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Description
Asinia AEristalta, formerly known as Donkey, has been given a choice. The Emperor Caligula thinks it's funny to make a married couple fight to death in the arena, especially since he's dangled the promise of freedom in front of whoever survives. Both Asinia and Drusus know that if they fake the fight, or try to escape somehow, they'll both be put to death. The only way out is for one of them to kill the other.

When I first began drawing my gladiators, back in '07, I didn't think their story would end this way. But sometimes characters take over the story and dictate the ending themselves; if I tried to alter it, it wouldn't feel right. The sad thing is, it fits--having a husband and wife kill each other would be exactly the kind of thing Caligula would do.

Because this is a special exhibition battle, the costumes are altered a bit. A retarius (Asinia's gladiatorial class) carries a weighted fishing net and a trident, and would have sparse armor and no helmet. But for special occasions, the outfits would be changed somewhat, and so I've given her a more formal-looking crested helmet and a fancier breechcloth. The normal iron armor pieces have been bronzed to reflect the sun and make the combat look more impressive.

This is another experimental piece. I really want to learn to draw action poses better, so I've been working on them. In this case, I took a quick reference sketch out of the DC Universe Encyclopedia and then altered the pose. Learn to walk before you run, ne?

Alea jacta est is Latin. It means "The die is cast"--i.e., that's it, there's no getting out of it. It's one of Julius Caesar's supposed sayings, along with "Veni, vidi, vici" and so forth.

Description
Asinia AEristalta, formerly known as Donkey, has been given a choice. The Emperor Caligula thinks it's funny to make a married couple fight to death in the arena, especially since he's dangled the promise of freedom in front of whoever survives. Both Asinia and Drusus know that if they fake the fight, or try to escape somehow, they'll both be put to death. The only way out is for one of them to kill the other.

When I first began drawing my gladiators, back in '07, I didn't think their story would end this way. But sometimes characters take over the story and dictate the ending themselves; if I tried to alter it, it wouldn't feel right. The sad thing is, it fits--having a husband and wife kill each other would be exactly the kind of thing Caligula would do.

Because this is a special exhibition battle, the costumes are altered a bit. A retarius (Asinia's gladiatorial class) carries a weighted fishing net and a trident, and would have sparse armor and no helmet. But for special occasions, the outfits would be changed somewhat, and so I've given her a more formal-looking crested helmet and a fancier breechcloth. The normal iron armor pieces have been bronzed to reflect the sun and make the combat look more impressive.

This is another experimental piece. I really want to learn to draw action poses better, so I've been working on them. In this case, I took a quick reference sketch out of the DC Universe Encyclopedia and then altered the pose. Learn to walk before you run, ne?

Alea jacta est is Latin. It means "The die is cast"--i.e., that's it, there's no getting out of it. It's one of Julius Caesar's supposed sayings, along with "Veni, vidi, vici" and so forth.