Polishing an Orc.

Its entirely possible I will start doing more blog posts. Ive said this before, but this time I almost kinda sorta mean it, maybe.

I do think the key is to keep it sort and sweet. Since I started blogging 13 years ago, Twitter and Instagram have been training people to be annoyed with much more than a single image and 140 characters. I include myself here since I was annoyed when twitter expanded to 240 characters. Who has time to read extra words?

To the topic at hand: I have been working for CGI for almost 20 years. Its been so long that I am getting to rework and redo stuff that I did when I was in the early stages of my illustration career. So, there is a lot of stuff in print that I am very embarrassed by.

The recent kickstarter of Columbia Games HarnMaster update gave me the chance to redo some art that really hurt my soul. One of the things Ive wanted a second shot at was the Harnic Orc and the Ivashu creatures. I drew some real turkeys. Since this time Ive done some pieces for fans and for other Harnic publications that have greatly improved how I draw these guys.
There was one Gargun image I did I was still quite fond of: the Gargu-arak or small orc. I rescanned the 17 year old drawing and worked it over a bit in black and white before coloring it. You can see the differences in the two images below where I fixed some problems (Bow just touching the knee) and refined some of the drawing.

Also back in the day, for some reason the images got converted to clunky bitmap files. So the new high res tiff files have more life to them even in black and white.
As is the style for my Harn work, I paint under the line art in photoshop. I have a few brushes I like that give a  nice water-color feel. For this image I thought Id try something different and give it a fall look with bright yellows and orange colors. Every other harnic orc was too embarrassing and replaced with something new.
Hope folks are as happy with the update as I am. Please burn your old copies so my shame disappears forever. Seriously, burn them all! and get the updated version.
Ill post about the Ivashu updates next. Feel free to ask questions in the comments or suggest topics for future posts.

HarnQuest, Coselin and Lorkin

A few notes about the newest HarnQuest, which contains the articles Coselin and Lorkin and a map.
I got a chance to expand the illustration for Lorkin, so I built a sketchup model. Lorkin also has a cool mausoleum on a rock in the river just out of view in the illustration below.

Lorkin Keep, pen & ink and digital,
Copyright © 2018, Richard Luschek and Columbia Games, Inc.

"Lorkin commands the head of the Anoth Delta in the southeast corner of the Kingdom of Orbaal. It is the largest settlement in the region and an important center of maritime trade."
I chose a view very close to the original illustration by Hotz which I liked it a lot.

Watch this video walk around in Sketchup here on YouTube:

For the mausoleum I chose a solid, yet simple architecture as it is of Jarin construction.

I selected a view that hints at a visitor. Is it a Jarin Ilvirian who has come to study the mythology of Eochaid, the priest laid to rest here? Is it an Ivinian here to deface the sacred site or is it someone here to pillage the site for artifacts?
I always imagine an Ilvirian site teaming with life. Seals have chased some fish up the river and are now resting on the rocks. Seals are some pretty strange Ivashu dont you agree?
The scene I selected:
 

 The resulting illustration:

Faenghease Rock, pen & ink and digital,
Copyright © 2018, Richard Luschek and Columbia Games, Inc.

 I had a lot of fun drawing the floor painting of the mausoleum. I chose an image of Eochaid of Olthair, aided by some Hru to drive out the gargun to restore the temple at Gedan. I tend to look at early Celtic as inspiration for the work of Jarin.

Eochaid of Olthair, pen & ink and digital,
Copyright © 2018, Richard Luschek and Columbia Games, Inc.

Coselin has a very cool temple as its major feature. The images for the towns often tend to feature the castle or keep of the town, so it was nice to focus on something else. The Sarjin Temple dominates the shore line.
The floorplans are pretty simple, and I struggled with how to represent it. I looked at the complicated wooden Stave churches and took inspiration from there.

I hinged most of the Coselin illustrations around the docks. You can see from my sketchup reference I had to work a bit to make this interesting. The simple model I built looks more like modern pole building.

I wanted to roof of the temple to have the feel of a serpents back-  I wish I had pushed this a bit more. I covered the temple in pinnacles and various fanciness. The whale ribs form an arch as you approach the temple.

Coselin, pen & ink and digital,
Copyright © 2018, Richard Luschek and Columbia Games, Inc.

The interior design and description of the temple left some room for playing around. I designed the priests platform to look like Sarajins sled. The priest is holding a ceremonial golden axe, a warrior and a shield-maiden present for this ceremony.

Worshiping Sarajin, pen & ink and digital, Copyright © 2018, Richard Luschek and Columbia Games, Inc.