HOME | DD

Crafty-Jack β€” Dark Star: Age of Magic - Helvetican Empire 1

Published: 2012-09-02 06:55:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 1661; Favourites: 22; Downloads: 37
Redirect to original
Description SHORT DESCRIPTION:

This is a drawing for a fantasy role-playing game that my brother ([link] ) and I are creating for fun. This picture is supposed to be showing some examples of classes you can pick....a kind of archer-guy, and a couple examples of warrior priest/monk guys.

#2 pencil on paper


LONG DESCRIPTION:

Oh...hey, there...glad you could join us. SO...like many fantasy worlds ours is loosely based on a quasi-European geography. My brother is creating the background stories for the Northlanders, who are, as you might suspect, heavily influenced by nordic cultures. I am working on the area to the south. In real-world terms it's kind of like a combination of the Holy Roman Empire (Medieval Germany) and the remnants of the actual Western Roman empire...all rolled into a once-great, but now declining civilization of feudal baronies owing allegiance to the emperor.

The arrival in the last century of a new kind of religion (our version of Christianity) has resulted in the formation of a variety of knightly orders (similar to the Templars, Teutonic Knights, Hospitallers, etc.). So, if your character is from the Helvetican Empire you don't pick a class you pick a knightly order with an assortment of specialties, perks, and penalties (long before Helvetica was the world's most popular font it was a tribe of Germanic people....like the Goths or Teutons...wow, I'm using a lot of parentheses in this description).

So...this picture shows a longbowman from a more well-rounded vanilla order in the background...and in the foreground you can see two warrior monks of a different order.

A bit about the warrior-monk order: Their order's highest ideal is the "Act of Faith"... the most well-known of which is their predilection to fight without many of the tools used by their contemporaries. Initially they sought to go into battle naked and unarmed...."Our faith is our shield, and the word of God, our sword" kind of a thing. This resulted in a long list of martyrs from the order's early history. Later, this tenet was reinterpreted as "no knightly weapons"....so no horse, lance, sword, axe, shield, or armor. They are fond of hammers, clubs, and maces, and the most fanatical of the order will fight naked - their skin blazoned with tattoos of their order's symbols (as shown by the guy on the left).

NOW...the interesting thing about this for me, is how this order was created in reverse. Normally, you'd come up with the idea in your head, and then you'd go about realizing the vision on paper as an image. THIS drawing worked the other way. I started out with a picture that I've had for quite a while ([link] ) of some figures in action. I did some research and added armor to the guy in the back with the bow, but I had reservations about covering up all the hard work I did on the anatomy of the front two guys....then it hit me to scrap my plans and create a new order that fought in the buff. Then....using one of my favorite creative processes...I created the backstory as I drew in a kind of meditative fashion. Very fun...puts me in touch with drawing when I was a kid.

If you're still reading this then...wow, really? Thanks!
Related content
Comments: 9

KarakNornClansman [2019-01-26 18:35:10 +0000 UTC]

Such a rowdy bunch! Your style is deft and gives off a strong impression, churning with tall and tense energy.

Please pardon me asking, but would you by any chance be interested in helping out the volunteer project known as the Ninth Age (T9A for short: www.the-ninth-age.com/ )? It is the spiritual successor of Warhammer Fantasy, run by 300+ volunteer contributors all tinkering in their spare time, and it aims to go even further than Warhammer did along the paths of historically based dark fantasy smΓΆrgΓ₯sbord setting: i.imgur.com/dlmQkB6.jpg

For one thing, T9A is the perfect way for what used to be Warhammer fantasy fanart to instead become official artwork for an emerging setting, and thus gain much more widespread exposure.

Moreover, T9A is always welcoming artists who want to join their art team, and your skill and distinctive designs would be great to have on board, should you ever be interested in joining and help develop this setting by putting your own distinctive mark upon its art pool. If you would by any chance be interested in donating old artworks of yours, then here is a quick guide for T9A gallery upload of art contributions: i.imgur.com/ORLCncV.jpg

I can get you in E-mail contact with the head of their art team, if ever you're interested.

At any rate, splendid artworks! Evocative to boot, and detailed like a dream. Have a nice day.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

Crafty-Jack In reply to KarakNornClansman [2020-05-12 21:36:26 +0000 UTC]

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

Malahhai [2012-09-04 18:18:42 +0000 UTC]

Welcoooome
Ah yes, using your 5 year old self's ideas as base for something is very cool, I know the feeling
I didn't know there were many fantasy worlds based on imaginary continuations of early human history...
But I think it's a pretty interesting idea! I myself am in the massive, hardcore let's-make-up-crazy-new-shit fantasy team, so not really my playground, but the idea is interesting nevertheless.
Keep up the good hard work guys! If you upload more stuff to Fantasy-Empire, I'll be sure to follow!

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

Crafty-Jack In reply to Malahhai [2012-10-08 03:08:45 +0000 UTC]

...not based on a continuation of history, but based upon a cultural idea of what a fantasy continent should look like to a European American. If you look at Middle-Earth, it's not geographically similar to Europe, but the cultural placement of the people fits, same with Hyborea (Conan), and Westeros.

So that's all I meant. Basically we have north-man-ish people in the north, mediterranean-inspired people in the south and east, Germanic-like people in the middle, and Eastern-style (Slavic and Asian) cultures in the east. The parallels are vague but similar to old-world cultural geography.

That's all I meant....and don't get me wrong: I love bat-shit-crazy fantasy as well, but we were trying something different.

Check out the new deviation I've added for the game (submitted to the group). Thanks for the interest and support!

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

Malahhai In reply to Crafty-Jack [2012-10-08 15:29:02 +0000 UTC]

Ah I see. Well, someone shold meke that thing too

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

TylerHaas [2012-09-02 19:44:43 +0000 UTC]

I get more and more excited about our game as time goes along. Looks good. I especially like the front guy's legs for some reason. They look really accurate and give the impression of tense flexing indicating movement within the drawing.

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

Crafty-Jack In reply to TylerHaas [2012-09-02 20:20:34 +0000 UTC]

Thanks. I'm getting more excited too as I start doing this art. I appreciate the "movement" comment, I'm especially fond of the movement/motion/action of this piece of yours: [link] .

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0

Orsouw [2012-09-02 19:22:07 +0000 UTC]

Really cool sketches, interested in the rpg itself too.
And you're welcome, I read your entire description

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 1

Crafty-Jack In reply to Orsouw [2012-09-02 20:24:52 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much for the nice comment, and thanks for taking the time to stop by and read all the fluff!

If you feel inclined, check out the stuff my brother's done for our RPG. Here's a [link] .

πŸ‘: 0 ⏩: 0