Art Post: Rer The Blood Elf Death Knight

I don’t normally post artwork that has been commissioned, but this time I had the pleasure of working with Rer of Multiplaying.net, who is such a cool guy and gave me his permission!

Rer the Blood Elf Death Knight

The request came soon after I posted the full version of my old banner, when he asked for a portrait of his World of Warcraft Blood Elf Death Knight done in a similar style. Here are a few excerpts from the awesomely detailed description with which I was provided (again, with special thanks to Rer):

…the motif of the picture is Frost/Ice.  My Death Knight, Rer, should end up with a very stoic posture and demeanor, almost statue-like…

Helmet off, arms crossed, and otherwise standing stoic…if possible I’d rather not have the legs right next to each other…yet not slacking off either.

The great-sword would be implanted in the snow next to me, past the point of where it opens at the end. So only the solid “shaft” if you will of the sword, and then up to the hilt, would show.  Height-wise I would say somewhere to at least Rer’s belt would be preferred…

To add to the effect of being a “Frost” Death Knight…it might be cool to have icicles forming on both the weapon, the armor…

As you can see, I was given ample room to play around with this, but thanks to Rer’s descriptions I was also able to approach this drawing with a very clear and strong sense of what was required. I would have loved to do more, especially with the background, until it dawned on me how impossible it would have been to pull it off without making the entire thing look like a cluttered mess. And that’s why I can always appreciate detailed guidelines!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the drawing as much as I enjoyed working on it! This project was quite an unexpected treat as I hadn’t had the chance to go back to penciling in a while, so it was a wonderful feeling to get to do it again.