I used to draw

...Like, a lot. I was so-so at it but I was always doodling or drawing comics or something but since I got a job as a sculptor I rarely have time to sit down and just draw and to be honest, it's not as satisfying as sculpting. In fact, if I am working on a personal project I usually skip the concept art stage and jump right into the sculpt. I always work on artwork provided by the company I am doing a job for and there is something satisfying by just working off of a loose idea and free form sculpt from there. 

A few years ago Ron Kruzie ran across a sketch I did for one of his Warhammer armies from, "Back In The Day," when neither of us did anything on a professional level. ( You can reference some of this story on the Iron Back Spitter post I made a while ago http://monster-zer0.blogspot.com/2010/11/ironback-spitter-king-of-koopas.html ) Ron asked if I was capable of producing concept art? Good question. It had been years since I did anything 2D and the best way to find out was to do it and see what happened.

I did three pieces of art and sent them in, nothing ever came of it but I thought I would post them here just to share. Now, before we get into it I have to do a disclaimer: These are NOT concepts that Privateer will be releasing! I am NOT showing you a preview of, "things to come." These pieces of art are my own ideas based off of Privateer Press's products and was only to see if I was creative enough, and capable of conveying a dynamic idea in the form of a drawing. So that being said if you start the rumor that these are in the works it's all on you.

(And yes, that is what my handwriting looks like, misspellings and all.)

First up is, "Wulg," Mulg's welp. Remember when I told you the bedtime story about how Mulg came into being and the original concept behind him? If not, go look. S'cool, I'll wait... http://monster-zer0.blogspot.com/2010/07/hello-my-name-is-mulg.html Anyway, The idea was that Mulg had suffered from some kind of horrid magic attack, something his troll metabolism just couldn't entirely deal with and the club fist was the best it could do (also the reason for the scar across his eye, chest and arm) So, Wulg was the product of that accident, A welp spawned from, "the most ancients," blown-off arm. Even though he's a welp being from a dire troll and more muy especial then just any old welp (imbued with an ancient earthborn dire trolls abilities and whatever residue magic that caused the accident in the first place) he's grown to the size of a trollkin. One massive stone hand from whence he grew is his main weapon and since he is from a dire troll he's got all the bad attitude that comes with one. some of the fun ideas for rules would be causing earthquakes (a cone effect) by slamming his fist into the ground, being able to move terrain by 1D3 inches in a direction of his choice. The other was that Mulg has animosity towards the welp; if on the same battle field and within a 6" radius of each other the player has to flip a coin; heads Mulg goes about what he was doing, tails and Mulg tries to eat the welp in an attempt to get back the power the little bastard stole from him. I thought it would have added a random and fun element to the game, sorta like some of the older rules for Orks in 40K. I chose the name Wulg as a play on the Mario/Wario nonsense Nintendo did a while ago and in the drawing Wulg's bigass arm should have been his left since that was the arm Mulg had lost in my original concept.

Next is, "The Blessed Of Everblight" A crazy-ass Nyss Warlock uses a complex spell and submerges himself in a spawning cauldron (willingly and still alive) in attempt to become closer to the dragon he worships and this guy is what came out. A Nyss / draconic hybrid, basically a warbeast that can cast. If you look at the chest you can see his head, chest and arm sprouting out of the beast. 

"The Privateers" - This was an idea for MonPoc I had a while ago, a fleet of intergalactic pirates come to Earth to plunder it. Ala Captain Harlock, Star Blazers, Macross, stuff like that. Space cruisers with a battleship theme to it. I thought it was a fun nod to Privateer Press.

Even though I am waaay out of practice I hope you guys still get some enjoyment from this post.

Hello, my name is... MULG?

I think it was around Halloween of '08 when I had gone up to visit with the crew of PP for a party they were throwing; I had just finished the Juggernaut EX and was pumped about the response it got from Matt Wilson. By the time I got home I was itching to start a new personal project and I knew just what I wanted to do; I wanted to do a dire Troll character. Over the next 4 days I was in a sculpting frenzy, since I was between business projects I could devote all of my attention to the new sculpt. Usually when I sculpt something a story begins to form about it to explain why does he look the way he does. In this case I liked the idea of Hoarluk Doomshaper and his ties to dire trolls, if I remember right he disappeared into the wild and came back with a strange hold over the dire trolls, the idea I had was that during this time he went on a quest to find an ancient Krielstone high in the frozen cliffs of the mountains, little did he know that it was attached to the back of the most primeval of trolls. The beast had been waiting for him as Hoarluk's comming was prophesised, bestowed the name Dommshaper upon him and performed the trollish blood bonding ritual as well. The idea being that the dire tolls smell the ancient blood of their elder running through Hoarluk's veins and it is this blood that gives him such an affinity for the warbeasts.

The Concept that formed around the Dire Troll was that he was one of the most eldrich of his race and his massive stone like growths upon his back had some ancient and forgotten text carved into it turning him into a walking Krielstone. Whether the runes' power bestowed a greater-then-average intelligence or it was because of this intelligence that he was chosen to receive them was a mystery. But he was a walking artifact of a time before man and the trollblooded were still young.

The three things that I focused on for his character was his scars, his krielstone and his pose. Since dire trolls regenerate they don't bear scars, but this guy has a huge one going across his left side. His left eye, chest and arm have a trench of stone growths protruding from puckered flesh and originally his arm (where the club is) was a mass of jagged rock turning his fist into a savage living mace. I was attempting to make it look like he had his hand wrapped around something that might have exploded, something magical and volatile that did such damage to him that his regeneration could not cope, instead replacing his flesh with the calloused stone-like protrusions that usually form on the back and joints. The huge growth from his back (his quills of youth replaced by the mane of shards to signify his age) was turned into a krielstone, he would be the guardian of whatever knowledge had been carved into him until his death. The last was his stance and this was tricky. Practically every dire troll is rushing to get at the enemy, all pissed and yelling. That didn't seem right for something venerable like this guy, to reach his age he would have been more clever and maybe because of his age, more grim. Sure he was still dangerous and easy to anger but I wanted him more wise and battle hardened. Instead of flipping out I imagined him stalking across the battlefield, implacable and inevitable, saving his anger for the mighty blow that would surly come once he arrived at his destination. So for this, instead of a charging motion I went with a stride and a look of impending doom on his face like someone was going to get it.

Once I finished I told Matt and Ron about it, sent it up with the proposed idea and awaited their response. They liked the sculpt but sent it back with one correction; his left arm that was the mass of stone was to be replaced with a whole hand and was to carry a club. Some sketches of what they wanted was provided and in a couple of days was sent back up with the new bits. By December of '08 painted preview pics were posted and that is when I learned that he was to be called "Mulg.' I still don't know just how much of his character concept was kept as I have yet to get the Hoards book he is in or have been able to read his fluff, but I'm pretty sure that's him on the cover of Metamorphosis.

So, how cool is that? For a lowly sculptor to whip up a mini in 4 days and get to have rules made for him and to appear on the cover of a rule book? I seriously doubt that any other company would have done that, so my hats off to Privateer Press for putting up with my patented brand of spaz, it was a nice little ego boost to think that one of my own ideas would influence the game.

Pictures provided by Privateer Press, paints by Privateer Press paint team