, I found your deviantart through roll20 (Orignal universe PF campaign I am GMing) and this the exact look I was looking for in a token I need.
Much love on your RPG artwork,
a New watcher, Nexus
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Why, thankee!
And I'll have to check out this roll20 you speak of.
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It's my best-loved piece so far. I really should print out and sell versions of this guy, even if the artist in me sees opportunity to make him better.
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Very cool and mysterious looking. Makes me want to play as Tengu for my next character. Ever found out what that random symbol means?
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Tengu rock. In fact...
Tengu: "RAWK!"
Never looked it up. If you ever get totally bored, by all means. The project requires more knowledge of various Asian language characters than I expect to absorb.
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This gotta be the coolest bird-man I've ever seen. The cloak is beyond awesome
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I love this guy. Apparently, I'm not alone. My most-Fav'd piece by a good margin, which makes me happy since the last one was some old-ass goblins I did years ago.
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I had one on my computer that's now packed up, but I bet I could whip one up again, if you'd like.
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sorry for such a long reply - been real busy away from PC 
Would love to get a version as a mini! would also like a Lady Winter mini too
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Took me almost a month to reply to you, so it's not like I'm a swift-reply saint.
Soon as Photoshop's back up and runnin', I'll see if I can get a page of minis set up for d/l.
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That cloak took a while, but was WAY worth it. I'll have to try to recreate the effect on another piece some time.
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Thanks! By far one of my favorite pieces.
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I stumbled upon this by a happy accident- Wonderful!
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Happy to provide! Glad you enjoy it.
Zombie Sky Press is putting out some sort of Tengu book in the near future that, with luck, will include this piece, and will certainly include a few other tengu as well. I'll try to mention its release in the future.
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If my d&d group fought this guy, we'd be fighting over who got that awesome cloak. =] Doesn't even matter if it has any magic on it or not.
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I think my PCs have done that before, actually. In fact, I KNOW we did with the Stag Lord in Kingmaker. Everyone wanted that helmet.
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Fantastic. And a Tengu. Double awesome. Do you have a thing for old school oriental type designs... hints of that kind of style seem to crop up from time to time in your work, some less, some more... sure looks like cherry blossoms to me.
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I do prefer Asian-style looks from an aesthetic standpoint. This game idea's gonna let me go wild, particularly on the China angle. The Tengu's Japanese-based, obviously, and yes, thems is cherry blossoms. Thems is also a katana, a wakizashi, and a daikatana. He may also have some tantos or other sword-like weapons on his person, depending on stattage.
I dunno. There's plenty of ugly designs in ancient Asian clothing, sure, but there's so much more in medieval Europe, from what I've seen. Plus, Asian clothing is layers on layers of robes on robes, which are fun to draw. And the armor? I mean, damn. Good-lookin' stuff.
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Sure dnd/pathfinder tengu/kenkus are stolen from japanese mythology - but I haven't seen one that acknowledges its roots like your pic. Its nice to see. How interesting would it be to have a complete criminal clan/ yakuza / rookery based on a japanese theme. A whole bunch of ronin, untrustworthy, ninja kenku. That would be so cool. After all, this guy must have come from somewhere... maybe he quit his filthy clan... ( makes me think of Spike in Cowboy Bebop ). Ha. I can run with this idea alllll day.
Moar Tengus !
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Scott Gable of Zombie Sky Press saw this piece and has commissioned a couple more from me, so there will be MOAR TENGUS indeed.
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Coolio, hopefully you will be allowed to show that work on DA !
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I'll check with Scott. He's been incommunicado lately. Dunno what's up.
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Glad you approve! It took me at least a half-hour to pick colors for that cloak. From now one, looking at the image will remind me of the part of the "This American Life" episode I was streaming when I did it.
I knew I wanted to basically have a cloak, and then a different cape on the shoulder; I did the cherry blossom side first, and the nighttime snow/lettering side seemed a good juxtaposition for the former scene. The wintery feel just kinda formed as it went. I think it might get tied into the background. Maybe a tengu from an isolated mountain tribe? Hmm...
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Now THAT'S cool. Great work on the cloak, nice details! Although I'm not big friend of Pathfinder Tengus. This is nice!
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Thanks! I don't know where that burst of arting came from, honestly. I think I'm possessed by the ghost of some old art genius who, every once in a great while, gets fed up with my crude scribblings and rolls a 20 on my behalf.
And I will admit, both Ben and I are big softies for the old kenkus. I mean, we like the tengus of Pathfinder, too, but all that old Pazuzu flavor powered a big subplot in our Savage Tide game.
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I like those japanese original tengu, with red skin, bird wings and big pointy noses. They look cool
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Ah yeah, old school. The warped old dudes of the mountains.
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Thanks! It's definitely one of my current favorites.
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what do i gotta do to get u to draw me one?
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Well, I do take commissions from time to time, but I'm buried in the "official" paid work. I'll post up a journal entry on dA when I'm accepting commissions again.
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