I'm alive!

Marchwarden has spotted you.

I'm alive! At least for now XD

But good news is, I have a TON of armour references now 😁

Hm, I'm actually thinking if I should do some kind of armour guide. Not historical (like this was worn here and there),

but functional

Because you look at armour very differently when you see it just from reference pictures and maybe some occasional Watch me get dressed video, and

when you actually fight in it.

because before, it's: hm, this is a strange shape here... after, you become very aware what is that and why is it there. And it also makes it clear to you how much artistic freedom you have when designing it - like what shapes can be changed and how, and which really shouldn't.

I know I'd definitely have loved some guide like this when I started drawing armour (and I'm not sure if there is one yet)

If you wanna see my drawing armour journey:

This was my first drawing of armour ever (well, if I don't count the one which I included in the presentation of my high school graduation thesis which was on UV light, and I've put it there as: protection from UV in the mediaeval ages 🤣😅. Ah, why am I like this 😆. But the professors have laughed 😄)

This was done very early in developing my story about Vlad. I wanted to capture the moment of the heat of the battle.

I'm proud of the stance, as I used for the reference an actual stopped footage from real professional sabre fight.

I'm also incredibly proud of the expression, where I wanted to catch the feeling of adrenaline mixed with fear as your energy dwindles but you're still surrounded by enemies who want you dead and so you fight for your actual life. Your mouth is no longer opened in scream, but because you need air, and every muscle is strained with focus, eyes widened so you catch every movement, as one mistake can lead to an end.

But the armour... Ah. You can see that I had some idea of: yeah, the knees and elbows should be protected, but... Well that there is not realistic at all - for that time period at least.

(hah, at that time I was so early in my historical research I still thought he's in the Order of the Dragon as you can see)

After I've found out that real mediaeval armour is slightly more complicated then I've imagined, I tried sticking to actual references. The problem was when I wanted to change the postures. Because how can you know how this piece will look slightly rotated? What even is this weird shape? How to shade it?

This is why I've never finished this piece - as I had reference for the knight - except the face I've invented - but I wanted the hand in different position than the original, inspired by a different armoured piece. But I wasn't able to figure out how would the pieces connect together

I have posted about this piece here if you wanna know more

So from then on, I've stuck to drawing from a full reference strictly. That lead to the production of for example this piece here

(Here's post related to this - you know me, I hardly can post without three pages of lore)

Or, my best work yet I think: this one

I still think this is maybe the best piece I've ever drawn...

But maybe it can be seen I still didn't understand armour properly. I just followed what I saw, not knowing why would there be straps here or there. And impossible to improvise or change the posture.

Though not really silent sorry for the pic below

three hunters ↔️ three kings swap

bonus (who put these idiots in charge):

What do you reccomend for writers and comic creators, since you are a huge inspiration for my comic work ♡♡♡

oh wow omg that's very high praise, thank you!!! <3

Hmmmm...

plan ahead and write bullet point style lists (aka outlines) of what you want to happen in your story, ideally you wanna do this for both the overarching plot points as well as for every chapter individually! -> for Comics in particular it's extremely helpful to write an outline that includes dialogue first, since this helps a ton with planning out your panels and speech bubble placements in advance!

if you're worried about irregular updates, write out a stockpile of multiple chapters/pages in advance before you start posting!

don't get hung up on the nitty gritty - just make it exist first, it doesn't have to be good right away! The editing stage exists for a reason, you can always fix everything later! -> If you're unsure about your writing quality and/or just need someone to read over what you wrote to make sure no typos or grammar mistakes slipped in: ask around your social circles for a beta reader!) -> for comics, make very rough concept doodles of your page layouts first, that way you can figure out if you like the placement or not without committing to a complex art process only to hate it later anyway!

for the love of all, don't fall for the "AI convenience" trap! Using generative AI and LLMs is never ethical! Plus you learn soooo much faster and better by actually doing it yourself :D

HAVE FUN!!!!

I hope these help even just a little bit <3

-----

Me: immediately after does something completely different 😆

Well in my defence originally I wanted to work on the planned things, but that required starting up a tablet and picking up a digital pen, which I haven't done for almost a year... So naturally in that moment I realized I can't draw anymore, especially in colour 😆😅

However I remembered that last time this happened I've defeated this problem via doodling for fun. So I've decided to use this weapon again. Results: effective I think 😁

So today I might not have any of the things I promised like an hour ago, but I have here (completely unplanned):

A coloured digital doodle ✨

Hidden under perfectly tailored suits and elegant posture, it's easy to forget there's also the side of Vlad which used to be a

f*cking mediaeval warlord 😄

The public is going to be a bit surprised in the far away future when they'll find that out...

Look how fricking happy he looks when he can destroy something 🥰

Warning: don't forget to add enrichment to your Dracula enclosure. A bored Dracula might develop destructive behaviour such as getting into the government

~•~

Really though, a voivode probably spend just as much time on handling documents as on physically training for war.

Once he becomes a Prime Minister where it's all mental activity and almost zero physical one, Vlad is going to suffer...

I put too much into what was meant to be just a hilarious little idea, I don't regret it

Pretend that I've drawn a beautiful forest in the background and the rendering is good.

You can find bonus info if you open the alt.

[He and his squad are in a forest during some combat or military intelligence. The squad is his son's age and younger.]

Yeah, and that's, ladies and gentlemen, his vampire scary face. It's not that scary, to be honest, but every vampire is different. And you don't see him roar like that very often. Fersi lol sorry Ferox would rather hiss or... how do I say it in English... well, make the sound that cats make before they start scratching and breaking free from a person's grip. Does that make sense?

A very badly drawn continuation. And that's gonna be it, because it's not nice to peek. Or pretend to want to peek.

Their spears and swords shone in the gloom with a gleam of chill flame, so deadly was the wrath of the hands that held them.

Не знала что у нас есть такой регион - США...

Интересно, это хороший знак или... Но немного смешно как-то видеть тут США