December - Part One - Character Portraits

 I wasn't really sure what I was going to do this month, but I thought I'd start off December doing some portraits of characters from role-playing games I've played. 

(for MORE Game Nerdery, see my GAME BLOG) 

Here's what I got up to the first week... 

This is VX-923 - an Adeptus Mechanicus Lexmechanic played by my friend Randy in our (currently on hiatus) Wrath & Glory game. This was a lot of fun to do and got me really pumped about playing again - maybe in the new year... or... maybe SOONER!?

I actually painted this at the end of November, but it kind of goes with the rest of these, so I've reposted here as well.. 

Indebted 79 - a Death Cult Assassin.

This is Jonathan's character for our Wrath & Glory game.

Tempestor Castus von Traggenstein

Another character portrait from our Wrath & Glory campaign. Sole surviving member of his unit of scions was offered the Emperor's Peace or a life of service to the Inquisition. He wanted answers about what happened to his unit and figured the Inquisition might provide them...

Basillius - Sanctioned Psyker - or so everyone tells him... apparently, at some point in his career, he saw something that he really shouldn't have, but the inquisition figured he was too valuable an asset to have him eliminated, so they ordered a memory wipe. But the memory wipe was a little TOO effective and he completely forgot that he is actually a sanctioned psyker... hijinks ensued.

This is Christian's character for the Wrath & Glory Game. Christian always comes up with just the craziest characters for every game he's played in.

one of the initial sketches for Christian's Character - this is Christian - I wanted to based the character portraits on the actual players, to some degree. I'm actually pretty happy with this... I hate it when I nail it on the first sketch, and then NONE OF THE OTHERS LOOK RIGHT!? 

Without glasses. 

Considering poses and other stuff - I had considered a tattoo or brand on the forehead... but then... didn't...

My current workspace. I've been doing these on Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media Paper - which I cut to an 11x11 square and tape down to a board. I've just started working on this paper - I was a little anxious when I did my first wash on one and the paper buckled a LOT - which caused a little pooling. Much to my surprise, however, once it dried, it went right back to being flat!? 

This is the last of the group - Ivan the Inquisition Acolyte. I painted this one back in October, but thought I'd include it here again, so they're all in one place. It was done in my sketchbook. I may have to redo it now that I've done these others on good paper... 

I've had a lot of fun doing these, an will probably continue with more throughout the month. There will probably be a focus on Wrath & Glory and other Warhammer 40K Characters, but I might do a few from other games.... 

Like Gronq the Barbarian - MY character from the Four Against Darkness game my son Finnegan is running for me and a few friends. I thought I might do his portrait like a comic book cover and was messing around trying to make a logo inspired by the Conan the Barbarian comics that marvel produced when I was young...