# Acquana's Art Thread -- Closed, New Thread Started



## Acquana

Edited 08/04/05

So hello all.  I've been at this for nearly 8 months, and kept up the Drawing a Day for nearly 6.  Fortunately and unfortunately, things have changed in my life since about mid-March of this year which has made it increasingly harder to keep up this thread.

But fear not!  This by no means bodes ill for the Acquana Art Thread.   I will still be posting every week or so, concepts from various things I'm working on, characters from the games I'm in, all that kinda cool stuff that I give permission for others to use in games ... But I won't really be taking requests anymore.  I know it was a bit few and far between to begin with, but now it will be EXTREMELY rare.  Quite honestly, I just don't have the time to devote to non-comission requests.  As always, I am open for commissions!  I am a struggling artist with difficulty paying my bills and a lot of projects on my plate that I can only pray will pan out, and seeing someone willing to actually help me out for my trouble is ... well, it feels really darn good.  So if you care to get that special something drawn, drop me a line, lemme know what you want, I'll be happy to help ya out!

And for those of you here just to see what's new, I guarantee, I won't keep you out of the loop.  I've got a lot of projects ahead of me and I'll keep you all updated as much as I can.  Believe me, the best is yet to come! 

The first post from the Drawing a Day thread: Elemental Mages


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Great stuff. I probably should do something like this too...but nah, too lazy. I'll just watch this thread.


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## Acquana

*01/28/05*

This here is Dozer, my Mutants and Masterminds character.


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## Acquana

*01/29/05*

Bah!  The system was down, yo.  But here is yesterday's.  In the last game I was in ran by Rangerwickett. I played a half-Minotaur barbarian/cleric by the name of Sabri Zeldathane.  Here she is with her half-sister Haben.  It's rare that one sees female minotaurs drawn, and usually when they are ... for some reason people are at a loss as to how to draw the bodies.  Answer: the less sexy to a human you make them, the better they look.


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## Acquana

*01/30/05*

This is Quilathe, one of Rangerwickett's NPCs.

This one come out soley when I started drawing the hair.  mmmmmmmm hair


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## Piratecat

Acquana said:
			
		

> It's rare that one sees female minotaurs drawn, and usually when they are ... for some reason people are at a loss as to how to draw the bodies.  Answer: the less sexy to a human you make them, the better they look.




Tailoring for the udders can get tricky.

I really like this last picture you posted.  Nice work.


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## RangerWickett

Yay!  I've got fan-art!  *does a happy dance*

Jessie, I stand by my opinion that you're drawing heads that are too big, or legs that are too short.  Your design is great, but a few small things are off with their proportions.  It might make you happy to know that I was more thrilled to see Sabri than Quillathe.  I mean, sure, on one hand we have a possibly lesbian dark Elf bondage queen -- which is good, if you're into that sort of thing -- but on the other hand we have a truly unique young lady who was probably a more sympathetic character than anyone else in any of the games I've run.  Plus, she had a whuppin' stick.

Jessie, keep up the work.  I'll match you a section of novel for each day of art you do.  Deal?

Oh, and P.S., Minotaurs don't have udders.  They get a little frustrated when humans make that joke.


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## Acquana

And now your minotaur are called Geidon.  ^_^

Hey!  A deal's a deal, my friend!  

And the Quilathe is a bit of an apology for making fun of her.  ^_~


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## Stone Angel

good stuff maybe I will contribute someday damn you real world!

The Seraph of Earth and Stone


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## Acquana

*01/31/05*



			
				RangerWickett said:
			
		

> It might make you happy to know that I was more thrilled to see Sabri than Quillathe.  I mean, sure, on one hand we have a possibly lesbian dark Elf bondage queen -- which is good, if you're into that sort of thing -- but on the other hand we have a truly unique young lady who was probably a more sympathetic character than anyone else in any of the games I've run.  Plus, she had a whuppin' stick.




Awwww, I am so flattered!  And because I am, everyone gets to see Sabri with her whoopin' stick.  It's a redo of the first drawing I did of her.


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## Breakstone

Wow! Those are all quite excelent, Acquana! Everything "flows" together quite nicely... the composition, the linework, the details... I especially love the two half-minotaurs. Good show!


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## Acquana

*02/01/05*

As a slightly different pace, here's a modern man.  Or at least one who's been around long enough to be in modern times.  This is Compte de St. Germain, one of the handful aside from dear Mr. Flammel who is credited as discovering the elixir of life, from a comic my boyfriend and I are working on.


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## Knightfall

Acquana said:
			
		

> Of course once I get into the groove of drawing every day again I'll gladly take requests.  For now I'm going to try to get some character sketches of ones I haven't pegged down yet from my games and stuff.




So when do you think you'll start taking taking requests? And will you take requests for free images, as you're doing them now?

Your art is great, BTW. I really like the elemental mages, Quilathe, and Compte de St. Germain.

Cheers!

KF72


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## Acquana

Yup.  This thread is free now and forever.  And if you've got requests, I'll take 'em!

And thus the floodgates are released.


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## JoeGKushner

Let's see....

build: Althetic Frame.

Weapon: Large sized Greatsword (individual uses the old Monkeygrip Feat)

Armor: Breastplate 

Helm: Opened face helm with visor over eyes. Hair spills past helm to shoulders.

Other Bits: Long flowing cape.

Oversized leather gauntlets with metal stud knuckles.

Belt with metallic belt buckle.

Boots mid-range with cuffs.


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## Bobitron

I'm really impressed! I hope this is a great outlet for you, sounds like you might really enjoy getting back into drawing everyday.

I have a request, if you like. I play a gnoll in a PBP adventure here, and I'd love to see what you could do. He is a ranger in the Eberron setting. Have fun!

Here's the appearance section form my character sheet.

Appearance: Luthal is a powerful creature, towering over most he meets, and is built of 300 pounds of muscle and sinew. His broad frame is covered with short reddish brown hair, lengthening on his back, and forming a mane on his head and neck. Darker spots begin on his neck and continue down to his shoulders. He wears leather armor that has seen much use, and bears a pair of axes, a larger on in his primary hand, and small throwing axe in his left. Luthal’s voice is rather high considering his bulk, and he breaks into gnoll to curse or when trying to describe complex thoughts. He is quick to laugh and speak, but has learned to stay quiet when needed, especially among strangers.


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## Knightfall

Acquana said:
			
		

> Yup.  This thread is free now and forever.  And if you've got requests, I'll take 'em!
> 
> And thus the floodgates are released.




Ok, here's an important NPC from my World of Kulan Campaign Setting. Let me know if you need any clarifications. - KF72

*ANDERS CARRIN, MERCHANT LORD OF XCELLIAN*
*Stats:* dm (torin) / 8th level fighter, 8th level trader / lawful neutral
*Homeland:* The City-state of Xcellian
*Personality:* Stubborn, knowledgeable, and auspicious.

*Appearance:* Anders is a tall, stocky, dwarven man with a confident, stern smile and unshakeable set of values. While most Torin dwarves are known for their wild, unkempt nature, Anders isn't most Torin. He keeps his face clean shaven except for his neatly-trimmed, braided goatee. His hair is dark brown, cut medium in length with six thick braids spaced evenly around his head.

As a powerful and wealthy merchant, Anders is often draped in the finest garments to be had, in the lands of the Far South, which tend to be muted in color and style. He is not one to be seen as garish, ever. This, strangely, has made the dwarven man a trend maker in the latest fashions in the City-state of Xcellian, which he abhores. Anders only wears rings and other jewelry when such items are magical and he is never without his _ring of protection_.

As the Merchant Lord of Xcellian, Anders has access to almost any weapon or armor he would ever need. However, he is never without his specially forged magical longsword, which has a blade one and half times as wide as a normal longsword. It is said the sword never dulls and glows a deep green when in the presence of shapechangers. When he does wear armor, it is usually light or piecemail, as the Far South is known for its extreme temperatures during the daylight hours.

*Description/Background:* Anders Carrin is the fourth son of, the now deceased, Brejan Carrin of the Carrin-Austil Mercantile House of Xcellian. Cam House as it often referred to, is the largest and most powerful trading house in Xcellian and it seemed unlikely that Anders would ever have inherited the Carrin family side of the business. (The other family is called the Austils, who have a different leader. The two families are aligned by bloodline.)

However, his three older brothers were drawn into the adventuring life at a young age. His two oldest brothers never came back, while his other elder brother came back completely mad. This left only Anders to inherit the Carrin side of the business. However, he too caught the adventuring bug and sailed off to ‘find his fate’ against the wishes of Lord Brejan.

Unlike his brothers, luck seemed to follow Anders on his travels and he soon amassed a great fortune. He sailed home to fill the coffers of Cam House, turning it into the powerhouse it is today. He put his name in for civic duty and soon rose to prominence as the de facto head of the Mercantile Collegiate.

Less than four years after returning home, the dwarven man was named Merchant Lord of Xcellian by his peers and has held that title for another 10 consecutive years. Many wish to name him Merchant King for life but he balks at such a title. He hopes to pass on the rule of Cam House to his son, Finn, as soon as the boy is old enough. Then, he will go on one last great adventure with his old traveling colleagues.


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## Acquana

*02/02/05*

Oh my gosh I am so tired ...

Two things I learned from today's drawing: If one makes a commitment to draw every day, then a drawing must be done even if about to nod off, and if one makes a commitment to draw every day, some drawings are going to be worse than others.

This is Jon and Leno from _Brave Fencer Musashi._  Just suddenly started thinking about it the other day, love the game.  Perhaps at one point I'll redo this.  I mean it's okay ... but I'm so tired ...


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## Acquana

*02/03/05 -- Wow, weird mood ...*

So yeah, I was in a weird mood today.  I'm finally starting to get some semblance of a schedule in my life, last night I'd had maybe four hours of sleep for some strange reason ...

But anyhoo, weird mood, weird mood  ... So here's Rainbow Brite!






I'll get to requests as I can.  Just right now I was in the mood for some strangeness.


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## Breakstone

Terrific stuff as usual, Acquana. You've got a real good feel for postures.


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## veinglory

I think your character art is great, particualrly the degree of facial expression you get with failry minimal linework.  Even though this is a thread for your sketches I would love to see any work you have with backgrounds and/or colour.


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## Greylock

Your artwork is awesome, Acquana. There is something about your style that really grabs me. The linework, the sweetness, the easy-going nature of your subjects. All very good. Even your grittier char sketches have a softness to them. Good stuff...


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## Acquana

veinglory said:
			
		

> I think your character art is great, particualrly the degree of facial expression you get with failry minimal linework.  Even though this is a thread for your sketches I would love to see any work you have with backgrounds and/or colour.




My portfolio site is the link right under my name in my sig.  Those eager to see watercolor, computer coloring, or stuff I've done for EN Publishing can check there.


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## Acquana

*02/04/05*

Noticing that the little dog Leno above somehow moves like a cat, I decided to take it as a challenge to draw something dog-like correctly.  And so I give you Louis Lokya with his construct, Hela.  Those of you who followed the Route 66 storyhour at all may note that this is the uncle of Twilight Lokya.  Twilight's player has a fantastically imaginative mind, and comes up with the most amazing plots and backstories for her characters.  Louis is a maker of constructs, including a replacement for his own eye and his pet, which is based off of a creature in Egpytian mythology of the same name.

So this is a gift for Millicent.  She was very happy when she saw it.







*phew*  Made it just in time.  It wouldn't have taken me so long save I was busy with an illustration for EN Publishing ... that and DEAR GOD, why is it so hard to find the muscle structure of a dog online?!


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## RangerWickett

You offered sketches of other people's PCs, Jessie.  You need to deliver soon, lest they grow restless.  *grin*

And if I could find you online, I'd send you the latest part of the story.


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## Acquana

*02/05/05*



			
				Bobitron said:
			
		

> I'm really impressed! I hope this is a great outlet for you, sounds like you might really enjoy getting back into drawing everyday.
> 
> I have a request, if you like. I play a gnoll in a PBP adventure here, and I'd love to see what you could do. He is a ranger in the Eberron setting. Have fun!
> 
> Here's the appearance section form my character sheet.
> 
> Appearance: Luthal is a powerful creature, towering over most he meets, and is built of 300 pounds of muscle and sinew. His broad frame is covered with short reddish brown hair, lengthening on his back, and forming a mane on his head and neck. Darker spots begin on his neck and continue down to his shoulders. He wears leather armor that has seen much use, and bears a pair of axes, a larger on in his primary hand, and small throwing axe in his left. Luthal’s voice is rather high considering his bulk, and he breaks into gnoll to curse or when trying to describe complex thoughts. He is quick to laugh and speak, but has learned to stay quiet when needed, especially among strangers.




A gnoll?  Sounds fun!  Here he is!






Forgive the kilt, putting pants on such creatures is rather difficult.

For those who are interested in requests, I do enjoy psuedo-humans.  Though note that I'm not much of a creature concept artist.  I know lots of people who are who'd be happy to do commisions.  But anyhoo ... I like taking a step or two away from monstrous when doing these sorts of animal/human races.  Mostly because ... well, I have a less-realistic style than many illustrators, and animal races look like furries when even slightly cartoony.  I like to avoid that, so instead of straight-up animal features I try to mix them with human ones a bit more.  

So that's a gnoll for ya, Bobitron!  Hope ya likes it.


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## Bobitron

Acquana said:
			
		

> So that's a gnoll for ya, Bobitron!  Hope ya likes it.




Wow! Thanks, Acquana. It's just as I pictured him. Thanks for your time   Great work.


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## Acquana

*02/06/05*

Suddenly coming up with an idea before losing conciousness can create odd results.  I'm giving myself a theme this week: Well-known video game characters put into fantasy settings!  So today and for the rest of this week I'll be doing this assignment, and I hope it will be as fun for those watching the thread as it is for me.

Today we follow the aberration hunter, Samus Aran, after her victory over the monstrous dragon, Ripley.






I've always been a fan of Samus ... though sadly I haven't bought any of the newer Metroid games.  But I can handle her pretty well in Smash Bros. Melee.  I need to get a copy now that I have a Gamecube ...


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## Acquana

*02/07/05*

Bah.  The server for my site is being odd.  That should clear up sometime tonight.  So my drawing for today is here!

Our hero, Mario, is a dwarven artisan who gets tangled in the affairs of the royal house of Toadstool.  The princess, Peach, is a sorceress and is allied with a peaceful Myconid kingdom.  When Peach is kidnapped, Mario and his brother must valiently save her, using their trusty ring of fireballs!


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## Acquana

*02/08/05*

For today the assignment continues with the Tomb Raider.  Lara Croft is an adventurer extraordinare, a ranger/rogue who searches the dungeon crawls, slaying random animals along the way.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard

That Samus rocks. Does the magical full plate allow her to curl up into a tiny ball and roll around?


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## DragonSword

Hey Acquana, liking this thread. I've been checking it every day since you started, there's some great stuff. Especially like the Mario piece. Good luck with keeping this going!


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## Breakstone

These new pieces are terrific, Acquana! I love the Mario piece. I always wanted to run a Mario D&D game. Mario would be a paladin, Yoshi would be his special mount, Luigi would be a monk, Toad could be a rogue, etc.


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## Ferret

I love the interpretations of the characters! Brilliant. I've just started playing half-life two, and chance of seeing Gorden freeman? With crowbar, if possible?


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## Acquana

*02/09/05*



			
				Ferret said:
			
		

> I love the interpretations of the characters! Brilliant. I've just started playing half-life two, and chance of seeing Gorden freeman? With crowbar, if possible?




What a brilliant idea!






This is Gordon Freeman, the last of an order of mages dedicated to the art of planeshifting.  The symbol of his order rests on the breastplate of the ceremonial armor he was forced to don when a portal to dark worlds opened; he has dedicated himself to fighting the aberrations that entered his world, constantly shadowed by a mysterious fatespinner--a man in black robes.


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## Acquana

*Huh?  What was that noise?*

Blast it all!  I was late!  Grrr   I blame last night's insomnia ... It took me HOURS to get to sleep, despite lying there ... Thus I woke up late and had to do all my chores late.

To make up for the lateness, all of you get an extra sketch!

David Pliskin is a rogue/fighter known simply as "Snake."  He's specialty is throwing knives, and for some years has been on the trail of guilds who have been making war machines that threaten the military power of nations all over his world.  Beside him is his partner, Hal "Otto" Emmerich--always handy for dropping magical barriers or an "improved invisibility."


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## Acquana

*02/10/05*

Ah, a sketch on time.

It's now time to introduce an NPC.  The infamous Red Bandit, the Crimson Witch, the slipperiest of the splippery, Carmen Sandiego.  She is a wizardress/rogue, most of her levels piled into the perfection of teleportation.  Devoting most of her life to magic, she grew bored and began using her increadible prowress with teleportation for greater and greater challenges--specifically theft.  As her power grew, she took over a large thieves guild and now has a small army of henchmen, each of them well-trained in her art.


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## Aristotle

I like your lines. You have a particularly good way with faces (an area I struggle with). I'll definately be keeping an eye on this thread.

A few of the tighter pieces look good enough to see print in the PDF circuit. I don't know if you've already been published or not... just an observation. :EDIT: I just saw your .sig, you do freelance already.


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## Acquana

*02/11/05*

Alright, tomorrow I'll be done with my weekly assignment and can return to regular requests!  

Thanks for the replies, people, keep 'em coming!

Today, Rock the inevitable fights for everlasting peace--along with his human ally Dr. Light and his sister Roll, in order to stop the evil construct/golem maker, Dr. Wily!  






This Dr. Light has shown me that obviously I need to work on my aging, overweight men.


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## Bobitron

Jessica, I had a chance to check out your website, and I'm really impressed. I like your modern stuff a bunch. Keep up the good work!


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## Acquana

Bobitron said:
			
		

> Jessica, I had a chance to check out your website, and I'm really impressed. I like your modern stuff a bunch. Keep up the good work!




Thank you so much!  I know that keeping up sketching will only help.

And remember ... I'm available for commission!  ^_^    <-------- Shameless plug!

But, seriously ... If anyone wants a drawing with anything more than sketch quality, that's what commissions are for.  Color or inks cost money, this thread is free, but sketchy.


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## Breakstone

Carmen Sandiego is terrific! I saw it and, even before reading your description, throught "Where in the world is..."



I also like Dr. Wily. And the Halflife Dude. Your concepts are so simple yet great!


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## Acquana

*02/12/05*

Last of my weekly assignment!  A Boy and His Gelatinous Cube!







I admit, it's hard to top some of the other ones I did this week ...


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## Acquana

*Dah!  I'm late again!*

I was at a friend's house all night ... so late again.  But I have it!  And my extra one because you were so patient.






So yeah, that there's Lion-O.  Or however you spelled it, since this was done pretty much from memory.  Save the pants.  I gave him pants because briefs dont' count as outer-wear.

Now that Weekly Assignment #1 is done ... I'm free for requests again!  What to do, what to do ...?


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## Acquana

*02/13/05*

Well, I'm about to head out to Denny's, so I gotta post this fast.

This is Chyo, Osaka, and Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh.


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## Palskane

*Auvathyrri*

Well, if you're taking requests (or commissions, just let me know), then I have an NPC I'd love to have rendered. 

His name is simply Dimidius. He is an auvathyrri. The production of a dark elf and an avariel. This warrants some backstory. 

His mother was of the warrior caste of the avariels. Though he has never known her, she was a very respected warrior, and a member of a royal bloodline. His father? A dark elf mercenary named Baasik. His mother and father met on the battlefield, both intent upon the slaughter of the other. His mother was brought to ground, and his father, caught up in the moment, decided to teach her a more prolonged lesson. So he raped her, repeatedly. She never saw him again, but soon found out she was with child. Though she contemplated suicide many times she could not bring herself to do so. Instead she tried on many occasions to fetch the unborn out of her with a stick. She never succeeded. She did, however, manage to deform her son. 

Upon his birth she was horrified at what she'd done. The right side of the babe's face was terribly scarred. She'd managed to fetch out one eye and horribly maim the right side of his face. Knowing that there was no way she could raise him as her own she made tatters of his jet-black wings. Then she took him to a nearby human monastery. 

There Dimidius was given his name, derived from "demi", meaning "half". He was never able to become a true monk, but still he studied the martial arts. His mixed heritage giving him a "white" and a "black" side, a perfect yin-yang. He had a perfect balance that astounded his teachers. 

His skin is a perfect alabaster white. His hair and wings jet-black, though his wings are ruined and he keeps his head completely shaved. His white skin is covered in tattoos of elven design, in blood-red ink. These are to act as physical protection for his body, and hardly any of him is not marked by the blood-red markings. He always wears black gloves, his hands not so white after years of hard work, and terribly calloused. He also wears a stark white featureless mask to hide his deformed features. The right side of the mask which covers his empty eye socket has no eyehole. It has a simple indention where the eye would be, with a single blood-red tear running down the "cheek" of the mask. 

Most of the time he wears a simple black cloak to hide himself. He has went adventuring to see what good might be left in the world since he seems to meet rejection almost every place he goes except the monastery. 

 If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me here.

Height: 5'2"
Weight: 105
Build: slender, but years of martial training have made his musculature quite sculpted
Eye: his one good eye is violet


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## Acquana

*Valentines Day 2005!*

Ah, I love LOVE!  And because the love of my life gave me a brand new sketchbook for Valentines Day, I gave him a special drawing!






I love you, Marlon!  Happy Valentines!


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## RangerWickett

Wow.  Your cat bought you a sketchbook?  Smart kitty!  Who's the guy holding him?


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## Wellstar

You sir, are a comic genius.

 Very awesome artwork in the thread I have to say. Nice likeness too.


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## Sialia

Too wonderful!  Mintoaur babes to die for. I adore 'em.  Much other nice stuff too--I'm sorry I've been off the boards so long and missed so much.

Good to be caught up. More now, please.


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## Acquana

*02/15/05 -- Knightfall's Request*



			
				Knightfall1972 said:
			
		

> Ok, here's an important NPC from my World of Kulan Campaign Setting. Let me know if you need any clarifications. - KF72
> 
> *ANDERS CARRIN, MERCHANT LORD OF XCELLIAN*
> *Stats:* dm (torin) / 8th level fighter, 8th level trader / lawful neutral
> *Homeland:* The City-state of Xcellian
> *Personality:* Stubborn, knowledgeable, and auspicious.
> 
> *Appearance:* Anders is a tall, stocky, dwarven man with a confident, stern smile and unshakeable set of values. While most Torin dwarves are known for their wild, unkempt nature, Anders isn't most Torin. He keeps his face clean shaven except for his neatly-trimmed, braided goatee. His hair is dark brown, cut medium in length with six thick braids spaced evenly around his head.
> 
> As a powerful and wealthy merchant, Anders is often draped in the finest garments to be had, in the lands of the Far South, which tend to be muted in color and style. He is not one to be seen as garish, ever. This, strangely, has made the dwarven man a trend maker in the latest fashions in the City-state of Xcellian, which he abhores. Anders only wears rings and other jewelry when such items are magical and he is never without his _ring of protection_.
> 
> As the Merchant Lord of Xcellian, Anders has access to almost any weapon or armor he would ever need. However, he is never without his specially forged magical longsword, which has a blade one and half times as wide as a normal longsword. It is said the sword never dulls and glows a deep green when in the presence of shapechangers. When he does wear armor, it is usually light or piecemail, as the Far South is known for its extreme temperatures during the daylight hours.
> 
> *Description/Background:* Anders Carrin is the fourth son of, the now deceased, Brejan Carrin of the Carrin-Austil Mercantile House of Xcellian. Cam House as it often referred to, is the largest and most powerful trading house in Xcellian and it seemed unlikely that Anders would ever have inherited the Carrin family side of the business. (The other family is called the Austils, who have a different leader. The two families are aligned by bloodline.)
> 
> However, his three older brothers were drawn into the adventuring life at a young age. His two oldest brothers never came back, while his other elder brother came back completely mad. This left only Anders to inherit the Carrin side of the business. However, he too caught the adventuring bug and sailed off to ‘find his fate’ against the wishes of Lord Brejan.
> 
> Unlike his brothers, luck seemed to follow Anders on his travels and he soon amassed a great fortune. He sailed home to fill the coffers of Cam House, turning it into the powerhouse it is today. He put his name in for civic duty and soon rose to prominence as the de facto head of the Mercantile Collegiate.
> 
> Less than four years after returning home, the dwarven man was named Merchant Lord of Xcellian by his peers and has held that title for another 10 consecutive years. Many wish to name him Merchant King for life but he balks at such a title. He hopes to pass on the rule of Cam House to his son, Finn, as soon as the boy is old enough. Then, he will go on one last great adventure with his old traveling colleagues.




*whew*  Well, why don't we see what I can make out of that?






And yeah ... yeah, it's two.  So I owe you guys one more.  Gettin to work on it right now.  I dunno ... I've been having some pretty nasty insomnia, and I just can't seem to get back on track!  ... So the day just keeps slipping away from me ...


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## Acquana

*Yumi*

And for my next one ... This is Yumi Nguyen, another character from the same story as the Compte De St. Germain I drew a while back.


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## Acquana

Sialia said:
			
		

> Too wonderful!  Mintoaur babes to die for. I adore 'em.  Much other nice stuff too--I'm sorry I've been off the boards so long and missed so much.
> 
> Good to be caught up. More now, please.




And more, of course, you will get!  I'm really happy about how many people love Sabri! I never realized how well-liked she would be to others beyond myself!  Heck, at some point I may have to post her backstory.  ^_~

Keep those requests comin!  I got lots of days left!


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## dpmcalister

A request if you will...

Kalgonard is a muscular dwarven barbarian with a dwarven waraxe in one hand and a tankard of ale in the other. His style of dress brings him lots of strange looks as he wears a rough, cotton shirt, half tucked into a kilt. Attached to his belt is a sporran, while his feet are bare. The wild look in his eyes, combined with his unkempt beard and hair, makes him seem to be a bit of a mad-man, which he is sometimes...

I hope you can create something with that short description. Thanks.


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## punkorange

*care to take a stab at one, or more, of my group members?*

There are a set of elven twins, an elven cleric, and a wood elf fighter.
The male has silvery white hair with a dual wields a long swords and a short sword. He also wears mithril banded mail. His long swords is an ancestrial sword with elven runes along the blade and the ability to flame. He is a fighter with one level of sorcerer. His familiar is a hawk. 
His sister has white hair as well, she wears a white cloak with mithril chain under it. Her primary weapon is a bow, the ancestrial sister weapon to her brother's sword, except it can shock rather than flame. She also has a short sword. She is a rogue, with one level in sorceress. Her familiar is a serpent that is normally wrapped around her arm, shoulder, or neck.
They both have red dragon blood in them, but if it is apparent at all, it is only vaguely in the sister.

The elven cleric of corellion has chain armor, a mercifull long sword named soullerioun. He has a tower shield. He is well kept, but not arrogant.

The wood elf fighter has a bit of fiend blood in his line, but it is barely even vaguely apparent. He wields an oversided great-sword and wears half plate. He has a magical ring on one of his hands. His long black hair is wild and unkept.


----------



## Acquana

*02/16/05*



			
				Palskane said:
			
		

> Well, if you're taking requests (or commissions, just let me know), then I have an NPC I'd love to have rendered.
> 
> His name is simply Dimidius. He is an auvathyrri. The production of a dark elf and an avariel. This warrants some backstory.
> 
> His mother was of the warrior caste of the avariels. Though he has never known her, she was a very respected warrior, and a member of a royal bloodline. His father? A dark elf mercenary named Baasik. His mother and father met on the battlefield, both intent upon the slaughter of the other. His mother was brought to ground, and his father, caught up in the moment, decided to teach her a more prolonged lesson. So he raped her, repeatedly. She never saw him again, but soon found out she was with child. Though she contemplated suicide many times she could not bring herself to do so. Instead she tried on many occasions to fetch the unborn out of her with a stick. She never succeeded. She did, however, manage to deform her son.
> 
> Upon his birth she was horrified at what she'd done. The right side of the babe's face was terribly scarred. She'd managed to fetch out one eye and horribly maim the right side of his face. Knowing that there was no way she could raise him as her own she made tatters of his jet-black wings. Then she took him to a nearby human monastery.
> 
> There Dimidius was given his name, derived from "demi", meaning "half". He was never able to become a true monk, but still he studied the martial arts. His mixed heritage giving him a "white" and a "black" side, a perfect yin-yang. He had a perfect balance that astounded his teachers.
> 
> His skin is a perfect alabaster white. His hair and wings jet-black, though his wings are ruined and he keeps his head completely shaved. His white skin is covered in tattoos of elven design, in blood-red ink. These are to act as physical protection for his body, and hardly any of him is not marked by the blood-red markings. He always wears black gloves, his hands not so white after years of hard work, and terribly calloused. He also wears a stark white featureless mask to hide his deformed features. The right side of the mask which covers his empty eye socket has no eyehole. It has a simple indention where the eye would be, with a single blood-red tear running down the "cheek" of the mask.
> 
> Most of the time he wears a simple black cloak to hide himself. He has went adventuring to see what good might be left in the world since he seems to meet rejection almost every place he goes except the monastery.
> 
> If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me here.
> 
> Height: 5'2"
> Weight: 105
> Build: slender, but years of martial training have made his musculature quite sculpted
> Eye: his one good eye is violet




My.  How painfully Goth.  Looks like I'm gonna have to draw it!


----------



## Palskane

Oh. My. Goodness. 

Exceptionally well done! You captured his essence perfectly. 

You know, I'd never thought of it as Goth, but you're right. Heh. Well done!


----------



## Knightfall

Acquana said:
			
		

> *whew*  Well, why don't we see what I can make out of that?
> 
> <snip>




Excellent. I'll be adding it to my World of Kulan yahoo group.

Cheers!

KF72


----------



## Acquana

*02/17/05*

First off, thank you, everyone!  I'm really happy that the recipiants of drawings are satisfied!  ^_^

And now, today's.  Michael Morris sent out the call for a fey-ish race, the Oyasini, and I answered.


----------



## Michael Morris

That's cool.  Thanks 

EDIT:
I really like the choice of an outright skirt on the guy. Sort of emphasizes the weird role-reversals this matriarchal society has. It also fits in well with the costume description I had a mental picture of. But most importantly, the piece as a whole is distinct from the pictures of Jenn and Kira from the _Dark Crystal_ movie - which is important not only for legal reasons, but also in that I don't want to merely see the movie rehashed in the setting's art (which is the reason I didn't want to provide direct links to the movie art in the "You have wings?" thread - though I eventually conceded to that.


----------



## Acquana

*02/18/05*

;_;

;_;

Two days.  No drawing.  Dang it doesn't take long to ruin a record.  But things have been weird the last couple of days.  But hey, cheer up, guys.  You'll get an update now, and then four more drawings for tomorrow.  Jeez, I'm really stretching myself thin.




			
				dpmcalister said:
			
		

> A request if you will...
> 
> Kalgonard is a muscular dwarven barbarian with a dwarven waraxe in one hand and a tankard of ale in the other. His style of dress brings him lots of strange looks as he wears a rough, cotton shirt, half tucked into a kilt. Attached to his belt is a sporran, while his feet are bare. The wild look in his eyes, combined with his unkempt beard and hair, makes him seem to be a bit of a mad-man, which he is sometimes...
> 
> I hope you can create something with that short description. Thanks.










I want everyone to take note, because this is really all I actually need for a request.  The other stuff is cool, especially since you want to explain things to others reading ... But if you put everything you want drawn in a nice little paragraph instead of it being lost in details it helps.


----------



## dpmcalister

That's excellent, thanks very much


----------



## Acquana

*02/18 - 20/05*

Hoo ha!  Four drawings!  Yay!






Another player from the Mutants and Masterminds group, the Guardian Sphynx.






This is my first D&D character, during her time as a performer.






And this is Hera again, without her harlequin costume.






And another friend's character from Mutants and Masterminds, obviously based off of Sly Cooper, known as the Bantam.

Whoo hoo!  Got quite a bit done today, and I'm also really happy about how they came out.


----------



## Acquana

*02/21/05*

For those of you who haven't read Rangerwickett's Mother of Dreams  preview, shame on you!  It's really awesome stuff, really.

And for him, I give this, one of the main characters.  This is Allar.


----------



## Breakstone

Excelent stuff as always! I especially like the Sphynx character!


----------



## Acquana

*02/22/05*

To give Rangerwickett another ego boost, I present ...  

 <_<          

  >_>

A spoiler!!

I like to call it: How Hunter Won the Hardcore Award.


----------



## Acquana

Breakstone said:
			
		

> Excelent stuff as always! I especially like the Sphynx character!




Don't thank me on that character design.  That's all Millicent--the same girl who designed the Louis Lokya from the first page.  Man, the girl's got a great imagination.  ^_^  I'm just here to refine things.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Woah. Great pose and I LOVE the expression on his face! Gods I should force myself to do a thread like this...


----------



## RangerWickett

God, I love having a fan artist.  *grin*  I need to write more products so I can hire her for more illos so we'll both have more money so we can work together on a Savannah Knights comic and not starve while doing it.

Jess, I sadly have not been keeping pace with my "section per picture" promise, but I have been working at writing slowly across several projects.  Keep giving me illos like this, though, and I'll certainly do the best I can to match you.  Good job for keeping this up, Jessie.  I swear, somebody'd better commission you for a character illo soon.  Hmm.  Maybe you ought to put up rates, eh?

*grin*


----------



## Jdvn1

Just wanted to say: cool thread, cool drawings.


----------



## RangerWickett

Ah, screw it.  I might as well lead by example.

Jess, I have a game master, Tom Jones, whom I want to get a gift for March Fo(u)rth for GMs Day.  I'd like to commission you to illustrate his character from my last game.  I need it done by March 2nd, and it doesn't need to be colored or inked, just very cleanly penciled.  Pencil fits the guy's style better, since he always tended to make things up as he went along.

The character is named Rantle, or more appropriately now Lord Rantle of Innenotdar.  He's a human warrior, but most people think he's a bard because he sings.  Yes, Tom Jones played a singing character.  Great, huh?

Rantle is one of those classic Aragorn-esque heroes at first glance -- tall, commanding, strong but not beefy, a little sneaky, dates a beautiful Elfwoman who eventually became his wife.  But he actually is quite the charming rogue, and before he fell in love with the lady Shalosha, he was renowned for playing the field.  In combat he'll shout commands and encouragement, but he's just as likely to spit out an insult at something stupid his foe is doing.  Imagine if Gambit played Aragorn.

Mid-length hair, a short mustache-goatee that shows off his smile, charming eyes.  This is a glamour shot, so he should be wearing light armor with a dramatic cloak -- the armor should be visible just enough that you know it's there, but not so much that it looks like he's ready to fight.  Of course, his most signature item is his sword, the Dream Sword of Innenotdar.  It is a wooden greatsword, and though the edges of the blade are smooth and sharp, the flat of the blade has that wonderful rough wood-carving look to it.  The blade is flaming, providing dramatic lighting.

But that's not all.  Rantle needs to be accompanied by the woman he loves, the beautiful, Shalosha.  She is beautiful in the classical Elvish way, thin with a large chest, silver blonde hair that cascades across her shoulders, and blue, magical eyes.  Her face is angular but still enchanting.  She is a warrior and a mage, and so she should have a slender longsword that glows halfway to being a light saber, and long robes like a well-endowed, better color-coordinated Lina Inverse.

Two poses are possible.  The first would be a simple standing side by side, perhaps posing, Rantle with his arm around Shalosha.  The other, more fun, would be their first kiss.  She's stabbing him through the belly with her longsword, and he is leaning in close for a kiss before he passes out.  Though she wanted to kill him at the time, Shalosha admired his dedication, and later began to fall for him.  Romantic, huh?

How does $50 sound?


----------



## Acquana

*02/23/05*

I wasn't wholly in the mood to draw, but I did anyway.  Turning around to figure out what I was doing to draw, I saw my cat sitting perfectly still.  Naturally this didn't last long, but Remy was kind enough to allow me the less than a minute it takes to get down basic form.  This is one of the skills one learns in life drawing classes.






And for those of you curious, I did accept Rangerwickett's commission.  That will have to be done soon.


----------



## Knightfall

Acquana said:
			
		

> I want everyone to take note, because this is really all I actually need for a request.  The other stuff is cool, especially since you want to explain things to others reading ... But if you put everything you want drawn in a nice little paragraph instead of it being lost in details it helps.




Ok, how's this for a "slightly" simpler description? 

*Garth Tigerstorm*
*Classes:* 10th level ranger, 6th level justiciar

*Description:* Garth Tigerstorm is an imposing man for his age (58), He stands 6 feet 3 inches tall and is stronger than most men half his age. He is never without his arms and armor, as well as anything else he considers essentials. He always keeps his gear immaculately clean and well organized. Everything has its place, whether it is his magical longsword, at his side, or his _elixir of truth_, carefully wrapped and stowed within his backpack. His less essential gear is stored in the _saddlebags of holding_ on his mount. He can be obsessive about it, but when combat erupts, all such thoughts empty from his mind. He is too focused for his slight obsession to become pathological. Garth prefers natural earth tones for his garments but does have less martial attire for the annual events he is forced to endure, in order to keep his title as the Justiciar of the Eastern Shores.

*Signature Equipment:* _+1 disarming dagger_, _+3 axiomatic orcbane longsword_, _+3 chain shirt_, _amulet of mighty fists (+2)_, _bracers of armor (+2)_, _candle of truth_, _dimensional shackles_, _elixir of truth_, _gloves of swimming and climbing_, _periapt of wound closure_, _ring of protection (+3)_, and his mount/animal companion, Hindle -- heavy warhorse w/ _+2 padded barding_, _feed bag_, _horseshoes of speed_, _saddlebags of holding_, bit & bridle, and military saddle.


----------



## Knightfall

Alternatively, feel free to draw anything that inspires you based on the material posted in this thread or this one.

KF72


----------



## Acquana

*02/24/05*

Hey, more requests!  But for today, High Rollin Rob 'Nautte.


----------



## punkorange

Acquana said:
			
		

> Hey, more requests!  But for today, High Rollin Rob 'Nautte.




Still not done any of my groupmembers yet, descriptions are further back on this thread.


----------



## Acquana

*No Drawing For You*

-_-

I'm feeling REALLY crappy tonight.  And last night.  So no drawings.  Possibly tomorrow, if I'm not PMSing as bad.  Let's see you argue with THAT.

grrrrr


----------



## Acquana

*02/25 - 02/27/05*

Well.  No like extra drawings to make up for the days absent, but drawings nonetheless.



			
				punkorange said:
			
		

> There are a set of elven twins, an elven cleric, and a wood elf fighter.
> The male has silvery white hair with a dual wields a long swords and a short sword. He also wears mithril banded mail. His long swords is an ancestrial sword with elven runes along the blade and the ability to flame. He is a fighter with one level of sorcerer. His familiar is a hawk.
> His sister has white hair as well, she wears a white cloak with mithril chain under it. Her primary weapon is a bow, the ancestrial sister weapon to her brother's sword, except it can shock rather than flame. She also has a short sword. She is a rogue, with one level in sorceress. Her familiar is a serpent that is normally wrapped around her arm, shoulder, or neck.
> They both have red dragon blood in them, but if it is apparent at all, it is only vaguely in the sister.




Here ya go.  And uh ... please don't pester.  It's kinda rude to push someone you don't know offering you a gift.  Believe me, I'll get to 'em.  






This is none other than Samantha the Red!  Her adventures are epic and adorable.  Beside her are her allies, the Rainbow Cat, and the Egg Wizard.






And the last one is another of the Mutants and Masterminds group I'm in: Johnny Ray Lightfoot; an unmasked superhero speedster.


----------



## Clueless

Wow! I just got directed to this from the Samantha the Red thread - and that's *utterly* darling for a sketch of her too.  Georgous work! I'd beg for artsies getting tossed my way but I'm sure there's a *line* in front of me. Wonderful stuff - technique question - do you ink these before scanning them in?


----------



## punkorange

That's a great pic of the twins, thank you.  Their players will like it.

Also, sorry.  I wasn't trying to sound like pestering.


----------



## Rel

WOW, I too followed the link you posted in the Samantha the Red Story Hour and I am humbled and overjoyed by the picture.  Awesome!

Thank you, Acquana, from the bottom of my heart.

I hope you have no objections to my using this as the new wallpaper for my computer.


----------



## Acquana

Oh thank you, everyone!  You're welcome, Rel, and of course!   Use it as you wish.  Sorry, Punkorange, I misread.  And I've been rather snippy in real life the last few days.  ^_^;;

And no, Clueless, I don't ink.  These are very quick sketches, each usually taking less than half an hour apiece, and simply run through Adobe Photoshop.  I make sure the image is in black and white, and then adjust the levels to sharpen my outlines and get rid of most of the underdrawing.  

More to come!  And thanks for the replies.


----------



## Clueless

What hardness pencil? I'm curious b/c I've been trying to get my own work that *clean* on a scan and it's sort of making me boggle.


----------



## Rel

Acquana said:
			
		

> Oh thank you, everyone!  You're welcome, Rel, and of course!   Use it as you wish.




I printed out a copy of it and showed Samantha when she got home from school today.  She immediately recognized it as being her, Egg Wizard and Rainbow Cat.  She immediately wanted to color it so I let her.  If you'd like then I'll post a scan of her "colorization" of the picture tomorrow.  Then again, you may want to remember it how you drew it in the first place instead of scribbled on in the way that only a 3 year old can do.

Thanks again.  My wife was really pleased too.


----------



## Acquana

Awwwwwww

Of course I'd like to see it!  *blush*  Your child bombards the senses with adorable, that's why I simply couldn't resist a drawing!

And the way I usually draw is with either a soft lead pencil or a col-erase blue pencil for the underdrawing.  Then I go in with either a .5 or a .7 lead mechanical pencil to do the contour lines and important bits.


----------



## Acquana

*02/28/05*

Hey, hey, hey!  Guess what time it is?  Time for another semi-weekly assignment!  This time it's webcomics I like!

Girly follows the saying that a friend of mine during college would say: Lesbians make everything better.  Pretty much every comic this guy draws has got lesbians in it.  But anyway, Girly is great.  I can't hate it despite it being some dude's chance to draw a lot of cheescake.  It's got some really great, likable characters, and you really do wanna find out what's next.  BTW, probably not for young readers.  You know.  I'd call it PG-13.


----------



## RangerWickett

From cute kids to lesbians.  Ahh, it's like 11th grade all over again.

Jess, remind me, did you ever do Sluggy fan-art?  Homestar?  Not technically a webcomic, but merely a clever facsimile.


----------



## Rel

Let's see if I can attach my scan of the colorized Samantha the Red (I'm betting I'll have the same problem I've been having with the Story Hour)...Nope.  The best I can do is a .rar file.  Hopefully you can open that, Acquana.

Thank you again.


----------



## ledded

Oh man Rel, that just made my day.  Now I wanna go home and hug my girls, and then lead them on another adventure myself.

Acquana, I love your work.  You command of perspective, even in your quicker sketches, is impeccable.  I'm glad I found your thread, I'll keep my eyes open for new stuff.


----------



## Rel

ledded said:
			
		

> Oh man Rel, that just made my day.  Now I wanna go home and hug my girls, and then lead them on another adventure myself.




Yeah, that'd be swell.  And after that you could maybe go UPDATE YOUR STORY HOUR.  If the mood struck you and all...


----------



## Acquana

*falls into catatonic cute seizure*

omg ... omg so adorable.  I opened the color version and was glowing for hours.  You give her a big hug for me.  ^_^


----------



## Rel

Acquana said:
			
		

> *falls into catatonic cute seizure*
> 
> omg ... omg so adorable.  I opened the color version and was glowing for hours.  You give her a big hug for me.  ^_^




Already done and I'll go the extra mile and even buy her a donut on the way to school tomorrow. 

I didn't think to mention it before but one thing I thought was really cute about the way she colored the picture was that she insisted that we go get Rainbow Cat and set him on the living room floor.  She really studied him hard to determine what colors he had on him and put those on the picture.  Not necessarily in the same places and with the same precision...but I guess every budding artist has to start somewhere, right?

Anyhow, Acquana, you're doing a good thing here in this thread.  Your art is great and the way you're using it is one of the nicest, most generous things I've seen here at ENWorld (and that's saying a LOT - this place is awesome).  I hope you're proud of yourself and the work you've done.


----------



## Acquana

*03/01/05*



			
				Rel said:
			
		

> Already done and I'll go the extra mile and even buy her a donut on the way to school tomorrow.
> 
> I didn't think to mention it before but one thing I thought was really cute about the way she colored the picture was that she insisted that we go get Rainbow Cat and set him on the living room floor.  She really studied him hard to determine what colors he had on him and put those on the picture.  Not necessarily in the same places and with the same precision...but I guess every budding artist has to start somewhere, right?
> 
> Anyhow, Acquana, you're doing a good thing here in this thread.  Your art is great and the way you're using it is one of the nicest, most generous things I've seen here at ENWorld (and that's saying a LOT - this place is awesome).  I hope you're proud of yourself and the work you've done.




Dude, you freakin rock.  Thanks.  ^_^  

*sigh*

Well, today's drawing then.  It's a little cheap to do this, but my sister Goergia and her husband Scott do a webcomic.  I love it, and I've never done any fan art for them, so here it is!  

Scooter and Ferret is the continuing adventures of Ferret the ferret and a lazy dog named Scooter who share a house together. Ferret aspires to become an animator, but the industry is in terrible shape, and most of his friends are happy doing nothing at all. The strip is hilarious and suitable for all ages.  The girl is Maridee, and I know some of you might look at this strip (a hot chick hanging out with animals and not really noticing this) as a rip-off of Liberty Meadows, but thankfully Scooter and Ferret isn't some dude's cheap rip-off of Bloom County as an excuse to draw cheesecake.


----------



## RangerWickett

Those . . . frikkin . . . eyebrows!  Argh!  Loved the dog and the ferret (though the chick always looks a little funny the way Scott draws her).  But the dog's little . . . things.  So weird.

Niftiness.

Keep squeezing them monkeys, Lad.


----------



## ledded

Rel said:
			
		

> Yeah, that'd be swell. And after that you could maybe go UPDATE YOUR STORY HOUR. If the mood struck you and all...




Ouch.  Heh.  Guess I deserved that .



			
				Rel said:
			
		

> Already done and I'll go the extra mile and even buy her a donut on the way to school tomorrow.




Dude, it's shocking how often our routines cross like that.  I just did the same thing not 3 hours ago.  I'd love to post up a SH and pics of the little adventures I take my son and twin girls on, but for now Mom forbids pics and mention of the kids on the internet.  I keep telling her that we'd only have to block AOL to keep all the creepy peep's away, but she wont budge .


Acquana, thanks for the cool webcomic links, I've now added a another new gem to my list.  And feel free to link us to any cheeseca...er, "comics" you like in the future  (just kidding).

Seriously, I loved todays drawing and "Scotter and Ferret".  They've picked up a new reader now.


----------



## Acquana

^_^  New readers for Scooter and Ferret always appreciated.  For some reason they have a big following somewhere in east Europe.  

Wellp, this is a sort of partial update.  The webcomic illo is coming within the hour, but first I wanted to update a request from a little while back.



			
				Rangerwickett said:
			
		

> Jess, I have a game master, Tom Jones, whom I want to get a gift for March Fo(u)rth for GMs Day. I'd like to commission you to illustrate his character from my last game. I need it done by March 2nd, and it doesn't need to be colored or inked, just very cleanly penciled. Pencil fits the guy's style better, since he always tended to make things up as he went along.
> 
> The character is named Rantle, or more appropriately now Lord Rantle of Innenotdar. He's a human warrior, but most people think he's a bard because he sings. Yes, Tom Jones played a singing character. Great, huh?
> 
> Rantle is one of those classic Aragorn-esque heroes at first glance -- tall, commanding, strong but not beefy, a little sneaky, dates a beautiful Elfwoman who eventually became his wife. But he actually is quite the charming rogue, and before he fell in love with the lady Shalosha, he was renowned for playing the field. In combat he'll shout commands and encouragement, but he's just as likely to spit out an insult at something stupid his foe is doing. Imagine if Gambit played Aragorn.
> 
> Mid-length hair, a short mustache-goatee that shows off his smile, charming eyes. This is a glamour shot, so he should be wearing light armor with a dramatic cloak -- the armor should be visible just enough that you know it's there, but not so much that it looks like he's ready to fight. Of course, his most signature item is his sword, the Dream Sword of Innenotdar. It is a wooden greatsword, and though the edges of the blade are smooth and sharp, the flat of the blade has that wonderful rough wood-carving look to it. The blade is flaming, providing dramatic lighting.
> 
> But that's not all. Rantle needs to be accompanied by the woman he loves, the beautiful, Shalosha. She is beautiful in the classical Elvish way, thin with a large chest, silver blonde hair that cascades across her shoulders, and blue, magical eyes. Her face is angular but still enchanting. She is a warrior and a mage, and so she should have a slender longsword that glows halfway to being a light saber, and long robes like a well-endowed, better color-coordinated Lina Inverse.
> 
> Two poses are possible. The first would be a simple standing side by side, perhaps posing, Rantle with his arm around Shalosha. The other, more fun, would be their first kiss. She's stabbing him through the belly with her longsword, and he is leaning in close for a kiss before he passes out. Though she wanted to kill him at the time, Shalosha admired his dedication, and later began to fall for him. Romantic, huh?




First off, Rangerwickett got the image earlier today and so Tom Jones of Atlanta has a copy of the image, and I'll be mailing the original to him soon.  The rest of you get to see it because Rangerwickett insisted.

This is the sketch all of you in the thread would see.  Sketchy and lacking any real detail, but showing the general idea of what I'm going for.






And this is the finished piece!  Rangerwickett only wanted a pencil sketch, so that's what I gave him.  At some point if I get commissioned for ink or color I can show you, or just head over to my portfolio page.  Lotsa stuff there.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

RW posted that in another thread, and I'll say here what I said there.

That's awesome. I especially love the expression on her face.


----------



## Acquana

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> RW posted that in another thread, and I'll say here what I said there.
> 
> That's awesome. I especially love the expression on her face.




He did?!  He didn't tell _me_ that.  ^_^;;

But hey!  Now I gotta look for this ...


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Acquana said:
			
		

> He did?!  He didn't tell _me_ that.  ^_^;;
> 
> But hey!  Now I gotta look for this ...



 He even pimped this thread. Here's the link: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=123063


----------



## Acquana

*03/02/05*

Wow, I've been getting a lot of replies the last two days.  ^_^

Anyhoo.  I was looking through the web comics I read and discovered that only two of them are suitable for younger readers.  I am slightly dismayed by this fact, but not enough to do anything about it.  Lord knows I read enough webcomics as is.

Today is a not-suitable for those younger than 17.  I knew the guy who writes and illustrates Dead Man's Party, and he's a seriously funny guy.  The strip is pretty funny too, though not nearly as funny as he is.  Dead Man's Party follows the unlife of a ghost, Mike, as he struggles to find his place in the aftermath of death.  He's the one in the chains, just so ya know.  Beside him is an acquaintance, Abby, who haunts the same appartment complex as him.






Maybe if I give this to him he'll update again.  ^_^;;


----------



## Acquana

*03/03/05*

So hey, another one for ya.

Sexy Losers ... eyeah, don't even think about lookin at this one unless you're over 17.  Then again ... There's fewer things that'll turn one off of sex faster than Sexy Losers.  But that's hardly the point.  The point is sex is funny and gross and so is Sexy Losers.  There are a about five or six different storylines that Sexy Losers follows, the ones in the drawing are Madame X the hentai comic artist and her roommate Chie Sakamachi.  If you don't know what hentai is, please don't ask me.

And why is Chie wearing a raincoat to the beach?  I suppose you'd have to read the strip the know.


----------



## Clueless

What're yer plans for next weeks run of pics?


----------



## Acquana

*03/04/05*

Last one of the assignment.  Mostly because I don't think Sluggy, Penny Arcade, 8-Bit Theater, or VG Cats need _my_ help to get readers.  

Plus, I can't really draw the ones I'd like to pimp like Dinosaur Comics, Last Kiss Comics, or Acid Zen Wonder Paint.

So here's Niego.  Niego follows John Niego, the smoker, who just doesn't care.  He wanders around, putting up with his roomie Leland and his rather forceful friend Libby.  It's funny.  Read it.


----------



## Knightfall

Great stuff, as always.

And, Acquana, remember this?


----------



## Acquana

*03/05/05*



			
				punkorange said:
			
		

> The elven cleric of corellion has chain armor, a mercifull long sword named soullerioun. He has a tower shield. He is well kept, but not arrogant.
> 
> The wood elf fighter has a bit of fiend blood in his line, but it is barely even vaguely apparent. He wields an oversided great-sword and wears half plate. He has a magical ring on one of his hands. His long black hair is wild and unkept.




Well, took me long enough.  But I'm done with this semi-week's assignment, so here ya go.






And my Lord, Knightfall ... I didn't even think you liked that one.  ^_^;;


----------



## Clueless

Sweeeet. Love those sidelong looks... attitude rocks.

*nominates Shemmy's storyhour for random illustration*


----------



## Knightfall

Acquana said:
			
		

> And my Lord, Knightfall ... I didn't even think you liked that one.  ^_^;;




I sure did. It was nice and simple for a monster sketch.

However, if you aren't satified with it and want to revisit it then go ahead. I'd be interested to see you're take on the race again now that time has past. As for style, think more African meets Native American, with some fantasy barbarian thrown in (i.e. Conan).

Plus, I'd like to make a request for a sketch of a another alternate type of centaur. They are my Lands of Harqual centaurs, which live exclusively in the northern region of the continent known as the Northlands. The live alongside human barbarian tribes and follow the same traditions, for the most part. Here's a basic description:

"All Centaurs of Harqual have thicker hair than centaurs of other worlds and the human torso part of their body is covered with hair front and back. Males have thick beards, which are usually kept braided and their long manes are always tied up in a ponytail. Females do not have facial hair and their manes are left loose to blow in the frigid winds of the Northlands."

Cheers!

KF72


----------



## Acquana

*03/06/05*

Yay!  I have a freelance gig!  No guarantees, but it'll do for this second.  In between working on comics, I gotta get an anime style down, and fast.  This one site that makes skins for consoles is looking for new artists, and their highest sellers are anime ones.  Go figure.

So tonight's drawing is practice.  I gotta get this down in less than two weeks.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

You know, there are a lot of people that really hate the anime style...and while I enjoy it, I've always found that it looks better in motion. However, all of your stuff seems to have that anime FEEL to it, while not conforming to the stereotypical style. It doesn't completely LOOK anime(instead, it just looks like...well, yours, which is a good thing, of course), but it sure gives off the feeling of it.


----------



## Acquana

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> You know, there are a lot of people that really hate the anime style...




And a surprisingly large number _don't_.  Especially among those who spend lots of time online or who play large amounts of console games.  It's popular right now, and has been for like nearly ten years.  



			
				Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> However, all of your stuff seems to have that anime FEEL to it, while not conforming to the stereotypical style. It doesn't completely LOOK anime(instead, it just looks like...well, yours, which is a good thing, of course), but it sure gives off the feeling of it.




...

...

And see, this amazes me every time I hear it.  I went to GenCon to show my portfolio, and I got a lot of people who would look at my stuff and then promptly ask "So you like that Japanese stuff, huh?"

And I would just stare at them blankly.

Where does this come from?!  I simply must know where people see this in my stuff!  Mostly because I'd feel like a hypocrite if somehow I've just been drawing manga half-way.  

During school I saw dozens of people who obviously wanted to do stuff derivative of manga ... But doing it only half-way.  And for some reason that made me crazy.  If you're gonna draw American comics, do that, if you're gonna draw manga, draw some freakin manga.  This half-way Amerimanga garbage just ... irritated me for some reason.  I mean, I saw lots of people who drew manga and it _looked_ like manga and it was really great.

So what is it?  I have to know!  The fact that I love hair?  The fact that I like to draw expressive faces?  Why can't that illustrative?  Is it because I don't pay too much attention to little details?  You don't need every detail to understand what's there, right?  

Dah!  

Excuse me ... I've just been wanting to do that for a while.  But seriously, I just wanna know.   Not that I'd really change my stuff accordingly, but I wanna know how to react other than staring at people blankly from now on.


----------



## Acquana

Hey um ... please don't take offense at the rant.  ^_^;;

Yeah, I guess anime is one of my influences, but only because I like watching it a lot.  I guess no matter how hard one tries, it seeps in.

But, hey, this is the guy I take the most influence from:  Terry Moore


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

I think you may have misinterpreted what I meant. I grew up on anime. I'm not into it now as much as I was 'back in the day' (mmm...Macross, classic Gundam, and the like were my lifeblood), but I definitely don't hate it like many do. I see nothing wrong AT ALL with that kind of style, and its much, much more similar to the "American" animation style than many people realize.

But there's just something that gives off an anime vibe. I'm not sure how to describe it. I'm sure its not the hair. It may be the eyes...not size, but shape and contruction mixed with the more simplistic face design. Other than that, I'm not sure how to put it. Its GOOD, and like I said, its more your own style than anything. Its possible that I see more of a unique style BECAUSE of my exposure to anime.

No offense taken, of course. Nothing is bad about it at all! The more simple style in faces is a good thing. One big difference I see in your stuff compared to most anime is that yours does pass over some details(which are usually pointless to put in too many of anyway), but still gives the feel that they're there. There aren't tons of folds and such in clothes...but they still look perfect and they aren't needed.

How you do that, I'm still trying to figure out. *I* want to be able to do that!


----------



## Acquana

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.  Please understand, I wasn't angry at you or anything.  This is just purely a conundrum I've been facing for some two years.  I keep hearing it ... but not one bothers to tell me why they see it.  And since I don't ... I'm just baffled by their opinion.  

But hey ... No harm done on either side.  Just wondering is all.


----------



## ml3

*zebra centaur*



			
				Knightfall1972 said:
			
		

> Great stuff, as always.
> 
> And, Acquana, remember this?




ooh, that's weird. I have a zebra centaur pic that looks alot like this- mohawk and all. I won't post it here, but weird...


----------



## ThoughtBubble

Acquana said:
			
		

> A
> And see, this amazes me every time I hear it.  I went to GenCon to show my portfolio, and I got a lot of people who would look at my stuff and then promptly ask "So you like that Japanese stuff, huh?"
> 
> And I would just stare at them blankly.
> 
> Where does this come from?!  I simply must know where people see this in my stuff!  Mostly because I'd feel like a hypocrite if somehow I've just been drawing manga half-way.
> 
> So what is it?  I have to know!  The fact that I love hair?  The fact that I like to draw expressive faces?  Why can't that illustrative?  Is it because I don't pay too much attention to little details?  You don't need every detail to understand what's there, right?




Well, as long as you're asking, here's how I see it.    

First, you have a wonderfully elegant linework. Your lines are subtle, meaningful and uncluttered. You don't need to go drawing all the detail down somone's back, you can capture it all with one graceful curve. That sets a lot of the tone for it. In all the comics I have at my disposal there's a leaning towards more lining, heavier blocking, hatching, and feathering to define shapes (musculature especially). 

Second, as was mentioned before, the way you draw eyes brings it across. They're a bit big and very expressive. This combines into your faces pretty well. It's all expressive, and you're willing to exaggerate form in order to get the effect that you want. You also show that economy of lines here too, showing just enough to get your point across. The love of hair just helps in the effect. There may be something with the scaling/shape of the faces you choose as well (some of your noses, for example).

Third, you're completely willing to use flat tones and leave it at that. See the above comment about blocking, hatching, and feathering. After that, add in incessant variations on tone (which is an effect I always associate with Image Comics).

That's what strikes me as anime like about it. It's as much what you're choosing not to show as it is what you show. But it's late and I'm rambling now, so let's just leave it there.

Hope that helped.


----------



## Conaill

Let's see if I can figure out why I have a similar reaction... First two disclaimers:

1) I *love* your work! So please don't take this the wrong way. Oh, and please do keep up that daily posting! 

2) I am by no means an artist myself, and probably am about as ignorant or more about anime than those nitwits that ask you "So you like that Japanese stuff, huh?"

That being said, let me try and tease out some elements of your style that remind me of "that japanese stuff" :

- The eyes: big and expressive, with characteristically arched eyebrows

- Simplified facial structure, as in the 03/06 drawing with the almost triangular face.

- The hair - yup! Mainly when you draw it using big spiky strands, as in the 03/06 or 02/28 drawings (the one on the right). Real hair just doesn't behave that way, unless there's a mass of gel is involved...

- Somewhat exxagerrated body proportions, especially the elongated legs (see 02/28, 03/02, 03/06)

- *Everybody* is pretty and in their teens or twenties 

As you mentioned in one of the earlier posts, it might be a good exercise to practice drawing older faces and less ideal body types. 

Gotta run... I'll try and post a ranking later of which of your drawings so far I find most versus least anime-influenced. Maybe that might help.


----------



## Knightfall

ml3 said:
			
		

> ooh, that's weird. I have a zebra centaur pic that looks alot like this- mohawk and all. I won't post it here, but weird...




umm, can you post it in your own thread. I'd like to see it.


----------



## Acquana

*03/07/05*

The rest are coming, fear not.  It may take longer than anticipated though.  -_-;;  

First off, I'm a bit surprised at the responses to that question.  Looks I brought out some lurkers.  But I suppose I should just swallow down my pride and accept the fact that I am at least somewhat influenced by anime.  Of course, Alphonse Mucha and Terry Moore are in there too, but so is anime.

So anyhoo ... The last couple of days I was working feverishly on the skins I mentioned earlier ... and then last night realized I dont' like what I came up with.  ;_;  Back to square one. 

In the meantime you guys can see what I was working on.






More to come, I'm just so frustrated by this project I've barely even taken a break the last two days.


----------



## Emperor Valerian

Excellent artwork... yet another lurker in this thread decloaking, so to speak!  If you'd want to try something slightly different, one of my players has a character I'd love to see drawn up by someone as skilled as you (The best way to describe my artistic ability is "challenged").  

The campaign is based in a realm much like medieval China, so the character has a distinct oriental feel.  That said, he's a little taller than average, 18 years old, with rather long hair and a short, but still growing beard.  He is usually clad in rather simple but neat robes, wears sandals, as well as a simple peasant's hat.  He's a sorcerer, and thus usually has some spell component pouches about his waist, in addition to an elegant walking stick he carries.  He has a quite determination about him, in terms of looks and demeanor.

Any work on this would be much appreciated, and thank you once again!


----------



## Acquana

*03/08 - 09/05*

Well, I'll show you guys the design for this character I've decided to go with.

More good stuff to come, as usual!


----------



## RangerWickett

I was just working on E.N. Arsenal - Chainmail Bikini (which I hope Acquana will be willing to lusciosly illustrate), and these two pics reminded me of something I don't want to forget: ribbon armor.  Armor that is made up of nothing more than whirling ribbons that float around the wearer, always managing to keep onlookers from seeing anything naughty.  If you've seen the anime Sorcerer Hunters, you might have an idea of where I'm going.

Bloody cosplayers.

Jess, keep up the good work.


----------



## Acquana

*Illustration for 03/10/05*

The last couple of days have been a bit strange.  I hung out with friends of Marlon ... 

Dah.

God I'm so depressed.  All I can say is ... I don't need anyone making me feel better about my work ... I need consistant work.  That's what I need, but I can't make money off of this.  No one wants my style for illustration.  

Why do I bother?  

A few compliments on this board isn't the same as making a living.  I was hoping for more, I guess.  For publishers to notice I have a sense of form, an eye for composition, a love for expression ... But aparently no one is willing to pay for that.

Honestly ... I don't need praise right now, so don't feel like you need to give me advice or say that I don't suck or something.  

What I need is work doing what I love.  And it's not happening.


----------



## Clueless

Why do you bother? Well - that's a rough one I guess. And most people have been there. (And, pardon the sympathies of a stranger here, I know you don't know me much if at all - but I'm in that sort of mood tonight. Wanting to reach out and soothe what's hurting on others.) It's a place I've watched a number of my friends reach in the past few months - most of them artists of some sort, but some of them programmers and just depressive about their finances.

So, why do you bother? Well - first I'd assume because it'd rip your lungs out if you didn't draw. I know that's how it is when I'm not writing. Which is to say - that's how it's been for the last oh... *checks clock* two years now? Blasted school sucking all my time. But more than that - because if you don't bother, then things'll just go down hill faster. There's only so far it can go down before it *has* to come up - seriously, it's just a matter of waiting. You're here - in life - because you want to be, and you've got the control over your life to go where you want to go. Part of its luck. Part of its being willing to sit and go through the drudgery.

I've looked at your stuff. I *know* it's good. You know it's good. Heck, you practice more diligently than I ever could writing - just by demanding sketches of yourself like this via this thread. So - just keep getting better through the thin times and come out swinging for the fat ones. It really is going to work out in the end - you're got far too much talent to *not* to do that, so long as you don't convince yourself to stop. Settle in, make plans and be patient - you'll do fine. 

If I could read the future I'd give you a better picture.  But in the meantime - assurances that there's plenty of others out there facing the same things as you, may help. It *will* turn out good in the end... so just curl up around chocolate and a good movie in the meantime.


----------



## Bobitron

Chin up, Acquana. I can understand the frustration with having a skill or talent that seems unmarketable, but at least you can take heart in the fact that your talent is appreciated by us.


----------



## Rel

Rel said:
			
		

> Anyhow, Acquana, you're doing a good thing here in this thread.  Your art is great and the way you're using it is one of the nicest, most generous things I've seen here at ENWorld (and that's saying a LOT - this place is awesome).  I hope you're proud of yourself and the work you've done.




I think this bears repeating.


----------



## Acquana

*03/11 - 15/05*

Wow.  I am so sorry.  I totally went LiveJournal up in here.  Not take my meds for one day and I'm about to keel over.

But hey, thanks guys.  I really appreciate it.  I'm really sorry for doing whining, but everyone's responses was a big help.  I'm still here, still drawing.  I owe you guys what, five?

X-Men's Marrow as she first appeared in the early 90's.  






And when she joined the X-Men around '98 or so.






The Bantam's NPC's, Bently and Murray.






Pat Alex, another character in the Mutants and Masterminds game I'm in.






And a cute couple from High Fantasy (my campaign setting.)






Love ya all!


----------



## Clueless

*reaches out and can't help but fuzzle the half-elf in the couples picture* 

Verrrry nice. And it's good to hear yer feeling better too.


----------



## Clueless

So. *tries to peek* Whatcha workin' on?


----------



## RangerWickett

I talked to Jessie.  She's out of town right now helping a friend move, so no updates for a few days.  Also, she lives in Savannah, so St. Patty's Day might've been a little taxing.


----------



## Clueless

Just a bit.  But hope the hangover treats her nicely...


----------



## Acquana

*03/16 - 19/05*

Okay, owe you guys one more, but here's what I got so far.

This is Blue Aurora, one of my Mutants and Mastermind's character's NPCs.






The Feline request! 






The sidekick of one of the other Mutant and Masterminds players (his name is Pulse, and I have yet to draw him), Street Ninja.  Those of you who've seen Black Mask may see what the DM was going for.






And here's yet another NPC, Yukino, a tanuki, along with what he looks like disguised as a human.  Those of you who played Super Mario 3 may remember the tanuki suit--yeah, that's what they look like.






Eee hee hee hee!  Yukino is so cute!


----------



## Clueless

So you really don't mind if we toss requests at you? (I always feel guilty asking artists this one...)


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

No one could feel as guily as I would for throwing out requests. I'm supposed to be an artist, so I just can't do it. 

And as usual, great stuff. I'm still trying to figure out how you're able to capture emotion so well. I can draw faces, but I can't put the life into them that you can.


----------



## Acquana

Aw heck, toss 'em out!  The basic idea for this thread is that I'm doing a drawing a day ... so I'm gonna be out of ideas now and again.  I dont' mind getting requests, cuz when I got no other ideas, I still wanna be able to draw!

And Ankh ... I've found that the best way to do expression is to not worry so much about details with the face.  If the eyes are bigger, the eyebrows higher, or the mouth wider than it really _should_ be, it tends to get across the expression better.  I mean, even Alex Ross obviously takes liberties now and again, rather than being a slave to his reference.


----------



## Clueless

Wow - thank you for the link to Ross's site. I'd seen the guy's work but hadn't actually put a name to it before... *goes to explore*


----------



## Clueless

Acquana said:
			
		

> Aw heck, toss 'em out!  The basic idea for this thread is that I'm doing a drawing a day ... so I'm gonna be out of ideas now and again.  I dont' mind getting requests, cuz when I got no other ideas, I still wanna be able to draw!



Well, I'll toss a few things out then. 

I've been in a planescape campaign for nearly 3 years.(Storyhour here) It's one of those rare games that you get into where all the PCs are deeply developed characters, the NPCs come across as living beings, the bad guys are truly loathed in and out of character, and the story is expansive. The DM won a 'rat bastard' award for making players cry in one particular scene. In otherwords, that sort of game you wish you could always play. We have far more writers than artists/hobby artists in the group though - so for all the wonderful evocative feel of the game - we've not gotten to get any of it put down visually. I'm going to toss a few ideas out with links to further details on them - mostly because I know I could go on and on and get really annoying if I tried to detail things.  If something sounds interesting, I'll write up the full descriptions for you.

The DM's birthday was on the 19th, so I'll toss up some ideas that i know he'd like to see first... his main 'personality' is Shemeska the Marauder. In fact he's the poster on ENword by the same name. An arcanaloth of far too much ego, and far far far too much power in Sigil. A crimelord and vain little thing.

His direct personal reflection in the game is Vorkannis the Ebon, an arcanaloth of a mysterious background and well - frankly - one of the most hated characters in the game. A wizard of ungodly power, and ambitious to an extreme.

His personal 'toy' in the game is Shylara the Manged. A psychoticly hateful wizardress arcanaloth. (Seeing a theme here? He earned the nickname 'Loth Boy' for a reason.) Her normal mode of dress consists of strategically placed blue ribbons. She has 'issues'.

Those are the characters he almost always begs for pictures of.

A little loving for others may be called for though, so here's a few other things: The Blind Clockmaker This is a short story describing the event in the game that made the players cry. It made the DM cry when he was writing it up in short story form. We felt vindicated. This has a description of all the major PCs in it - also a description of what has to be *the* most hated NPC in the game: the baernaloth of the Demented, the Blind Clockmaker.

*SPOILER ALERT* If you're following the Storyhour (REL!) and don't want a clue dropped here. Stop Reading. I mean it. Stop.

The most mysterious award has to go the Jester. This character showed up as a nod to the M.R.James short story called Count Magnus. The plot arc featuring him was easily one of the most innately creepy moments of the game. Tall, dark, mysteriously powerful - he also flipped the switch for half of the people at the table. (Yeah, we have a lot of girls that really need social lives including myself.) 

He also remained a mystery for most of the members of the part - excepting... Clueless. We woke him up from his long withdrawal from the world and he decided that he wanted to be amused by watching in my mind. Exceedingly creepy, but by the end of it I was his apprentice. Many a Sith Lord joke followed. This was a secret kept from the other player for nearly two years of real life time. It made for a lot of intriguing mysterious events over the course of the game and at least one spectacular cliff hanger for the team when the Jester had to directly interfere once.

This particular short story linked here: The Jester , details the Lady's Jester as he toys with an assassin sent from Mechanus (the Plane of Law). After all, when something far outlives it's lifespan they violate the order of law and life... and the Inevitable comes to correct the problem.


----------



## mandyscog

i really do apreciate you drawing nessa for me.  i posted my finished clothed and colored version in my thread along with a front and back shot of a mini i painted with her losely in mind.  and like i said, if anyone at all wants to give her another shot i'd be thrilled to have it--as long as it's not pornographic.


----------



## Acquana

*03/20/05*



			
				Clueless said:
			
		

> His personal 'toy' in the game is Shylara the Manged. A psychoticly hateful wizardress arcanaloth. (Seeing a theme here? He earned the nickname 'Loth Boy' for a reason.) Her normal mode of dress consists of strategically placed blue ribbons. She has 'issues'.




Yeah, I know.  Seriously.  

Hey, how could I pass up a semi-human woman in only ribbons?  Plus, it's for some of my favorite posters!  ^_^


----------



## Kathaer

i'm crying.. nobody will draw Ethamir nor Tureides nor Evendur nor Kaeth nor Teith nor Cyderien ..... whyyyy.... ok.. stop crying.


----------



## Clueless

Acquana said:
			
		

> Yeah, I know.  Seriously.
> Hey, how could I pass up a semi-human woman in only ribbons?  Plus, it's for some of my favorite posters!  ^_^



Squueueeeeee!!   *grins and quickly pings Shemmie with a link* Thank you  I think that sidelong look in her eyes just sums it all up...


----------



## Shemeska

*Squeee!!!!!*



			
				Acquana said:
			
		

> Yeah, I know.  Seriously.
> 
> Hey, how could I pass up a semi-human woman in only ribbons?  Plus, it's for some of my favorite posters!  ^_^




I'm humbled, very much so. *blush*

*drool* Very very cool, thank you very much. *grins!*

And yes, the character has ... 'issues'


----------



## mandyscog

*actually takes the time to really look at this thread out of a little bit of boredom and a lot depression (long story about my group that you probably don't want to hear and i probably shouldn't tell anyway)*

damn you're good.  i look at your b&w drawings and i see colors--and i don't often look at someone's sketches and see them in color.  i'd offer to color some of them for you, but i just ran off 40 or so pictures to color last week and i'll probably get in trouble if i start printing mass quantities of stuff that's not for school again so soon.

hey, since my boyfriend's gone off drawing, maybe i should ask you to do the duel character portrait of our teifling twins that i see in my head.  that is if he doesn't mind and i can remember all the weird physical traits they inherited from their demonic ansestor.


----------



## mandyscog

oh! and...

that's a real nice picture of solid snake.  i hang out with too many people who play the metal gear games so i recognised him right away.


----------



## Xath

These are very nice pictures.  You seem to have a knack for capturing the essence of a character right out of the text.  I'm super-impressed.

-G


----------



## Acquana

Thank you, mandyscog and Xath!  I hope you feel better soon, manyscog ...

Sorry about the lack of updates this weeek.  I'm getting to them ... But Rangerwickett finally convinced me to help out on EN Arsenal: Chainmail Bikini, and then said I needed to get it done this week.     Doable, save for yesterday I was sick.  Fun.

So yeah, I'll be done with the illustrations by tomorrow (including the cover! w007!), and have time again.  

And sure, mandyscog, I wouldn't mind a request at all!


----------



## mandyscog

unless the guys suddenly realize that sex offenders very rarely change (especially when they admit to not regreting it) i don't see that happening any time soon.

but enough unpleasantness!  i'm not sure if you noticed that i posted the colored version of Nessa in my thread, so i'll just point it out again.  http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2110870&postcount=4


----------



## Angel Tarragon

I really like your work Acquana. I'd be giddy all over if my talent for drawing was on par with your stuff! And yes Yukino is very cute!


----------



## Acquana

*03/21 - 25/05*

I'm catchin up!

And hey, thanks Frukathka ... and I'm really sorry mandyscog ... ;_;

Partial update tonight, more coming soon.  Just had to get something up.  So I'm gonna pimp the online RPG I'm a part of: Chaotic.  It's an email-based rpg based off of the Sonic the Hedgehog comics.

This is Ruby, the princess of a tiny rainforest tribe.







Surya-Ne, an echinda and the sister of my character, Moore






The character of the DM, Kern, who was partially "robiticized."  Those familiar with the setting knows what that means, the rest of you might be able to guess.






The perky, 12 year-old hedgehog Kitomi






And all these heroes should have at least one villian, Aleron, who was wholly roboticized.


----------



## Xath

Acquana, I'm trying to teach myself to color in Photoshop, but I'm drawing challenged.  Do you mind if I use some of your sketches to learn?


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Acquana said:
			
		

> This is Ruby, the princess of a tiny rainforest tribe.



Wow, what a hottie!


----------



## Acquana

I'm so flattered, Xath!  Certainly!  And if you're able to follow tech books at all (I can't follow most of them, myself), the Abode Photoshop Wow! book really helped me learn coloring in Photoshop.



			
				Frukathka said:
			
		

> Wow, what a hottie!




And ain't she just?  Thankfully not too much so.  The last time the DM tried to get this particular game going, this one girl who likes to play ... extremely endowed girls decided to join.  It was very disturbing ... trying to draw a panda with an H-cup.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Acquana said:
			
		

> And ain't she just?  Thankfully not too much so.  The last time the DM tried to get this particular game going, this one girl who likes to play ... extremely endowed girls decided to join.  It was very disturbing ... trying to draw a panda with an H-cup.



<Jaw drops to floor>

*H-CUP?!* 
Will Smith-esque: Damn!


----------



## Acquana

*A drawing from 2003*

Old yes ... But this gets what I was saying across.  This is Xiao Lang QiQi.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Yowza!


----------



## Acquana

*03/26 & 27/05*

Almost there!  So here's two more, another two Chaotic characters.

This is Sarda of the grand Acorn lineage, descendant of none other than Sonic the Hedgehog himself.






And this is my villian character, Glitch, once known as MechaSonic, now a walking malfunction.  If you notice he has different proportions than the other characters, that's on purpose.  He's freakishly long and tall for the setting.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

As usual, those are all great. I especially love the villain. That right arm is just great.


----------



## NarlethDrider

Acquana, just wanted to say i've enjoyed your one-a-days. You & others have helped get the cobwebs of non-drawing cleared---I hope to get my own 1/day going soon


----------



## Clueless

*bounceys* I love the movement in these characters - is there anything you did to practice that? Whenever I sit down to draw - the figures inevitably end up looking 'stiff'.


----------



## Macbeth

Wow. I don't stop by the art forum very often, but I happened to be bored at work and found this... Great stuff.  Browsing this thread made my evening.

Since you seem to be interested in payed work, why not ask around at EN Publishing? I've worked with them as an author, and they're great folks. I'm just a freelancer, so I can't actually GET you work, but I can say that EN Publishing is a good company to work for. I have no idea if they need more artists at this point, but it seems like Barsoomcore might need artists for his new mini-games line from this thread.

And, if you happen to need some inspiration, how bout a human male, vaguely celtic ethnicity, with an old, finely crafted torc around his neck. He has a thin but solid build, and slightly shaggy red hair. He wears traveling clothes, inclduing a battered mithral chain shirt, and a cloak. IN combat, he uses a whip like chain, with each link being a little different. Each link is actually a scrap of metal he found and had forged onto his chain. In a way, each link tells a but of a story about him. He can tell you where he got every link, and why he picked that piece of metal. He carries a small backpack or puch (depending on how heavy he's traveling) and a scroll case. His name is Deigh Roisin, and as you've probably guessed, he's my PC. I'm not much of an artist, so I've never drawn him, but if the mood strikes you, run with the idea. 

I hoe you have the best of luck with getting some money out of your art, and I'll keep checking this thread, to see what else you turn out.


----------



## Acquana

Clueless said:
			
		

> *bounceys* I love the movement in these characters - is there anything you did to practice that? Whenever I sit down to draw - the figures inevitably end up looking 'stiff'.




It's sheer life drawing really.  That and having a great love for the sweeping curve.  There's a book called Dynamic Anatomy that's really great, take a look at it.



			
				Macbeth said:
			
		

> Since you seem to be interested in payed work, why not ask around at EN Publishing?




I simply must resist a laugh, but you're looking at the very first artist EN Publishing had.  Rangerwickett is one of the founders, back when it was Natural 20 Press (my name and logo, by the way), and he's always loved my work and said I should join in.  They're the ones who have given me the closest thing to steady work since 2001.  I'm very grateful, I've just seen these guys at their worst.  They've been late paying, run out of money a couple of times ... It's been a really shakey couple of years, but every time they ask if I'm willing to do something I'll still say yes.  My portfolio is lookin pretty good thanks to those guys.  ^_^

And please forgive the angsting earlier on this page.  I'm not really proud of it.  For a moment my thread became DeviantArt.  ^_~


----------



## Macbeth

D'oh! I thought you had a style similar to what I'd seen in EN Pub/Nat 20 books, but I never bothered to think that you might be the same person who did the art. Sorry bout tht, just trying to offer what little advice I could. My bad.


----------



## Acquana

*03/27- 31/05*

Well, I got some great responses for the Chaotic stuff!  I honestly didn't know what you guys would think.  Seeing how well that worked out, I may as well pimp my own game!  Almost two years ago I tried to start up an email-based rpg, but absolutely no one applied!  ;__;

Since most email rpgs I've tried to apply to are based off of the Sailor Moon theme (which is characters who tranform into someone with superpowers on a basic theme, like elements or something, to fight evil--the Power Rangers are a similar idea) ... I came up with one of my own.   Four Color Senshi, the tales of the Super Senshi!  

The basic idea is that characters are normal, everyday people until they are needed, then use their powers to transform into "senshi" based off of superheroes!

To show an example, here's my good character, Kenna Raven.







When evil appears, she uses her powers to tranform into Sailor Marrow!






And here's my villain character, Beor Izaak.






Who transforms into the villain, Jokers Wild!






The characters aren't who they transform into, they just gain a little of the power of their namesakes.

And thus, this dude:






Charles Lynch, is dedicated to finding all those with such powers, to gather the ones who aren't dangerous together to help stop the ones that are.

Now come on ... Tell me that doesn't sound cool!  It's not something one would have to devote crap tons of time to ... Just something to try out.  I'm makin a call to those who might be interested, just check out the site and apply if you feel like paying tribute to your favorite superheroes and supervillains!


----------



## Acquana

Macbeth said:
			
		

> D'oh! I thought you had a style similar to what I'd seen in EN Pub/Nat 20 books, but I never bothered to think that you might be the same person who did the art. Sorry bout tht, just trying to offer what little advice I could. My bad.




^_^  It's no problem.  I'm listed as JL Jones in the books, Acquana here on the site.  And plus ... I've gotten seriously better since Wild Spellcraft!

Oh, and speaking of EN Publishing, I just finished with the last illustration I needed to do for Chainmail Bikini.  It should be coming out in the next few weeks.


----------



## Acquana

Dah!  Stupid server acting up!

I will upload the images for now.  *grumble grumble*


----------



## Acquana

So yeah.  It's not that the server was just down, the server has mysteriously lost my account or some kind of garbage like that.  I am very angry right now.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Wow.   That bites the big one!


----------



## Greylock

Well this sux, as much for me the viewer as you the artist. I've held off visiting this thread for a while, and was looking forward to catching up on your work. I hope everything returns to normal soon, and that the links are restored without you having to fix each and every one.


----------



## Acquana

Yeah ... I've got the details in two threads in the off topic forum.  If anyone here can help me out ...?

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=127024

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=126903


----------



## Acquana

*doin a happy dance*

Hoo ha!  Check it out!  Stuff is back up!  I will back to posting things soon, the mere fact that my site was down was driving me CRAZY.  Seriously.

So anyhoo, stuff is up again!  Everyone check out my pretty, pretty site  and the stuff from my last post.


----------



## mps42

Jokers Wild is a creepy looking individual. Very nice stuff.


----------



## Kemrain

Still taking requests? Your art is beautiful. I'm exceptionally jealous. Wish I practiced like you do.

- Kemrain the Photoshopped.


----------



## RangerWickett

If I may, because Jessie is a friend, the requests are great practice for her, but if any of you have some disposable income, and perhaps a birthday coming up soon you want to get a nifty gift for, or a dramatic event for your game you want illustrated, Jessie_ is _a struggling artist.  *wink*


----------



## Empress

RangerWickett said:
			
		

> If I may, because Jessie is a friend, the requests are great practice for her, but if any of you have some disposable income, and perhaps a birthday coming up soon you want to get a nifty gift for, or a dramatic event for your game you want illustrated, Jessie_ is _a struggling artist.  *wink*



Wow... these are great pics!

What would be a proper amount for a comission? And do you (aquana, not RangerWickett) have a PayPal account?


----------



## Angel Tarragon

.....


----------



## Clueless

Hm. I'm half inspired to start illustrating my current campaign and tossing up a painting a week (yeah - watercolor  ) but I was curious if you knew how 'receptive' folks are to the maybe-not-so-spectacular hobby artists around here.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Clueless said:
			
		

> Hm. I'm half inspired to start illustrating my current campaign and tossing up a painting a week (yeah - watercolor  ) but I was curious if you knew how 'receptive' folks are to the maybe-not-so-spectacular hobby artists around here.



 ...well, I can answer that being a maybe-not-so-spectacular artist, myself. People are pretty receptive, and while I don't get the comments and praise that people like Acquana get, its still worth throwing things up and seeing the reaction you get. 

Heck, I'm about ready to do my own drawing a day thread, though I've got to think of a different name so I don't steal Acquana's thunder...not that I could anyway, she's too good.


----------



## Acquana

mps42 said:
			
		

> Jokers Wild is a creepy looking individual. Very nice stuff.






			
				Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> Heck, I'm about ready to do my own drawing a day thread, though I've got to think of a different name so I don't steal Acquana's thunder...not that I could anyway, she's too good.




*blush*  Too kind, too kind.  Thank you, everyone, for your support! 

I am currently on the new server, and life is well.  It'll be a bit bumpy as I try to figure out if anything is fully up.



			
				Empress said:
			
		

> Wow... these are great pics!
> 
> What would be a proper amount for a comission? And do you (aquana, not RangerWickett) have a PayPal account?




All of my comission rates are on my portfolio site, which is found here.  And yes, I do have a Paypal account: psionronin@hotmail.com

^_^  There will be drawings shortly.  I know I have a while to catch up on.


----------



## Acquana

Oh, one more thing.  Those of you who have emailed me with requests over the last couple of weeks should email them to me again.  The change from one server to another has made me lose what email I had in my inbox for my shellcatstudio.com address.


----------



## Clueless

*checks* Nope - put em on thread not email. So we're good.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Acquana, I was wondering if I could appeal to you generous side and ask you to take a whack at one of my trio of characters? I'd be delighted if you did, I absolutely love your work.


----------



## Acquana

*04/01/05*

First one in quite a while.  -__-;;

This is the Bantam again, as Tawny Cooper, with her two NPCs, Bently Royls and Murray Ford.   A band of thieves, if you will.







It's going slow, but it's going!  Just wanted to get one up real fast for those who have been so patient.


----------



## Acquana

*04/02/05*



			
				Frukathka said:
			
		

> Ryleah Tylemea - Star Wars character
> 
> Ryleah is six foot tall and slender. She has long red hair that comes down to her waist. She has blue eyes and has a battle scar on her right cheek.
> 
> She commonly wears a flowing brown gown over her body and wears a thick black welt at her waist, where her lightsaber rests.
> 
> Ryleah commonly walks with her arms crossed in front of her hidden by the robe she wears.




I know it's not particularly dramatic ... But for some reason a relaxed pose just ... I dunno ... I just wanted to do the lines for it.  ^_^;;


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Thanks Acquana! I love it, I really do! I am extremely happy as now that I have a relaxed and action pose for Ryleah! I am one very happy camper right now! Thanks!


----------



## Acquana

*04/03/05*

Another character from the comic Wellstar and I are working on.  This is Marionette.






For the record, yes that is duct tape.  And no, she's not a slut.  She just doesn't like the feel of most clothes on her shoulders.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

I know that there are some garments made for famales that feel the same way - my sister is one of them. She has a whole slew of shoulderless pull up shirts. I'm not saying you should change it, this is just an FYI. I like the pic.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Duct tape.

Is there anything it can't do?


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Well, it can't improve the size of your Hard Drive, it can't increase your RAM and it wont make a computer work any faster.


----------



## Acquana

*04/04/05*

This is the last PC from the Mutants and Masterminds game, Pulse.  He's a quasi Iron Man type who can manipulate sound waves.


----------



## Acquana

Frukathka said:
			
		

> Well, it can't improve the size of your Hard Drive, it can't increase your RAM and it wont make a computer work any faster.




And oh ... oh, if only it _could._


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Acquana said:
			
		

> This is the last PC from the Mutants and Masterminds game, Pulse.



Awesome. Like the outfit.


----------



## Acquana

*04/05/05*

So hey yeah ... This is for Greegan

He and I are working out the details for a webcomic!  This will hopefully be posted on his website, the Kobold Company, and all will rejoice.

These are the designs for all the main characters and the characters they each play in their rpg.

The main character, Chris, with his half-elven chaos mage, Phyllandrefel ... more commonly known as "Phyl."






The chick of the gaming group, Shanon, and her fighter, Rori Vaun.






Will, one of those who always ends up gender bending in games.  His character is an elf that is that perfect blend of total hottie and girl-next-door so many men are disappionted don't actually exist, Satyn Darklight.






The highschooler who answered an add in the local gaming store after the group lost a player, Jason.  He is full of highschool-type rage and plays a kobold barbarian, Xatol.






The group's resident uber-twink, Mike.  He plays a dwarven mountain druid, Kraig Caleigh.






And what group is complete without a GM?  This is Liam, who stands a good half a head taller than everyone else, and has been a GM consistently only because everyone forces him to not be lazy.






w007!  Almost up to date!  And so ... whatdya think, Greegan?  Let's chat.


----------



## Greylock

Wow, Acquana, what a swell idea! I really, really dig that, having the players and the pc's together. You've hit on a excellent concept. Any chance you can get down to Memphis to attend a couple of game sessions? We'll bring the beer and pizza if you bring your sketch pad.


----------



## Rel

That latest batch is very cool.

Though I question a bit whether there are too many "girls next door" named "Satyn". 

Ah well, I suppose they have to live next to somebody...

*Rel peeks out the window toward where the new neighbors moved in.*


----------



## Angel Tarragon

A webcomic, eh? Sounds great. Good luck with it!
Also, Great new pics.


----------



## Acquana

*04/11/05*



			
				Frukathka said:
			
		

> Thaddeus Graishel - D20 Modern character
> 
> Thaddeus stands at five foot eight inches and is half American half Indian. He is very broad and quite muscular. His skin is light brown. He wears a black vest over his chest that he commonly wears open, leaving the middle of his chest exposed. He wears light blue jean shorts.
> 
> T his waist he has a belt where he has a gun holder on his left, where he keeps his 9MM pistol.
> 
> He never smiles and always seems to have a bad attitude because his face appears to be scrunched. He has narrow brown eyes and has a thick nose. His lips are thick and are quite wide.
> 
> Thaddeus always carries an AK 47 at ready in his right hand.




Well, why not?  The basis for the face is a friend of mine.  Though seeing him not smiling (and built for that matter) is odd.  Bonus: Acquana tries to draw AK-47 with mixed results.






So yeah!  Just about caught up!  I'll have today's drawing up soon ... as soon as I decide what to draw.  ^_^;;


----------



## Clueless

*jumps up and down in the classic 'pick me pick me stance' TM gradeschool*


----------



## Bobitron

Haha, those ones of the gaming group and the characters is just great.


----------



## Acquana

*04/12/05*



			
				Knightfall1972 said:
			
		

> Ok, how's this for a "slightly" simpler description?
> 
> *Garth Tigerstorm*
> *Classes:* 10th level ranger, 6th level justiciar
> 
> *Description:* Garth Tigerstorm is an imposing man for his age (58), He stands 6 feet 3 inches tall and is stronger than most men half his age. He is never without his arms and armor, as well as anything else he considers essentials. He always keeps his gear immaculately clean and well organized. Everything has its place, whether it is his magical longsword, at his side, or his _elixir of truth_, carefully wrapped and stowed within his backpack. His less essential gear is stored in the _saddlebags of holding_ on his mount. He can be obsessive about it, but when combat erupts, all such thoughts empty from his mind. He is too focused for his slight obsession to become pathological. Garth prefers natural earth tones for his garments but does have less martial attire for the annual events he is forced to endure, in order to keep his title as the Justiciar of the Eastern Shores.
> 
> *Signature Equipment:* _+1 disarming dagger_, _+3 axiomatic orcbane longsword_, _+3 chain shirt_, _amulet of mighty fists (+2)_, _bracers of armor (+2)_, _candle of truth_, _dimensional shackles_, _elixir of truth_, _gloves of swimming and climbing_, _periapt of wound closure_, _ring of protection (+3)_, and his mount/animal companion, Hindle -- heavy warhorse w/ _+2 padded barding_, _feed bag_, _horseshoes of speed_, _saddlebags of holding_, bit & bridle, and military saddle.




Well, ignoring the horse ^_^;;  Here he is!






I decided to go ahead and do this one because it's been sitting in the thread so long.  -__-;;

So, whatdya think?


----------



## Clueless

I love the angle of eyebrows and chin/nose there - pleasantly abrasive/arrogant in that way that old vets can get.


----------



## Acquana

That's pretty much what I had in mind.  I dunno, something about the description just screamed "bitter old vet." I can only hope that's what Knightfall had in mind.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Acquana, you're my new hero! Thanks for the sketch of Thaddeus - it is just as I pictued it in my mind. I love it lots!


----------



## Acquana

Certainly not a problem!

And hey, since I was done sketching early, what did I do ..?  I completely redid the look of the Four Color Senshi  site!  

It's all shiny and new now! 

I post this for two reasons: For people to look at it and apply, and to remind people I can even design websites ... So long as it's not too complicated.  ^_^


----------



## Acquana

*04/13 - 16/05*

So hey, guys ... Anyone got superheroes they want me to draw?  I'm suddenly in the mood for some mainstream craziness.  Mutants and Masterminds on the brain, yo.

Just because I felt like, last night I came up with four superpowered asassins based on the Guardians of the Compass in Asian mythology.  Keep in mind with the designs, this group is from the mid-80's. 

Their leader, Tatsu, based off of the dragon of the east.  Odd thing, the dragon is based off of water element, not fire.  So this dude uses hand to hand combat, and controls electricity and storms.







Firebird, of the phoenix of the south.  Fairly self-explanitory.  Yes, she is Native American, and behold!  She has the only hair style that mainstream comics artists could think of to give Native Americans.






Tiger Blade; tiger of the west.  The tiger's element is metal, and thus this albino has the ability to turn any metal he can hold on to into a gun.  






Black Shell is the last one, and is by far the creepiest.  The Guardian of the North is the turtle and snake.  So this fellow is eerily thin, and can stretch his limbs ala Dhalsim (only a good twenty feet or so).  If in danger, he can shape rock or earth into a shell; an opening in it only big enough to allow him to still throw his limbs out.  To put him in perspective, while the others are fairly average height, Black Shell is just above seven feet tall.






Woo!  Four down.  Sorry, I've just been feeling so dry lately.  I need some inspiration to feel up to fantasy ...


----------



## Greylock

Hey, hey! Superheroes really suit your drawing style. Well done!


----------



## Knightfall

Acquana said:
			
		

> I decided to go ahead and do this one because it's been sitting in the thread so long.  -__-;;
> 
> So, whatdya think?




Excellent! I like the pose. It fit's his personality perfectly.


----------



## gabrion

Wow, I've never looked at this thread before, but you do a great job!

I'm playing a character right now that is a monk with divine casting abilities.  He has levels in Sacred Fist if you are familiar with the class.  I was wondering if you could make a sketch of him.  He doesn't wear a shirt and is very muscular and his pants are loose and flowing.  His hands should be clenched in fists with fire coming off them.  He is human with shoulder length hair.  Thanks.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Your drawings are looking good Acquana. Your stuff is looking better every day.


----------



## mandyscog

i wish i could think of some superheros for you to draw, but for some reason all that's coming into my head are my group's discusions about how our high level D&D characters can take the fellowship and any equal number combination of the x-men excluding wolvarine.  it may sound cocky, but we have killed gods, so...


----------



## Angel Tarragon

I've always wanted a piese with myself in Supermans outfit (without my beer belly of course). I'd love you for all time if you could do it Acquana.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Everything all right Acquana? We haven't heard from you in a while.


----------



## Acquana

;_;  I know

All of like ... 5 days now?  I am ashamed.  I just can't seem to figure out what I'm willing to muster the energy to draw ... I should have an update tonight!


----------



## Clueless

Hmmm. Can't think of anything to draw huh? Sounds like time for a serious change of pace.... 

How's'about 'a goat eating sardines' ? Ok, not so much a *serious* change in pace....


----------



## Rel

Clueless said:
			
		

> How's'about 'a goat eating sardines' ?




Awwwwuhg!  I can smell that just by looking at the computer screen!

And it's so gross that you just know she's going to do it now!  Clueless you are such an instigator!


----------



## Clueless

*GRIN* It's what I do....


----------



## Acquana

*Sketch for 04/17/05*

Blast it all.  Why didn't I check the thread sooner?!  Goat eating sardines!!  Brilliant!

Sadly you get this one.  My NPC in an upcoming campaign, Alex.  He's trainin' and I just realized that this is the _second_ drawing of him I've done of him shirtless.  *blush*






So yeah.  I'm working on it!  ^_^;;  Just it took me nearly an hour to get this one right ... I'm sleepy, I go bed.


----------



## gabrion

Well if you are in the mood for drawing shirtless guys, I don't know if you saw my request above, but I would love a picture of my Monk/Cleric.  He doesn't wear anything but his loose pants, and his fists are wreathed in flames.  Very muscular.  Shoulder length hair.  If you can draw auras, he kinda has a faint sphere around him.  I would love to see a drawing of him!


----------



## Acquana

*Sketch for 04/18/05*



			
				gabrion said:
			
		

> Wow, I've never looked at this thread before, but you do a great job!
> 
> I'm playing a character right now that is a monk with divine casting abilities.  He has levels in Sacred Fist if you are familiar with the class.  I was wondering if you could make a sketch of him.  He doesn't wear a shirt and is very muscular and his pants are loose and flowing.  His hands should be clenched in fists with fire coming off them.  He is human with shoulder length hair.  Thanks.




Well, thanks for stoppin by!  Here's your dude.  






Grrrrrrr   Foot got cut off.  Not for any fault of the jpg process, but the mere fact that I keep running out of room on my sketchbook pages.  >_<   And I can't just use bigger paper (believe me, I want to sooooo badly), because my scanner can't scan in anything bigger than like 9X12.  Late at night I have fantasies of a scanner that can scan in 11x17.  I wake up with drool on my pillow.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

I have fantasies of a 22x17 scanner.


----------



## Acquana

*Sketch for 04/19/05*



			
				Frukathka said:
			
		

> I have fantasies of a 22x17 scanner.




Scandal!

Anyway.  The plans for the webcomic is coming along nicely, within the next week or so I'll be handing off the first two updates for my producer, Greegan.  He's also asked me to make a new banner for Kobold Company, showing off the kobold from the comic.  This will soon be all colored and shiny, but I decided to go ahead and post the sketch of Xatol here:






I actually plan to have more rendered versions of all the main characters at some point.  For now, just Xatol.


----------



## gabrion

Wow, that drawing of my monk is awesome!  Thanks so much.  You do great work.


----------



## Greegan

Brilliant as usual, Acquana!!! I am so excited!! This is going to be brilliant!!!!


----------



## Acquana

*Not an update, but freakin awesome anyway*

Whoo hoo!  I finished coloring Xatol!  Check this color action out!







Ahhh, a productive day indeed.


----------



## Greegan

Absolutely terrific! You rock! I'll put it up ASAP!! Sooooo excited!!


----------



## Acquana

*Sketch for 04/20/04*

I've been working on the comic tonight, and so you guys get to see some more drawing!  w007!

This is Phyllandrefel and Satyn, chaos mage and defensive sorceress.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Hey Acquana, any chance you could do a sketch of me in Supe's outfit? I'd be willing to pay you for a fully colored one. What is your rate?


----------



## Acquana

Frukathka said:
			
		

> Hey Acquana, any chance you could do a sketch of me in Supe's outfit? I'd be willing to pay you for a fully colored one. What is your rate?




Oh wow!  I was planning on getting to that one sooner or later, but paid is always better.  ^_^;;

My resume site has all the comission info, right here.


----------



## Aristotle

I am really fond of the way you draw kobolds. Enough so to make me consider making them a "core" race in my next homebrew setting.


----------



## fnork de sporg

Hey, what a great thread. I think you have some serious skills. And that render is just an effing A. There's so going to be a Kobold npc in my game now.

One of my players has this very strange templated character it's a little outside your usual realm but I thought I'd throw him out there anyways.

He is a half-dragon drider, a humanoid torso atop a giant spider body. Huge batwings spread from his torso's back and hid skin is covered with a fine layer of tough and pointy red and black scales. Hid two humanoid forearms end in cruel reptillian claws that he move swith incredible speed. Unlike a "normal" half-dragon drider he has three dragon like heads, small for his frame, each perched atop a sinuous snake-like neck. Each head has a pair of long fangs that perpetually leak venom and wears a crystaline amulet on a small chain collar (a matching set of three).

Known to the public as The Abomination, he is an up and coming gladiator in the arenas of the planar city of Sigil. Though he plays the part of a monstrous beast for the crowds he is actually quite cultured, and can sing in a beautiful three part harmony. 

His amulets infuse his claws with mystical energy, making them powerful magic weapons and enchanting them with inhuman Speed. He can fire three simulataneous firey breath attacks in three different directions. He prefers to attack from above, opening with a volley of fire and then closing to make use of his many attacks per round rippping at his oppenents flesh with all his many heads and limbs.


----------



## RangerWickett

I'm going to actually make a request too.  See, there's this new poster on the boards who's also using the Wickett avatar, and it confuses me sometimes when I think, "Wait, I didn't write that."  So Acquana, could you draw an Ewok for me?  Preferably not one of Scott Ball's sort of Egg-woks.


----------



## Acquana

*Sketch for 04/21/04*

C'mon, man ... The egg-Wok rocked hardcore.

But hey, sure!  I'll get to it as soon as I can whittle down all the projects I have going.  -_-;;  

Whooo!  It's been a while since I've actually run anything, and this Sunday I got to.  I ran a High Fantasy one-shot with all the characters being either constructs or otherwise magically altered animals.  The dude in the middle is the NPC Joshua Walton ... who died a horrible death by getting his soul devoured about halfway through the session ... but whatever.  The animals are an electricly charged hawk named Tonnere, a goblin-ish little guy called Sneep (the one with the giant lollipop), a tiny, rather innocent slime name Xenny, and the grey construct Xylo.  






Not much, but it's a start.  I'm trying.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

A smoking Grey! I'm not sure you'll ever be able to top that one.


----------



## Acquana

*Sketch for 04/22/04*

Well, I can try ... but I know this one won't.  This is just an NPC in the game I'll be running in two weeks.  *checks to make sure players aren't looking*  This is Gio.


----------



## Acquana

*04/23 - 27/05*

Alright!  Caught up!  Decided what the heck and cranked out near a week's worth of an assignment: Famous Faeries

These are all interepretations of fey within my setting, High Fantasy.  

Perhaps one of the greatest known fey in lore, the lady of Avalon herself, the Lady of the Lake.  Since humans only see her arm, I decided to give all of you the rest of her. 






The lord of one of the greatest fey courts, Lord Oberron of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  I decided from my reading of the play that he's only a few steps of dark faerie away from eating human flesh, so I gave him some horns and some dark dripping off him.  The armor is wooden.






Still as promiscuous as ever, the animal spirit Coyote as he looks in modern times.  






And Oberron's most famous son, Robin Goodfellow, or simply Puck.  About halfway through this drawing he suddenly took on the likeness of a lot of the characters my friend Elbonie would draw, so I decided to run with it.   






A modern fey of my own creation: a Faceless Joe.  They are nondescript in every fashion, and blend in to large crowds in cities.  A Faceless Joe will feed off of the energy of hurrying people, often making them forget important things they had to do that day.  This one has removed his mask only long enough to show us where he got his name.






Wellp, all caught up on this.  Now to all the other stuff I have to do ...


----------



## Clueless

Acquana said:
			
		

> Well, I can try ... but I know this one won't.  This is just an NPC in the game I'll be running in two weeks.  *checks to make sure players aren't looking*  This is Gio.



... Rowr.


----------



## Clueless

Ok, *now* I have to beg - it's the fey theme, the fey made me do it...  

Can I get one of Clueless, my half-fey blade singer? Blond, blue-green eyes, male, average height, very lithe build. For a real life model, look towards Heath Ledger. He has black dragonfly wings (refecting his unseelie bloodlines), with a celtic tattoo across his back. He tends to not wear a shirt (gets in the way of the wings and all), wears leather style pants, boots, and those so nifty but utterly useless arm wrappings that you see in martial arts comics. The blade he carries is a relatively light sword, think something just a little heavier in build than a rapier, as fits the bladesinger style of fighting. His fey nature shows up often in this wild little smirk of good humor, and bad jokes, and well - he *is* easy and a minor lech.  On the one hand he's inclined towards whimsy, and on the other towards machivellian sneakiness. He tends to do things at apparent 'random' that were very well planned. As good as you are at conveying emotion/personality, I figured I'd give you more than just the physical description.


----------



## gamecat

Well, if you're taking requests, absolutely I'll make one.

Jovial
Male Human Fighter 4 / Wizard 5

A tall man with an alcoholic scowl (and a nickname he used to live up to), Jovial is a mage-guild dropout. Having lost his family in the Axian Civil War, he is one of the de facto commanders of the Axian loyalists, the others being Alezandra Zanitos and Craif Faragher. Jovial stands about 6'3, with a slight paunch. He wears his old red-and-black mage robe over black breeches and a black tunic. Many belts girt his midsection, supporting a simply crafted single-edged longsword, some five magepistols [a hallmark of my game is magic-powered guns) and a magic powered SMG, sculpted to look like a demon. The SMG was lifted off of the daugther of a familial enemy. His abandoned magic training is limited to protective spells, which he uses in place of armor. He typically fights with his sword in his right hand, and the SMG in his left.

If you would be so inclined to sketch him, I'd gladly return the favor - I'm a wizard at house rules, so if there's any feat/prc/magic item you've been dreaming of, I'll stat it in a mechanically sound and balanced way.


----------



## Sigurd

*Request*

An old but not particularly powerful Wizard with an old but not particularly powerful Raven familiar. The interesting thing is that they have grown to look a lot like each other. Its not so much what they can do but what they might know that puts a sparkle in their eye.

S


----------



## Acquana

*04/28/05*

Oooooh, a lot of those requests look nifty.  I will be getting to work on 'em, right after I finish the last two fey.

This one is modern, more so than any of the others.  Though they've been known to have appeared only the last two hundred years, and unlike other fey they keep track of things like inflation!  Behold, a tooth fairy.  In parts of Europe they're known to turn into field mice, hence the tail and mouse ears.  

However, in my setting our well-known tooth faeries not nearly as seelie as they seem.  The reason they collect teeth is that it contains a tiny bit of the childhood of the owner, and the innocence of a child is what they feed on.  Each time they exchange money for a tooth, they whisper a tiny secret in the child's ear--a little secret that makes the child just a little bit older, more likely to drop their next tooth, and little less of a child.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Looking great Acquana! Love your High Fantasy and the Lord Oberon Pics. I have a request: 'Durel' Tharmium. A base pecil sketch would be cool, but if you could add color to it, I'd be forever grateful.   Also, the check for the the commisioned piece that I asked for will be sent out in a couple weeks.


----------



## Rel

Acquana said:
			
		

> However, in my setting our well-known tooth faeries not nearly as seelie as they seem.  The reason they collect teeth is that it contains a tiny bit of the childhood of the owner, and the innocence of a child is what they feed on.  Each time they exchange money for a tooth, they whisper a tiny secret in the child's ear--a little secret that makes the child just a little bit older, more likely to drop their next tooth, and little less of a child.




That is so cool.  Not for the child of course .  But what a neat concept.


----------



## Bobitron

Nice! Your Lady of the Lake is one of my favorites.


----------



## Clueless

Double post.


----------



## Clueless

Acquana said:
			
		

> However, in my setting our well-known tooth faeries not nearly as seelie as they seem.  The reason they collect teeth is that it contains a tiny bit of the childhood of the owner, and the innocence of a child is what they feed on.  Each time they exchange money for a tooth, they whisper a tiny secret in the child's ear--a little secret that makes the child just a little bit older, more likely to drop their next tooth, and little less of a child.



Very cool - reminds me, just a little, of Darkness Falls. One of the best representations of dark fey/tooth faerie *ever*.


----------



## RangerWickett

Here is the cover for E.N. Armoury - Chainmail Bikini.  The illustration is by Acquana.  I think she captured the tone of the book perfectly.  The first image is a thumbnail, the second is full size.


----------



## megamania

You work is still looking really good.  The poses are natural and comfortable for the characters.  Excellent.


----------



## Jdvn1

Acquana said:
			
		

> Well, I can try ... but I know this one won't.  This is just an NPC in the game I'll be running in two weeks.  *checks to make sure players aren't looking*  This is Gio.



Ooh, can I steal him for one of my characters?


----------



## Acquana

*04/29/05*



			
				Clueless said:
			
		

> Ok, *now* I have to beg - it's the fey theme, the fey made me do it...
> 
> Can I get one of Clueless, my half-fey blade singer? Blond, blue-green eyes, male, average height, very lithe build. For a real life model, look towards Heath Ledger. He has black dragonfly wings (refecting his unseelie bloodlines), with a celtic tattoo across his back. He tends to not wear a shirt (gets in the way of the wings and all), wears leather style pants, boots, and those so nifty but utterly useless arm wrappings that you see in martial arts comics. The blade he carries is a relatively light sword, think something just a little heavier in build than a rapier, as fits the bladesinger style of fighting. His fey nature shows up often in this wild little smirk of good humor, and bad jokes, and well - he *is* easy and a minor lech.  On the one hand he's inclined towards whimsy, and on the other towards machivellian sneakiness. He tends to do things at apparent 'random' that were very well planned. As good as you are at conveying emotion/personality, I figured I'd give you more than just the physical description.




Okay, since it's Clueless, for Clueless, I must draw it.  ^_^  

I can see that he came out more like Liquid Snake than Heath Ledger, but since you seem to enjoy a good pretty man now and again I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.


----------



## Acquana

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> Ooh, can I steal him for one of my characters?




Hey, why not?  I'm cool.


----------



## Rel

Hey, Acquana, I just had a thought while I was upstairs coloring with Samantha the Red:  Have you considered bundling these pictures up, slapping a color cover on them and selling them as a coloring book?  I bet they'd sell like hotcakes at GenCon or someplace similar where you have a lot of gaming parents who would love a break from the ceaseless disney coloring books or (in my case) princesses.

Just a thought.


----------



## Clueless

A gamer kids coloring books? Sounds wonderful considering how many munckchins I saw at last Gencon.


----------



## Clueless

Acquana said:
			
		

> Okay, since it's Clueless, for Clueless, I must draw it.  ^_^
> I can see that he came out more like Liquid Snake than Heath Ledger, but since you seem to enjoy a good pretty man now and again I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.



Hey - a good pretty man every once in awhile (preferabbly washed and brought to my tent) - I can certainly go for  He's great  Thank you! *bounces and shows to friends*


----------



## Jdvn1

Acquana said:
			
		

> Hey, why not?  I'm cool.



I agree.    Thanks!


----------



## Acquana

Rel said:
			
		

> Hey, Acquana, I just had a thought while I was upstairs coloring with Samantha the Red:  Have you considered bundling these pictures up, slapping a color cover on them and selling them as a coloring book?  I bet they'd sell like hotcakes at GenCon or someplace similar where you have a lot of gaming parents who would love a break from the ceaseless disney coloring books or (in my case) princesses.
> 
> Just a thought.




I haven't given it much thought personally (until you suggested it, that is), but I know EN Publishing already has one!  I've got one myself.  The great part about it is all the monsters in it were designed by kids!

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=313&products_id=587&src=EnWorld


----------



## Rel

Acquana said:
			
		

> I haven't given it much thought personally (until you suggested it, that is), but I know EN Publishing already has one!  I've got one myself.  The great part about it is all the monsters in it were designed by kids!
> 
> http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=313&products_id=587&src=EnWorld




Well that certainly is cool.  But I think that a book with just pictures and no stat blocks, designed for younger kids, would sell as well or better.  If you make one and sell copies at GenCon then I'll be sure and buy one.  So that's one copy guaranteed!


----------



## Acquana

*04/30/05 and 05/01/05*

HOLY CRAP.  That was one heck of a game last night ...  You have those?  Sessions so amazing that you spend the next week riding the high and gritting your teeth to play again?  Well I had one last night in Wellstar's Mutants and Masterminds campaign.  Our superhero team up until now has been ... disjointed at best.  But their lack of organization and constant near-distrust of each other cost them big time last night.  Now the Century City mayor has even more ammo for super power registration, one of the team members nearly quit ... 

But then the roleplaying REALLY got under way.  The quiestest member of the group was the one who managed to pull the speedster away from his moping, and the session ended on quite a bombshell: my character revealed its identity to the group.  Dozer had been decided to be the leader, and so far it hadn't really figured out how to do that.  But after the disaterous beginning of the session, Dozer suddenly realized there was only way to pull everyone together, and that was to show them how much it trusted them.

Now ... you may be wondering why I keep referring to Dozer as 'it'.  Well, that's what it is.  

My earlier post from here ...






Is Pat Alex, but also the Dozer!






The proof is the tatoo on its chest. 






So, yes.  It is both sexes, and transforms from a masculine, normal woman to a rather effeminate, superpowered man.  Don't ask it which sex it started out as, it doesn't remember.  Seriously.


----------



## RangerWickett

I know exactly how the Dozer feels.

*looks around*  _What?_ Like you've never put on a mysterious cursed girdle before!


----------



## Acquana

*05/02/05*



			
				RangerWickett said:
			
		

> I know exactly how the Dozer feels.




Oo hoo kay.  Duly noting that the only thing you've remarked on in weeks is the sexchanger.   

Moving on.

Those of you who remember the Four Corners from April 13 - 16th ... I decided to draw them as they look in a more modern setting.  Tatsu, Firebird, Tiger Blade, and Black Shell as of now.






Ah, not a mullet to be found, and now all four proudly wear their symbols as tatoos.  Black Shell is still creepy, and somehow looks even creepier when completely covered as opposed to his ... strange ... jumpsuit thingy from the 80's.  And yes, Tatsu is indeed wearing leather pants and a see-through shirt.  Half because he wants to show off his tatoos ... the rest because he is as bi as he looks.  The cane the Tiger Blade is holding is because he hurt his legs in his last super-powered battle, but it also makes a handy shotgun (if you recall what his power is).  I love the pixie haircut on women, and so I gave it to Firebird.  Totally hot.  rrrraow


----------



## RangerWickett

Chainmail Bikinis, beautifully illustrated by Acquana, is on sale now!  And apparently the cover has turned blue.


----------



## Acquana

*05/03/05*

Eyeah ... It's gonna take me a while to get to any more requests.  Man, I'm just still stuck on the Mutants and Masterminds game ...  

Wellstar asked me to do this one since I seem to have an uncanny knack for coming up with superhero/villian costumes in the spirit of the era they would've been made.  This one is a villian from the round about late 60's - early 70's, during the Silver age (the Silver age is the time period from when the Comics Code Authority came into effect until the mid-80's or so).  He's the Kangaroo (admittedly I got the base idea from a Silver Age _Spider-Man_ villian), and what's his thing?  He jumps.  He can jump really well.  

The Silver Age was very often a wasteland.

But anyhoo, here he is!  The only way he could be any more cheesy is if he had an Austrailian accent, which thankfully he does not.


----------



## Angel Tarragon

Your art lokks wonderful as always Acquana. Love 'em!


----------



## mandyscog

Acquana said:
			
		

> But anyhoo, here he is! The only way he could be any more cheesy is if he had an Austrailian accent, which thankfully he does not.




come on!  an aussie accent would be great!

but that could just be because i'm  a sucker for aussie accents...


----------



## Macbeth

Digging the super heros. I may have to use those for NPCs and run a M&M game this summer...


----------



## Acquana

Macbeth said:
			
		

> Digging the super heros. I may have to use those for NPCs and run a M&M game this summer...




*bows*  Why thank you.  Admittedly in the setting I made them for they're supers for hire--mercenaries and hitmen--but with a little tweaking they'd be fine just about anywhere.  ^_^

I've been working on fnork de sporg's request, mostly because I really want to do it.  It's a lot more complicated than I'd usually be willing to do for free, but I'm trying.  I hope to have it up soon, but I've got a friend's graduation to head to tonight.  The soonest anything'll be up is late Saturday or during the day Sunday.  

Anyhoo, have a good weekend!


----------



## RangerWickett

Ooh, who graduated?  I know Justin graduated this Sunday, but he didn't answer his phone when I called him.

(For all you not-from-my-hometown folks out there, Justin is a chap who makes some of the niftiest anime music videos on the web. Look for Shining Finger Studios if you're interested.)

Jessie, I want more illos.  And gives us an update on your comic.


----------



## Acquana

*05/04/05*



			
				fnork de sporg said:
			
		

> One of my players has this very strange templated character it's a little outside your usual realm but I thought I'd throw him out there anyways.
> 
> He is a half-dragon drider, a humanoid torso atop a giant spider body. Huge batwings spread from his torso's back and hid skin is covered with a fine layer of tough and pointy red and black scales. Hid two humanoid forearms end in cruel reptillian claws that he move swith incredible speed. Unlike a "normal" half-dragon drider he has three dragon like heads, small for his frame, each perched atop a sinuous snake-like neck. Each head has a pair of long fangs that perpetually leak venom and wears a crystaline amulet on a small chain collar (a matching set of three).
> 
> Known to the public as The Abomination, he is an up and coming gladiator in the arenas of the planar city of Sigil. Though he plays the part of a monstrous beast for the crowds he is actually quite cultured, and can sing in a beautiful three part harmony.
> 
> His amulets infuse his claws with mystical energy, making them powerful magic weapons and enchanting them with inhuman Speed. He can fire three simulataneous firey breath attacks in three different directions. He prefers to attack from above, opening with a volley of fire and then closing to make use of his many attacks per round rippping at his oppenents flesh with all his many heads and limbs.




Wow.  Definately weird.  I gave it my best shot, but I was getting a little frustrated ... After all, this is only going to look as cool as it is with someone who loves drawing detail/will do it for free.  I am neither, sadly ... But I think for a general thing it came out ok.

What do you think?







I'm workin on it ... I'm behind on things.


----------



## Hunter

Have you ever smelled a reptile? Like a friend's boa constrictor or a wet frog?
I can just imagine this creature with its size and shape exuding this bizarre stench.
These are great drawings Acquana! It is a pleasure to see these new pics everyday.
I am an anime fan, I just finished renting Cowboy Bebop: the Movie, Armitage, Vampire Hunter D and Orphen.
Are these drawings warm-ups for an animated series your working on? 

Hunter


----------



## fnork de sporg

Acquana said:
			
		

> Wow. Definately weird. I gave it my best shot, but I was getting a little frustrated ... After all, this is only going to look as cool as it is with someone who loves drawing detail/will do it for free. I am neither, sadly ... But I think for a general thing it came out ok.
> 
> What do you think?




I really like it. It's a rough sketch, of course, t's what I wanted, your version of it. Your interpretation. Like when you have a guest artist on a comic book. I like the sly, almost condescending look in the right and center heads' eyes.


----------



## mandyscog

i"m just wondering which neck he puts the amulet around.  or does he put it around all three of them.


----------



## gamecat

Whoa... that picture trips me out. Template madness w00t.


----------



## Bran Blackbyrd

I've been following this thread for a while and I'm really enjoying it. Your artwork is great.
I have to say that I love the concept for Faceless Joe; it's brilliant.


----------



## Jdvn1

That is really cool.  Tialth?  Lolamat?


----------



## Acquana

*Weekly Assignment #4 -- Comic Plans*



			
				Hunter said:
			
		

> These are great drawings Acquana! It is a pleasure to see these new pics everyday.
> I am an anime fan, I just finished renting Cowboy Bebop: the Movie, Armitage, Vampire Hunter D and Orphen.
> Are these drawings warm-ups for an animated series your working on?




Animated series?  Not that I haven't been asked if cartoons is what I want to do, and earlier in the thread I addressed my then distaste and eventual acceptance of so many saying they see anime when they look at my work ... but honestly, animation would bore the ever loving crap out of me. 

I love comic books.   In 8th grade I decided what I want to do with my life, and aside from bouts of depression I've stuck with it.  

I'm currently trying to make it over a particularly low point ... So forgive me for my absence.  And forgive me for not being eager to follow your advice, Rangerwickett, but I know I will try eventually.

To try and help lift my spirits a little, I thought, "hey, why not tell at least someone about the ideas sitting on the backburner?"  You guys get it first, so enjoy.

Admittedly not the best image I've ever done of them, but this is the one I'll be preparing years to tell.  I owe it to the main character, really.  This is Sny, Acquana, and MacKenzie "Muscles" Davis, and they are On the Run.  






Sny is the rather rodent-looking one in the front, Acquana (ah, sound familiar?) is the woman, and the very, very large black dude is Muscles.  Their story takes place in a vaguely sci-fi setting, in that way that I can't stomach hard sci-fi so I'd certainly never write it ... Sny and Mac are former hitmen/bodyguards from an organized crime ring; when Sny makes a very big mistake, his first impulse is to take his partner Mac with him and run.  Their former boss would've preferred to make amends, but Sny simply knows too much about the organization, and dared to steal his boss's "property" (Mac) and thus ends up with organized crime, bounty hunters, and the law against him.  Acquana runs into the two mostly by accident, but stays with them.  The story is less about guns and tech (which are very cool) and more about three people who have been betrayed and hurt many times in their lives learning to need others again.  

It's gonna be a long time before I get to them, because I know I need to be better at what I do to ever do their story justice.  Wellstar I've allowed into the inner sanctum of this story, a rare and precious gift on my part, and he'll, when the time comes, be helping me with the tech, ships, and backdrops for On the Run.


----------



## Hunter

Hello Acquana! Comics are my main interest in drawing too.

I think your comic idea is great and I will buy your comic when it comes out!

When I work on an independent project the hardest part for me is building the energy to create the many pages needed to complete the first issue. I have found that once I finish one or two pages (even though my story is not completely fleshed out) it gives me the chi (or energy) I need to maintain a work schedule. Even if I get ideas along the road to make changes, a worse case scenario is I have to re-draw some of the earlier pages but by that point the story may be complete by 20 or 30 pages and is no problem for me then. 

I know every artist has their own unique method of creating, I just wanted to share with you my thoughts. From one comic artist to another.

Moebius once said that drawing a comic series was like running  in a Marathon, and told that he must cross the finish line, again and again. 

I am sorry that you are not feeling welll.


Hunter


----------



## Acquana

*05/06 and 07/05*



			
				Hunter said:
			
		

> I think your comic idea is great and I will buy your comic when it comes out!
> 
> When I work on an independent project the hardest part for me is building the energy to create the many pages needed to complete the first issue. I have found that once I finish one or two pages (even though my story is not completely fleshed out) it gives me the chi (or energy) I need to maintain a work schedule. Even if I get ideas along the road to make changes, a worse case scenario is I have to re-draw some of the earlier pages but by that point the story may be complete by 20 or 30 pages and is no problem for me then.
> 
> I know every artist has their own unique method of creating, I just wanted to share with you my thoughts. From one comic artist to another.
> 
> Moebius once said that drawing a comic series was like running  in a Marathon, and told that he must cross the finish line, again and again.
> 
> I am sorry that you are not feeling welll.




Thanks for kind words, Hunter.  

Well ... I have a good idea what would make me feel on track again, but it just ain't happening yet ... And frankly I hate making excuses.

So instead you will have a drawing.  This one is more of a seedling of an idea.  A place, a character, but not necessarily a story.  Reaver is still searching for his story, though so far I've pinned him down as a very interesting character.






The elf on the left is who I'm actually trying to draw, the human beside him is only to show just how freakish elves look in this setting.  It came to me in a dream, as did a version of Reaver.  Most of the setting is still trying to settle itself into some concrete form, somehow I just have the feeling the story will come when I know more about the setting.

The second one is from a book my boyfriend feels he has some growing up to do before he can tell it (similar to how On the Run is for me).  The story is Small Town Hero.  






The man on the left is Joe, a bum who travels from town to town.  Thing is, he's a former superhero.  Seeing that only the big cities have heroes to defend them, he's taken to the road and rights wrongs along the way.  Beside him is Rebecca Rush, one of the three who take to Joe's ideals and become friends along the way.  

More on that one can be found on this page: http://www.shellcatstudio.com/Publications.html


----------



## RangerWickett

Acquana said:
			
		

> This is Sny, Acquana, and MacKenzie "Muscles" Davis, and they are On the Run.




Is that the blue jacket, or the leather one?  Or was it snakeskin?

*grin*  Jess, get out of your slump.  You've got people to please.


----------



## mandyscog

i almost had an interesting request for you, but i found what i needed on the wizards web site.  maybe i should have given it anyway.


----------



## Acquana

*05/08 and 09/05*



			
				mandyscog said:
			
		

> i almost had an interesting request for you, but i found what i needed on the wizards web site.  maybe i should have given it anyway.




Hey, like I said, I don't mind (and often encourage) requests.  

Again I must apologize ... to anyone who reads this thread regularly, my sincerest of apologies.  There is no real excuse for my lethargy lately ... though I'm surprised how many consider depression to be an excuse.  Well, I've gotten it bad over the last month or so.  I've gained 10 pounds, I don't get out of the house much, I sleep too often, I work  too rarely ... The webcomic's progress has been at a halt for weeks now ... I just don't know when things are really going to start looking up.  I also have been depending on my parents' insurance for any kind of therapy, and the insurance seems desperate to find ways to make sure I don't use it.  

All in all ... things are not well.  I'm trying to pick myself back up, I'm exercising again, and once Wellstar handed me some inking to get done I'm suddenly drawing again.  

To anyone who's been waiting on me for something ... I'm very sorry.  I rarely get in slumps like these since starting medication ... but lately things have been so depressing I can't even fight it with the dosage I've got.  Thus everything else has fallen behind and Wellstar is trying his hardest to make me feel good so I can get back to work ... It's a slow process and I'm trying.  

And I know no one really wants to hear that, so I'll move on.

This is a sketch of the main characters of a story that's been in my mind for a while: DP, Gecko, and Coyote of Bad Shape.  It's autobiographical too.  I'd be that parrot on the left.






When doing comics about myself, I find it very unnerving to draw myself and those close to me accurately for some reason.  So I draw cartoon animals instead.  The same theory applies as Maus (if you haven't read it, DO IT NOW DO IT NOW GET IT READ IT WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!).  I keep getting people calling this "furry," which it is not.  Furries are more human proportioned.  The only character who is even slightly furry is Coyote.  Mostly because if I didn't give her some kind of figure ... with that short hair she looks like a dude.  No real way around it with that one.  But anyway, Bad Shape chronicles the misadventures of DP as she falls in love with Gecko.  However, DP is betrayed when, as soon as she finds out DP's plan, snatches up Gecko for herself.  The story is very real, very true, and I plan to put it on paper someday.

The next one is a different pairing for a different setting.  These are two as yet unnamed characters, who have a very simple story of "boy meets girl."  Only both happen to be corporate asassins in a cyberpunk setting.  






The main point of this story is a love story.  A normal relationship that turns out to have a few more eccentricies than either previously thought.  The two of them discover their main source of income, and rather than feeling betrayed or threatened, simply see it as another step in their relationship.  The violence is a backdrop to the story, and the man is the main character.  He finds very little exciting in his work, as exciting as it would seem, and his story becomes much darker later.  He eventually becomes a villian for another character in the setting, but today I've decided you all should see him in his youthful days of lust and life.

Wellp, that's all for tonight.  In between catching up on comic inking and webcomic, I'll be throwing up more sketches.  Please be patient with me.


----------



## Rel

Acquana, I really think you should stop feeling obligated to this thread and start viewing it for what it really is:  A forum where we lucky few get a chance to see a great artist at work.

When you look upon this thread as an obligation that you are not fulfilling then it probably makes you feel that it is something that you've failed at.  And it is the exact opposite of that.  You have selflessly shared your art with us for FREE and done REQUESTS at the behest of many people here.  For you to feel bad that you're not posting more here is just silly.

Give yourself a break.  Let this place be a break from your troubles, not a cause for them.

I very much look forward to whatever you draw next...whenever you darn well feel like it.

P.S. I think you should change the thread title to "The wonderful art of Acquana" or "Drawings at my convenience" or anything but "Drawing a day", which is what set up the sense of obligation in the first place.  Think about it.


----------



## Jdvn1

Cool anthropomorphic characters.

Post on whatever schedule fits you!


----------



## mandyscog

Acquana said:
			
		

> Hey, like I said, I don't mind (and often encourage) requests.
> 
> Again I must apologize ... to anyone who reads this thread regularly, my sincerest of apologies. There is no real excuse for my lethargy lately ... though I'm surprised how many consider depression to be an excuse. Well, I've gotten it bad over the last month or so. I've gained 10 pounds, I don't get out of the house much, I sleep too often, I work too rarely ... The webcomic's progress has been at a halt for weeks now ... I just don't know when things are really going to start looking up. I also have been depending on my parents' insurance for any kind of therapy, and the insurance seems desperate to find ways to make sure I don't use it.
> 
> All in all ... things are not well. I'm trying to pick myself back up, I'm exercising again, and once Wellstar handed me some inking to get done I'm suddenly drawing again.
> 
> To anyone who's been waiting on me for something ... I'm very sorry. I rarely get in slumps like these since starting medication ... but lately things have been so depressing I can't even fight it with the dosage I've got. Thus everything else has fallen behind and Wellstar is trying his hardest to make me feel good so I can get back to work ... It's a slow process and I'm trying.
> 
> And I know no one really wants to hear that, so I'll move on.




i was just trying to find family portraits for my noble quarter-dragon evil soceress' family tree (which i obsesivly put together in family tree maker and wanted to print out with pictures next to everyone's name). and she's not a quarter of one dragon, she's an eigth red and a sixteenth each black and white. oh and her father (quarter red, eight each black and white) has two sisters and a brother. so there's a lot of half dragons in there. i pulled the dragons (i put them on there too because they're still alive and there's a chance i might meet them while adventuring) from the MM, and i knew i wouldn't have trouble finding pictures of humans to use for the rest of her family, but i was worried about the half dragons. luckily, the wizard's web site had a whole page of them.

depression is a legitamate excuse. you have it, you should know that one of the symptoms is loss of interest in things you used to love. vent here all you want. i used to do it on another board and i know that even when no one's listening it helped me just to say it. besides, from what i've read, the people here are listening and do care about you. and i guess, despite my resolve not to get that involved in an online community again i do to or i wouldn't bother posting this.

oh, and as to the furry thing... i have a furry friend, and as a consequence, i've seen a lot of furry art. they tend to be more human in proportion but they don't have to be, so it could be considered furry. but so could foghorn leghorn.


----------



## Lady_Acoma

Hi I just found your thread and will be coming back and remarking from time to time, but I just wanted to say that don't feel bad about not wanting to draw due to depression.  I myself am an artist and have severe depression issues and will admit that for YEARS I have not really had any heart to pick up a pencil on my own and only do so by forcing myself somehow or through the requests of others.  Just make sure that you take care of yourself, and if ranting helps, please do so more often, and I am sure that everyone will understand.   That or I will find myself a whupping stick and light it on fire and go out in search of the offenders for you.  >Yes, I enjoy violence or at least the threat of it WAY to much<


----------



## RangerWickett

Lady Acoma, would you be willing to draw a picture for me?  Of you out hunting with a flaming whuppin' stick?


----------



## Clueless

*grin* I second that request. 

*looks at Wicket's sig* Waaaaait a minute. Savanna Knights? Any relation to the Lackey series?


----------



## Lady_Acoma

I am currently working on a Balor and then a couple of RP characters for friends, but I will try to keep that in mind.


----------



## RangerWickett

Clueless said:
			
		

> *looks at Wicket's sig* Waaaaait a minute. Savanna Knights? Any relation to the Lackey series?




Nope, not at all.  Sorry.  But you should still read it, because, coincidentally, Acquana was the DM.


----------



## RangerWickett

I thought Acquana might be interested in this comment from a review of  E.N. Armoury - Chainmail Bikini:



			
				Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> [T]he artwork here is phenomenal. I’m biased toward the artwork, though, being a fan of JL Jones, who does most of the artwork. The other artwork is also excellent, but I’m biased toward JL Jones in particular.




Jess mentioned to me that she was out of town for the past week, hanging out at a friend's family villa. I hope to hear from her when she gets back.


----------



## mandyscog

ah, i was starting to wonder no one had said anything for so long.


----------



## Acquana

*Omgwtfreplytothread!!1!!*

So yeah ... hey all.  

I think I'm gonna take Rel's advice and not be pressured for a while.  After all, I've got enough enough as it is right now ... My boyfriend and I are moving out of our apartment into a house with a friend by the end of this month, and in the meantime I've been working full steam on our comic, which desperately needs to be done soon.

But dont' think that means you're not getting anything today.  YOu do, you do.

The first is my Mutants and Masterminds character going up against one of the villians, Walker.  Wellstar did a dang good job making sure that the previous times we've seen this guy, he's REALLY FREAKING CREEPY.  He's easily as tall as Dozer (which is like ... at least eight feet tall), speaks through a voicebox ... And being at the superhero biz for a while, Dozer is aware of Walker's reputation around organized crime; a sort of boogieman asassin who fights with nuerotoxins and can scare a lot of lower-ranking mafiosos by being named.  The PCs also found out he ain't anything even _remotely_ human.  

Damn I love my DM.  I was surprised just how intimidated my normaly in-command character was.  We finally confronted Walker a couple of weeks ago, and that was one heck of a fight.  The drawing is Dozer trying to break the guy's arm, and getting a very inhuman stinger to the chest in the process.  I mostly drew this because I wanted to draw the "oh god, I'm going to die" expression on my character's face.  It ended up spending most of the rest of combat in a corner panicking as the toxins kicked in.  A couple of the other players were rather shocked that Dozer could be knocked down so many pegs.  Frankly I love it when that kind of thing happens to my characters.







Okay, next one, from the same game.  Our characters met the more established heroes, the Crusaders.  Their strategist, Stryker, bears an uncanny resemblance to our theif, the Bantam.  All the PC's were a bit surprised when the two said they'd previously met, when the Bantam actually tried to sneak into Crusader Hall.  The two simply left it at that, but our speedster, being a speedster, simply couldn't resist hinting "something" must have happened.

And well ... 






Last one, this is the way Dozer looked when it first started its superhero gig in the late 50's.  At that time it was "The Bulldozer."






Ah, the Silver Age.

Anyhoo, thanks for stickin with me, guys.  Stick with me a bit longer and by the end of the year I'll have a full-color comic in stores.  ^_^


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

YAY, Acquana's back! 

Great stuff, as usual. Especially like the expressions and poses in that first one.


----------



## kirinke

Hmmm. Here's a challenge for you

Hematite dragon (Native outsider, good)
Colossal 7-headed female dragon with scales the color of brightly polished black hematite. The dragon resembles a silver dragon in basic form, only without the neck and chin frills common to the species. It's eyes look like molten gold and it has the scent of new fallen rain and sweet myrrh.

Breath weapons are as follows
A glowing bluish-silver mist that heals 24d8 (40) hit points of damage on a living target or deals 24d8 (40) hit points of damage on an undead target.

A cone of fire that does 24d8 (40) hit points of damage.


----------



## Jdvn1

Again, great stuff.


----------



## kirinke

Jdvn1 said:
			
		

> Again, great stuff.




Hafta agree on that one there.


----------



## Mista Collins

Excellent artwork. I love how everything flows and fits together. I wish I was at this level of skill (but I keep practicing in hopes I get better).

If you are still taking some requests, I would appreciate if you could try your hand at the following character. I still can't get people to look right and know you could do a better job.

*Appearance:* Owen is a 16 year old boy who stands at the height of 5'7" and weighs 147 lbs. He wears a green coat and brown slacks. Little wisps of his dark brown hair can be seen from under neath the green wide-brim hat that sits atop his head. His hazel eyes have a young innocent look to them that have gotten him out of trouble on more than one occasion. He isn't the most attractive young man in the world, but his smile has definitely worked its magic.

*Equipment:* Traveler's outfit, leather Armor, rapier, 2 daggers, backpack, bedroll, hooded lantern, map case, Belt pouch.


----------



## notjer

Could some of you guys try to make this one?

Race: Human Age: 29 AL: NG Class: Rogue/scout

Stats:

str - 14
dex - 17
con - 12
int - 16
wis - 14
cha - 14 (look)11

Look:

Hair: red blond with a bit natural curl
eyes: intence blue-green
Hight: 5,9
Body: normal a bit musculair
Weight: 150 pound
Friendly look
A bit longer fingers than normal

Cloth:
a black long cloak, old and silly quallity
black thin leather jacket
dark brown jeans
brown shoes

Item which are seen:

Short sword and a dagger
A small backpack

Speciel:
He is kleptoman - it's a bit like kendars...
He likes to smile


----------



## Larksmann

Real nice sketches. Could you maybe take a look at my homebrew requests in the thread here?


----------



## fredramsey

Nice art.

I want to thank you for leading me to several excellent web comics!


----------



## devilbat

Great work.


----------



## TheRelinquished

Amazing work. I've never seen such impressive work done so spontaneously. I think I might have a challenge for you with a character of mine in the near future.


----------



## rayous

If your willing, i would love you to do a picture of my character Delanaras Evanara. He is a 148 lb, 5'10" Elf with bronze skin, green eyes, waist length raven black hair usually intricately braided. He is an elven noble trying to dress down to avoid attention(and not really succeeding) so wears a common travelers outfit (with the finest stiching and fabric). The only clue that he is a wizard is his spell component pouches, he wields a masterwork longsword and composite Longbow which he uses often.

Thanks again for even reading this post.

Oh, game stats (rolled really well)
Str 14
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 21
Wis 14
Chr 17 
Level 5 Wizard.


----------



## Acquana

**whew*  That was wild.*

Woah!  An update!

So yeah, Wellstar and I moved into a new house (hey, any gamers in the Savannah area needing a place to move?!  The roommate we were gonna have ditched us!), and the whole thing was a really bumpy ride.  But I see that changing the thread title has brought in a whole lot more folks than I had before.  ^_^''  I'll be getting to requests as I can, I just am at a shaky point in my life and need to get things straight.  My priorities are with the comic I'm working on and finding a day job.  

But so all of you don't go empty handed, I'll show you some inked work!  I'm working on a portfolio piece/gift for all my gaming buddies.  I'm doing each of the figures seperately and going to composite them all in Photoshop to look like a George Perez  cover or something.  All like ... dynamic and stuff.

So here we go ... I've gotten three of the six figures done, but only two of 'em are scanned right now.

This is Kato/Street Ninja/Ninja Boy ... Eyeah ... No one in our group has really decided what to call Wes here.  He's the NPC sidekick of our armored dude.






And for like the millionth time in this thread, here's Dozer.  I'm going to be happy to have him in scale with everyone else for one, just so I can see more clearly in my head just how tall this 'dude' is.


----------



## apalmer

I really like your inking skills....clean and smooth.

Very impressive work.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

Great as always. Love the inking, especially.


----------



## Lady_Acoma

Yeah I have to agree I love the smooth, clean quality to your ink jobs.  As someone who primarily uses pencils or paint what are your recommendations on products to use for inking as I have never much bothered with it at all, but I have some ideas bopping around in my head that I think would benefit much more from inking then just my usual?  Wow, run on sentence much...


----------



## Acquana

Hey, all them art schoolin lead to a couple of things.  

Inking is actually what I enjoy doing the most.  Penciling pages is a pain to me, but I can ink all day long with narry a care.  

Tips on those interested in trying it:  Screw pens.  Learning to use a brush is one of the most rewarding things about inking.  It allows for dynamic, organic lines, and once the brush is under your control there's no need to even have a range of brush sizes.  I use a #2 Raphael brush.  mmmmmmmm Raphael .... *drool*  The best damn brush in the universe.  Admittedly, for those on more of a budget than even me (the Raphaels are nearly $20 a pop), perhaps a Windsor Newton is more worthwhile.  At least until you get the hang of it


----------



## Jdvn1

Exciting pictures!  I wonder what they're off to do.


----------



## Lady_Acoma

Acquana said:
			
		

> Hey, all them art schoolin lead to a couple of things.
> 
> Inking is actually what I enjoy doing the most.  Penciling pages is a pain to me, but I can ink all day long with narry a care.
> 
> Tips on those interested in trying it:  Screw pens.  Learning to use a brush is one of the most rewarding things about inking.  It allows for dynamic, organic lines, and once the brush is under your control there's no need to even have a range of brush sizes.  I use a #2 Raphael brush.  mmmmmmmm Raphael .... *drool*  The best damn brush in the universe.  Admittedly, for those on more of a budget than even me (the Raphaels are nearly $20 a pop), perhaps a Windsor Newton is more worthwhile.  At least until you get the hang of it



Funny enough I did go to school with a major in art as well, but it was art ed. and illness has lead to me having to drop out a couple of times.    But I never had a class where anyone talked about the proper way to do inking.  I was pretty sure you were going to say that you used brushes because of the flow of some of your lines, but I wanted to be sure.  My finer brush skills are in a need of retouching as I have been in such a funk for so long that mostly I have only been able to force myself to pencil out things for awhile.  But I wanted to get back into things with watercolor and that helps my brush work a lot, and this will be a good way to as well.  Thanks! 

p.s. I like the Raphaels myself, but I would also suggest Winsor Newton as a good cost effective choice.  However this is from a water colorest's (sp?) stand point on it.


----------



## apalmer

Acquana said:
			
		

> ....Inking is actually what I enjoy doing the most.  Penciling pages is a pain to me, but I can ink all day long with narry a care......




see.....not I....inks are evil and cold to me ....not to look at but to use. Comic art, though I love it and I find it inspiring, is just to cold for my fingers to produce....need to be able to shade to make things a bit warmer.

but thats just me....you seem to have an excellent grasp of it. I am purely a penciler


----------



## Dire Lemming

Wow, I've looked through most of this thread and I have to agree with everyone that your artwork is great.  I haven't visited this site for almost a year or I would have said so sooner.

In any case, I thought I'd throw out my D&D character from a PbP game as an idea for you.


Calahan GilsCarbo

Race: Human
Class: Fighter 3
Alignment: Neutral Good
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 173 lb.


STR 16 (+3)
DEX 14 (+2)
CON 12 (+1)
INT 14 (+2)
WIZ 12 (+1)
CHA 9 (-1)

Calahan's hair is about 3 1/2 inches long and not really kept in any discernable style and his face is clean shaven, or at least meant to be, since he hasn't shaved for a while.  All that aside, his looks are rather plain  

He wears an undyed, longsleaved cotton shirt, long brown trousers and brown leather boots that come halfway up his shins, all of which he has had for quite a while.  Over his cotton shirt he has a chain shirt, and over that he wears a worn leather vest.  

His main weapons are a whip and a sap but he also has a rapier that was originally a wall decoration in the office of the local adventurers guild's sword instructor, as well as a few daggers.  However, he doesn't like to use leathal force unless there is no alternative.

He's kind of the nice guy type.

I don't know how much of that you can use but thanks in advance for all your wonderful artwork.

PS I was wondering if you realized that the last name of that panda from a while back was "nipples" or at least something similar.  Though I suppose that since it was a Chinese name it was actually her given name and not her family name.


----------



## Acquana

*I'm all proud a'myself*

So hey, remember I said I was working on a piece for my group?  I'm all done!  Wooo!







This is the Mutants and Masterminds team, in its entirety!  Everybody cheer!


----------



## Dire Lemming

Hip Hip hurray!!  So, do you guys have a supername for you superteam yet?  After all, every super group needs a cool name.  Defenders, Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, JLA, JSA, come to think of it, it can be a cool acronim to.

Also, who's that winged cat lady?

Also, also,  Does the PS2 exsist in your game world?


----------



## Rel

Acquana said:
			
		

> This is the Mutants and Masterminds team, in its entirety!  Everybody cheer!




That is wicked cool!  If I ever discover that I have super powers, I'm going to hire you to do all my PR artwork.


----------



## Acquana

Dire Lemming said:
			
		

> Hip Hip hurray!!  So, do you guys have a supername for you superteam yet?  After all, every super group needs a cool name.  Defenders, Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, JLA, JSA, come to think of it, it can be a cool acronim to.
> 
> Also, who's that winged cat lady?
> 
> Also, also,  Does the PS2 exsist in your game world?




Ah, one can always tell the latecomers.  Around mid February (02/18 - 20/05) or so I did artwork of Guardian Sphynx and the Bantam previously.  Yeah, Bantam is a nod to Sly Cooper, as are her NPCs, Bently and Murray (post 126).

As for a name for the team ... eyeah, they need to figure out one soon.  They met more or less by accident, and even the one who's been on teams before (Dozer, the seasoned veteran!  Woo!) still is used to working alone more.    But one way or another, all of them are fairly aware that if the media is allowed to decide, it's gonna suck.  Do you honestly think the Bantam chose that name?  Plus the kid in black in the back still doesn't have a steady name.  The media called him Street Ninja, but everyone on the team agrees that's dumb.  Pulse hasn't actually said aloud what he calls his sidekick in his head, Ninjaboy, and most of the team has agreed on Kato despite it not flowing off the tongue too well ... or ... the kid being Asian ... 

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, Rel!  Always appreciated!


----------



## RangerWickett

How about:

Gunz4Hire?

The Busteteers?

MI-7?



Ask me why all these names are genius?

"Why are they genius?"

Because they'll confuse your enemies.


----------



## Mista Collins

Ninjaboy? I love it.

I think the guy should just be called ThatGuy. That way when someone can't remember his name, they will say it anways... "You know, that guy, who wears that one thing and does that one thing. Yah! THAT GUY!"

And Ranger, I love those team names.


----------



## Ankh-Morpork Guard

That is so great!


----------



## Rel

My players have recently decided to call their mercenary group "Chicken 5" for the sole reason that it is wildly inappropriate.


----------



## Lady_Acoma

I like "We wear short, shorts!"  hehehe...I should sleep at some point this week....hehehe...


----------



## Dire Lemming

Mista Collins said:
			
		

> Ninjaboy? I love it.
> 
> I think the guy should just be called ThatGuy. That way when someone can't remember his name, they will say it anways... "You know, that guy, who wears that one thing and does that one thing. Yah! THAT GUY!"
> 
> And Ranger, I love those team names.




Well, he'd looks alot like Neo without that hat and mask, but he sort of reminds be of Robin from the Teen Titans TV show with his "magic" stick, though I suppose this stick follows the laws of physics a bit better then Robins.  Well, I guess if you want it to be really cool you won't want it to end with "boy" or "lad" unless it's something like "Beast Boy", now that's a cool name.


----------



## Acquana

*An update and a message of note*

So hello all. I've been at this for nearly 8 months, and kept up the Drawing a Day for nearly 6. Fortunately and unfortunately, things have changed in my life since about mid-March of this year which has made it increasingly harder to keep up this thread.

But fear not! This by no means bodes ill for the Acquana Art Thread. I will still be posting every week or so, concepts from various things I'm working on, characters from the games I'm in, all that kinda cool stuff that I give permission for others to use in games ... But I won't really be taking requests anymore. I know it was a bit few and far between to begin with, but now it will be EXTREMELY rare. Quite honestly, I just don't have the time to devote to non-comission requests. As always, I am open for commissions! I am a struggling artist with difficulty paying my bills and a lot of projects on my plate that I can only pray will pan out, and seeing someone willing to actually help me out for my trouble is ... well, it feels really darn good. So if you care to get that special something drawn, drop me a line, lemme know what you want, I'll be happy to help ya out!

And for those of you here just to see what's new, I guarantee, I won't keep you out of the loop. I've got a lot of projects ahead of me and I'll keep you all updated as much as I can. Believe me, the best is yet to come! 

Speaking of good stuff ... This is stuff for the game I'm running for my friends.  It's a world hoppng campaign that follows just about anything so long as it can be run off of d20 rules.  I ran it a couple of times when there was nothing better to do sometime around Christmas, then tried to go into a more "worthwhile" campaign.  But my group insisted that even a silly concept wasn't downright stupid, and all of them wanted to play their characters, and for me to play mine, again.

Well, I'm glad I relented, because I've been having a blast ever since I started running it again.  The references in this alternate reality shifting campaign are so numerous I can't name 'em all ... So instead I'll show my gratitude to my players by drawing the main PCs and NPCs.

The main reason I'd started up this campaign to begin with was so that everyone would have a chance to play characters that they loved whose own campaigns had bit the dust for one reason or another.  This is Virgil Ambrose, the main NPC.  I had played him in a game that Wellstar had run nearly three years ago, when he had gotten the great idea to run a Castlevania game using Aberrant.  So I made a priest who'd be there solely for healing and force feilds.  Well, the campaign died after two sessions or so and by now over half the people who were in it have moved on.  But I'd been wanting to play Virgil again ever since, and this was my oppurtunity.

And yes, I know a priest from 1476 (even one from Castlevania) wouldn't be wearing Converses.  The sneakers were a gift from another character, who saw just how horrible Virgil's shoes were.  Even though they're a horrid shade of lemon yellow, they're the best pair of shoes Virgil's ever had!






Let's see ... The next is on the left: Hiro Yuki, the first roleplaying character of my friend Ralph who was brought in for this game.  Ralph's a really big anime fan, and this plays a 13-year old demon hunter with swords bigger than him, purple eyes, and a cat that keeps around.  The woman beside him is Ammut, the human avatar of the devourer of evil souls in Egyptian myth of the same name.  She's a hottie.  






And hey, Ankh-Morpork Guard!  Here's one for you!  Among all these fantasy characters ... Here's a Jedi, Silas!  The Jedi and the priest have had the most culture shock through this campaign, and I love to see Silas' reactions to things like undead.  ("W-what?!  That thing is completely seperate from the Force!  That's unnatural!")  Great story involving Silas:  A couple of sessions ago the group pissed of a red dragon from a d20 Modern-esque setting.  Seeing no other way around it, Silas jumped into battle, lightsaber in hand.  I smiled and silenced the group.  "Dudes, dudes.  Respect.  A lightsaber is about to hit a dragon.  Let's have some respect."  A moment of silence passed.  "Okay, now roll for it."






Oh, real quick note on culture shock.  The priest and the D&D character ended up bumping heads a lot due to Hiro's D&D take on morality: If it seems evil, a sword can take of it.  I never, ever expected Virgil to get mad at anyone before, but Hiro's total lack of self-preservation finally got to him, and I suddenly realized that Virgil would never be the same character ever again when he got seethingly mad.  Funny how that kind of thing can happen.






The character who gave Virgil his new pair of shoes is Pojo, a superhero from another dimension (another former Abberant character who was converted to Mutants and Masterminds for this game).  Hideous yes, but quite the charmer.  And despite being the beefiest member of the party (hitpoints-wise anyway), he always ends up standing behind Virgil for shield and healing during fights.  The healer has been hit by things and fallen into Pojo's arms multiple times.  Anyway, Pojo's big power is matter creation.  The only real limits to it are his knowledge of the item in question, and it must fit through the hat he carries.  Magician motif, much?






The other NPC currently hanging around them is Gaiavein, an orphaned, young green dragon from the last dimension the PC's visited.  Gaia's taken to Silas, and is the jewel of the party, whether or not she's polymorphed into a human at the moment.  Everyone loves her to death, to the point that they'll go for blood if anything looks at her the wrong way.  I'm so proud of my little darling.  






Anyway, six drawings.  I'm happy.  You should be too.


----------



## Dire Lemming

Wow, I almost forgot this was an art thread, with all the story going on in that last post it seemed like the artwork was merely there to emphasize the words.  Well, kind of like a book, or at least a magazine.  I don't know if that helps the art or hinders it, or whether it even affects it at all, but it's still great, and that was a very interesting post either way.  Great characters.

PS. I don't suppose this helps any but if I had money to spend on conventional art, you'd definitely get some.


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## RangerWickett

Jess, I actually do suggest you start a new thread so people showing up for the first time will know what's up now, instead of what was up in March. Imagine how cool it'd be to just have a single post with every pic so far.

Glad to see you're updating.

Hey, folks who are fans of Piratecat's storyhour, I think his whole "a post for a pic" deal is still going. Why not feed your addiction while helping out a struggling artist?


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## Jdvn1

Six great pics! And I second RW's idea.


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## Lady_Acoma

Yeah I am with RW and the Jdvn-clones...that way people don't think they are getting one thing and are sadly disappointed to be getting something completely else.  I however and REALLY excited, I love any of your work, it's wonderful.  If I knew how to post something on here I would upload my pencil weretiger just to show you my style, but alas I am a dunce...  However please keep it coming!


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## mandyscog

what happened with the lightsabre and the dragon?  did he make the roll?


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## Acquana

Dire Lemming said:
			
		

> Wow, I almost forgot this was an art thread, with all the story going on in that last post it seemed like the artwork was merely there to emphasize the words. Well, kind of like a book, or at least a magazine. I don't know if that helps the art or hinders it, or whether it even affects it at all, but it's still great, and that was a very interesting post either way. Great characters.




I sometimes forget that most artists don't go into depth with their art.  Or at least not in the same way that a sequential artist will when given the chance.  -_-;;   What can I say?  Even most of the life drawing I'd do would have something else to it besides the technical work.  And that's the way I like it, really.  ^_^



			
				mandyscog said:
			
		

> what happened with the lightsabre and the dragon? did he make the roll?




Oh yeah, he hit.  But the party was actually pretty outmatched in that fight.  They were fighting a pretty old dragon.  I'm gonna have to draw his human form, because OH the PCs hated that man so much.  *evil grin*  I love making truly evil villians.  It's so much fun ...

And well ... Looks like the call for a new thread has been put out.  I suppose with two seconds I can't very well ignore it.  So I'll work on that as soon as I have the time for 8 months of cut and paste.  -_-;;


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## Acquana

Real quick update, and then I begin loading up a new thread.

This is Unagi the Mystic, another NPC from the Mutants and Masterminds game.  Wellstar insists there's something rather inhuman under all those robes. So long as whatever it is is nothing like Walker, then I don't think either myself or Dozer will mind too much.


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## CybrSpacJake

Wow.

I just stumbled upon your thread and i have loved everything that i have seen so far.  I can't wait to see what you come up with next.


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## Acquana

Uh ... Wow.  I didn't expect to see this thread on the first page again.

After all, I have a new thread with newer stuff!  Check it out:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=143597


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## Jdvn1

You could request the thread be closed.


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