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M0AI — CotSF: The Moonlit King

Published: 2010-09-23 17:04:07 +0000 UTC; Views: 3879; Favourites: 73; Downloads: 136
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Description The Moonlit King was once the ruler of the Shadow Fey, but has since been deposed by the Queen of Night and Magic. He is now a shadow of his former self, and I mean that quite literally. He has become a glass demon, a creature that flickers between solidity and transparency. The same flickering afflicts his mind; when the players speak to him, his attention seems elsewhere, and he oddly seems to stare right through them. He is no longer quite in touch with reality. But he is still a force to be reckoned with.

In exile, the king lives in a massive tower. Its exterior is as gray and pockmarked as the surface of the moon, and a gaping hole can be seen on the wall of one of the upper floors. The interior is an eerie, luminous chamber of piles of rubble, mechanisms of unknown function, and stairways made of seemingly little more than solidified mist and moonlight. Shafts of brilliant pure moonlight beam in through the windows. A majestic blue throne lies behind a wall of shimmering, protective force. The King gains power from the moonlight filtering in, and holds a Luner Orb that gives him control over all the mechanisms of the tower.

Sharing this strange place are one or more Derro servants (not pictured) and several moonlit devils. The moonlit devils are large, agile, crocodilian, armed with long hammers. Fighting the Moonlit King, if the players choose to do so, is an epic, high-level boss battle. Judging from what little I learned from the art briefs, it's a climactic point in the campaign.

Though I think this is one of the more impressive pieces I made for Courts, it was also one of the most challenging and...well, awkward pieces to make. The detailed surroundings provided a major challenge, but I sped up the work by drawing out rocky patterns that I could tile across the walls and the floors, saving me from having to draw each stone individually (though I did have to do a lot of editing to integrate the edges of the tiles with the surroundings, and to make it so that the tiling wasn't so obvious). I think this took me longer than any other courts piece.

One thing I learned from the art briefs is that the Black Prince is more of an ally to his father than to his mother. If you look at the Black Prince again, you can just barely make out a motif of a circle with one or more triangles above it. I intended for this circle and triangle motif to be the sigil of the Moonlit King. You can see it in his crown. The circle represents the moon, obviously, while the triangles represent power.
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Comments: 14

bensen-daniel [2010-11-23 12:07:09 +0000 UTC]

I like the tiling effect. This guys also has the best expression so far. Really crazy.
And I love the anatomy of the crocodile guards. The shaft of moonlight is a clever way to save yourself from having to draw the place where wall meets floor, and it looks good. The only problem I see is the second band of moonlight, which is at a different angle coming out of the window.

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M0AI In reply to bensen-daniel [2011-03-24 16:30:00 +0000 UTC]

Thanks again, Mr. Benson!
"The only problem I see is the second band of moonlight, which is at a different angle coming out of the window."
It is? Huh. I just chalked that up to perspective (though I confess I totally eyeballed it).

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thomastapir [2010-10-22 03:45:22 +0000 UTC]

That gradient effect combined with the fading level of detail top-to-bottom does a great job of communicating the character's ephemeral quality, and placing him directly in a moon beam is (IMHO) a stroke of genius, really making the character pop out through value contrast despite his insubstantiality. The expression on his face is also perfect--that sort of mad, shellshocked senility, almost a kind of mystical dementia! Even if you hadn't explicitly stated it, I still would have gotten the impression that he was "looking right through me." :shivers:

My initial impression when I first saw him standing there all shadowy-like in the moonbeam was actually that the moonlight served as some sort of warding thing; like, in the same way shadows can only exist in the presence of light, he relies on the moonlight as a foothold in material reality...Which also necessarily keeps him trapped in the same spot. I guess there are a number of different ways to interpret it, all of them pretty cool!

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M0AI In reply to thomastapir [2011-03-24 16:28:44 +0000 UTC]

Thanks so much, Tapir! I'm glad that this image works so well for you.

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MetalSnail [2010-09-24 22:48:20 +0000 UTC]

Awesome, love the stone work...and of course the reptile guys!

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M0AI In reply to MetalSnail [2010-10-06 23:47:24 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! That stone work took quite a long time.

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blackdog66 [2010-09-24 02:43:17 +0000 UTC]

YAY Lizard People!

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M0AI In reply to blackdog66 [2010-10-06 23:47:38 +0000 UTC]

Hehe, thanks!

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whalewithlegs [2010-09-24 01:12:10 +0000 UTC]

Lovely! This piece came out really really right. A couple of the best things about this are very subtle or very technical, like the way you faded out the lines into the gloom.

It's cool to see that you tiled the floor! It's not apparently obvious the the pattern is repeating, which is a nice touch. Also leads me to ask: how much of these did you do digitally, and how much was by hand? Were they done in a vector program?

Once again, It's a real pleasure to see you wielding such an intensely graphic style with such fluency. After seeing so much of your painting, it's exciting to realize that you're so good with this kind of work ... it makes me wonder how much of the same type of lighting/ spacial control techniques you use in your paintings also? Anyhow, the work you've done for courts is really evocative! It's the kind of stuff that I would have been looking at as a kid and been inspired to draw from

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M0AI In reply to whalewithlegs [2010-10-06 23:53:16 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, Ben! Actually, except for the final three images (which I just posted today), all of these were entirely digital, drawn in Photoshop. No traditional media whatsoever, not even the sketches.

For these, I used quite a bit of layer masks and multiply layers, which I also use in my paintings. I tend to use a lot more effects in my paintings than I used with these, though. Which only makes since, since my paintings are usually in color and have more than a couple values.

"It's the kind of stuff that I would have been looking at as a kid and been inspired to draw from "

Thanks so much, man! This is about the greatest compliment you could give me. Creating that same sense of wonder that I had when looking at Monster Manuals and such as a young lad is one of my main goals in illustration.

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whalewithlegs In reply to M0AI [2010-10-07 06:09:57 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, monster manual, ftw! I spent many a good hour poring over that book .. & there are so many of them now! [link]

Hmm, I should get my own copy.


Wow, I'm really surprised these are wholly digital! I would never have realized that the stamp brush was what you used for the mail!

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zypherax [2010-09-23 19:01:47 +0000 UTC]

again, I very much enjoy this piece, but I have a qualm... the shafts of moonlight do not corelate properly with the height of the moon... based on the angle at which you have the shafts drawn, it would be more realistic if the moon itself was higher.... it would likley be above the porthole window, unable to be seen...

does that make sense?

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M0AI In reply to zypherax [2010-10-07 00:07:45 +0000 UTC]

That makes perfect sense. However, this is a case where using artistic license would work better than being absolutely mathematically correct. The angle of the moonbeams is what works for the composition, and it was necessary to show the moon in the window to drive home the fact that this is a moon-themed character, and those are indeed shafts of moonlight. One of the main things I'm learning from school is that it is perfectly acceptable, even desirable, to draw things "wrong" if it improves the picture.

Thanks for the comment!

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zypherax In reply to M0AI [2010-10-07 01:24:44 +0000 UTC]

hmmm... alright, I suppose if you were required to include it, I understand, but it still seems rather odd to me... I mean, I like the moon in the image, and I also like the beams of light.. they simply do not correlate propperly.

again, you are welcome! XD

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