Post your sketches here!

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Yet another unicorn. Might use this as a template for a bunch of different color palette studies (I briefly toyed with selling them as adoptables, but I'm still on the fence).

[RickZarber]

Here's a tiny preview of the first four illustrations for the JAQ book. (Rick, Dragonsbane, Demon and Flarecobra, and Skyshot vs Loyal. Not in scale with each other, obviously.) It's low rez, and the final versions are inked and colored, but I wanted to share at least a bit of all of the work I've been putting into this.



Ahh, what the hell, here's a small sample of how the finished product looks:

[mauve]

Looks great so far, Rick!

[Loyal]

Of course it's not in scale, Skyshot's head is still in frame!

[Arhra]

Look at that noble unicorn prance. I have to confess I've never quite understood how that whole adoptables thing works?

Wow Rick, it's amazing how much effort you've put into that book.




Thought I'd try a different way of doing noses and mouths.

[Loyal]

So here's a little thought-exercise I've been spending entirely too much time thinking about lately: How does one armor the lower body of a lamia/naga/snake person in a way that's effective and economical? How about the logistics of outfitting ten of them? Or an army?

I think I'm getting there.

[Krylo]

Scalemail.

[Loyal]

Sadly, while that'd be the obvious choice, every source I've bothered to look up goes out of their way to mention that scalemail lacks much flexibility. Main thing it has going for it is the fact that it's easier/cheaper to make than other metal armor types. I suppose that's something to consider and maybe I could include parts of it in places where mobility isn't needed, but...

[Amake]

I can think of a bunch of options, none of them mutually exclusive:

You could have an orthodox naga military with a doctrine focused on utilizing a snake's unique ability to bend and curl any part of their body in any direction just as easily as any other part. Depending on philosophy and the hardness of their scales, they might look down on leather armor and have no other option than uniform ring mail over their entire bodies.

You could have a reformist school of nagas who practiced certain moves like let's say, a slithering skip to the right and a strike at the opponent's leg, that would allow armor that restricts their movement in directions not involved in these moves in exchange for thicker protection.

You could have light naga skirmishers, perhaps elite commandos, who wear a row of thick metal rings loosely fitting around their tail that they could shift around to block attacks or add impact to tail strikes.

You could have high tech naga exoskeletons that look like Doctor Octopus' arms in Spider-man 2.

You could have either sorcerer, nobility or especially gifted or skilled naga who wear shiny jewels evenly spaced over their bodies for magical protection with zero restriction.

You could have silk armor made by tame giant spiders that's very difficult to cut through though it doesn't protect from blows. That sounds familiar.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

And then you have the berserkers that charge into battle completely naked, because naked things are intimidating in that context.

Anyways, I went back and revisited the warhammer concept from this ancient forum post following some actual real life examples. I wanted it to be fantastic, but not quite the overexaggerated, World of Warcraft-esque proportions of the original. I'd forgotten about the backstory I wrote for it as well. I may have to do a proper write-up one of these days since I've made changes in my worldbuilding.