Grudemathing Force

Squiz and Sarksus just launched their firestorm campaign through Opposing Force, the second game in the epic Half-life Grudemath. Here are the sketches I produced for the event.



The drill sergeant in the Boot Camp training level reminds me of somebody...



Partway through the game, our contestants decided that Otis the security guard posed something of a threat to their personal safety.



Sarksus's gung-ho tactics remain firmly intact, lasers, grenades, and Black Ops ninjas be damned.

Grudematheoretical Physicists, part 2

The border-world Xen has been sacked. The bulbous Nihilanth, once the hungry god-thing of that place, lies battered and broken. And a mere scientist -- the most reluctant of warriors, the unlikeliest of saviors -- has just accepted employment from an inscrutable interdimensional entity.

In other words, the first part of the Half-life Grudemath has concluded!

Just last night, in a marathon run that lasted the better part of the evening, Sarksus and Squiz battled through the rest of the original Half-life. There was a brief intermission about an hour in, during which time I whipped up this sketch of the hapless Sarksus and his grenade mishaps.



But the actual finale of the game required something a little more momentous, so I grabbed a reference and whipped up this speedpaint.



The next installment will kick off the race through Opposing Force. Which means I'll be drawing a lot of Adrian Shephard, a man with no face.

We're Still Guards

A weird and vaguely pointless color experiment.

Grudematheoretical Physicists

Speaking of the Platformers, my friends Sarksus and Squiz (a.k.a. the irrefutably excellent Brian Belida) have recently decided that the only way to settle their irreconcilable differences is through an earth-shattering Half-life Grudemath.

That's right, they're staging an amazing race through the entire Half-life franchise, wacky Gearbox expansions included. Everyone is welcome to join in and experience the mind-bending intensity of two Gordon Freemans (Freemen? Fremen?) scampering side-by-side through the corridors of Black Mesa in crystal-clear, surround sound*, dual-screen Radnormovision.

For my part, I've inadvertently conscripted myself as the event's sketch artist. For every installment of the Grudemath, I've contributed a related piece of artwork, usually detailing a highlight of the evening or illustrating the contestants' progress.

The practice was inaugurated on the first night when it became clear that there were... disparities in our noble contestants' respective skill levels. Squiz was weathering the aftermath of the Resonance Cascade considerably well, making efficient work of his alien opposition and navigating the game's treacherous puzzles with practiced ease. Sarksus, on the other hand, quickly developed a penchant for madly dashing through security trip-lasers, running out of ammo after every fight, and turning himself into MIT-educated confetti with poorly placed grenades. Needless to say, Squiz soon accumulated a lead so vast that he had time to field phone calls, do the dishes, and balance his checkbook.

Strangely inspired, I grabbed a pencil and a sheet of printer paper and whipped up this sketch.



Night 2 took place a few days later and saw the contestants charge their way through the middle portion of the game. In order to level the playing field, Squiz offered to take up several handicaps -- once he was restricted to only the crowbar, another time he could only use explosive weapons, and for one fiendish stretch he mapped his movement controls to the heretical arrow keys.



For Sarksus, however, merely playing the game was something of its own impediment.



The most recent session occurred just last night. Amazingly enough, the gap has begun to close considerably; Squiz retains a bit of a lead, but his stubborn refusal to quicksave has afforded Sarksus plenty of time to catch up. Now, for the first time since the competition kicked off, both players are in the same chapter, the formidable Surface Tension.

To commemorate the occasion, I whipped up a speedpaint based on one of the more scenic views from the level.



The Grudemath continues tomorrow night at 7, and another Freeman illustration should be dropping soon after.

*Actual sound not included. Hit up Vent !

Now with Artistic Nudity

I got pretty good feedback from the Platformers on my previous digital figure sketch, so I'm going to try to continue the practice. Once again, I've taken the reference from Character Designs.

Out of consideration for the nipple-averse, I'm simply providing a link to the sketch here. This one probably took close to two hours, not counting the break halfway through for a little Opposing Force.

Hardcore Prawn

If you're wondering about the germ of this sketch (for which I really don't blame you), then I refer you to Tom Francis's rollicking account of the longest game of Galactic Civilizations 2 ever. You should probably set some time aside to read it, especially if you're even remotely curious as to how space-crabs figure into intergalactic conquest.

Anyway, the other night I sat down to draw some sort of scary monster, and all that came to mind were crustaceans. So I give you the Bongolian Dendrobranchiamancer.


Note that he is in fact summoning hellprawn from beyond death's veil, making him perhaps the world's first crab necromancer.

We're Guards

Claire and Helmsley are two guards-about-town.

A Miserable Little Pile of Secrets

I feel a little bad about not updating over the weekend, and the only excuse I have is the rather pithy declaration that nothing I've done recently has been that good.

Then again, today's basically my last good opportunity for an art update. There's a chill wind on the horizon, and it foretells many an evening of artwork neglect.

So, with some further ado, but not too much, I present today's installment of Ethermancer. The following is basically a housecleaning of all -- well, most -- of the summer sketches I've heretofore withheld. Some are simply not up to snuff from a technical standpoint, while others are simply rushed or unfinished concepts. Hopefully, though, there's enough interesting stuff in this miscellania to warrant a glance.


This one was based off of a statue in Madrid. I sort of don't know what happened to it.

Con-goers, referenced from here.

More badly needed face practice.


I drew these guys pretty early in the summer. Their names are Ed and Nom... or, if you prefer, NomNomNom.

That was the first unintentional reference. The other would be Ed's surpassing resemblance to Catsby. In their defense, though, I don't think these two would inhabit the mien of Victorian surrealism. So you see, it's not a total ripoff.



This is probably the oldest thing from this summer. I scrawled this as a rough concept for a story idea I had been kicking around for some time, but as you can see, I didn't make it through this particular rendition. The original idea, though, may return when it's finally fleshed out.



Another unfinished concept for yet another project. Personally, I think this one needs moar robot.

(Actually, I think that about most things.)





I drew this one just yesterday. The funny thing about this one is the further south you look, the further south it goes. I might give this one a coloring job just for practice, but either I'll confine the focus to just the parts that work or (if I'm feeling ambitious) attempt a simultaneous paintover/drawing correction.

I Crush Everything

I said I'd color it, didn't I? Behold!



It's quick and dirty, but I'm almost positive I learned some things here.

On a related note, I'm still not entirely sure what this fellow does. You'd think he could use those battering rams on his arms to mash adversaries into a milky paste, but that spindly torso and those knobbly legs would seem to preclude a heavy combat application. Oh well, maybe he'll find his niche somewhere.

Iron Giants

Lately I've been doodling giant steam-powered robot-knights -- which sounds a lot cooler than it is, because mine always come out dorky looking. This is a more common affliction than people think. My physician assures me it's just a phase and I'll be perfectly fine if I redirect my attention elsewhere for a little while... like, for instance, the ridiculously exciting Heavy update for Team Fortress 2.

More on that later, when it becomes a tactile reality.

In the meantime, here are those aforementioned steambots.



An unfortunately-rushed watercolor poopie from a week or two ago. I had originally roughed in a crowd around the central figure to establish scale, but ended up obliterating pretty much everything out of sheer inexperience.



Warm-up sketch of the day. In hindsight, even this minimal background seems extraneous, but it may be worth salvaging for speedpaint practice later on.

Elle

This took entirely too long for a warm-up sketch, but at least I'm on the Wacom again. Reference liberally culled from here.

Camel in Disrepair

I sometimes feel guilty when I do a cartoon drawing, but they're often so much more fun. Here's an attempt from a couple of weeks ago.



And here's a quick paintover I gave it one morning on a whim.

A Girl's Best Friend

I'm still working through a backlog of sketches, and of course a proper introduction is still forthcoming. (Well, one assumes.) In the meantime, it may interest you to know that the theme of today's self-indulgent backwards glance is "Chicks with Swords."





Yes, the first one is a Titan Quest homage.

I Bought us a Dragon to Lighten the Load

Presentiment