Riordan - The Duelist

Edit:
I did some serious re-shaping of Riordan's face which was all over the place. With that came repositioning of the right eye. I also tweaked the sword hand and hilt. Finally I increased the contrast a little. Hopefully now he should look both a little bit more sozzled and taunting.

I went back and tweaked the sword that did look odd. Also I wasn't happy with Riordan's face which looked too smooth compared to the rest of the picture and a bit flat. I also uploaded a close up here [link]

More art for the story 'The Narrow Path'. Riordan of the Grey Wardens, a small character that appears in the end of the game Dragon Age: Origins but was given his own story since he deserved it.

This is Riordan at not quite his finest. I was trying to capture his particular brand of cocky recklessness and he is a man that doesn't care much for convention, or safety. My guess is he's just a little bit drunk here, perhaps it's a bet.

For anybody curious about his character, here's a link to the story [link]

I did experiment a lot in this picture both with colours and these amazing brushes [link] I constantly try to get a more 'painterly' feel and here I almost got there but unfortunately I tripped myself up and tweaked his face a bit too much. I might rectify that together with the sword soon.

The pose is actually inspired by the almost iconic pose that Harvey Keitel uses in the film The Duellists. Yes, I know he fights with a sabre and Riordan is using a sword but this is fantasy so I fantasise.