Delirious

[OK clearly I have a long way to go before Vahaadi’s face is consistent because this guy looks like somebody completely different from the guy in the banner, and very little like the guy I drew for the turnaround. Whuhhhhhhh. D: ]

delirious

A scrapped scene from Ashen Shard, conceived before I jailbroke Vahaadi for Loose Canon.  Lanthriel is recovering from a severe bout of pneumonia, and his fever is making him a little goofy. Sahin’s charmed and amused by this new facet of Lanthriel and is exploiting it for all it’s worth. Lanthriel’s juuuuuuuust cognizant enough to pick up that Sahin’s laughing at him.

This took place after the conflict with Took came to blows.  Lanthriel was fatally wounded by Sahin (under Took’s control), but Kala was able to heal the wound in his chest with her phoenix tears. Following his revival, Lanthriel fell very sick with pneumonia due to the fluid in his lungs (Sahin stabbed him while he had Lanthriel’s head pinned underwater).

Took disappeared from the story at this point, leaving Sahin free to do as he wished. (I never did figure out where he went >. > In an early version Kala literally scorched half his face, leaving him so preoccupied with his own terrible agony that he didn’t care to exert the effort to keep his treacherous slave with him. When he later reappeared in the story he looked far more villainous, since he was rocking the Phantom of the Opera half-mask look. His mask was magic and helped ease the pain. ANYWAY I DIGRESS.) Sahin was tormented by the thought that he’d killed Lanthriel, since he hadn’t seen the revival.  He returned to Lanthriel’s hut secretly to mourn him, but was overjoyed to find him alive–though rather the worse for wear.  Sahin became his primary caretaker, and gradually was able to nurse him back to health.  Their relationship, which was pretty formal to this point, took on a new dynamic as they spent every waking moment (and many sleeping moments, for Lanthriel) together.  Lanthriel’s grumbly and silly when he’s sick, and Sahin thinks he’s SO. CUTE.

Vahaadi Facial Anatomy Study [UPDATED]

AC gave me a critique that helped me realize I draw jaws from 3/4 angle all wrong. *facepalm* So, I fixed it! Vahaadi’s face is thus a little boxier than I would have expected, but I’m OK with that. I’ve established that his crest and beard are both an eye-width in height, and his chin is longer than I would have guessed (I’m chalking this up to my stylistic preference for very short upper lips, so his mouth is a little higher than it ought to be).  Looking at references of actual people, I found Vahaadi’s most exaggerated and distinctive feature is his eyebrows! I guess I already knew that from drawing the Lackadiasy Vahaadi, but I didn’t realize how extreme his are hahaha. XD

I took this study one step further and drew a “stretch” version, to see what he would look like when his eyes and mouth are all the way open and his brows are up as high as they’ll go! I think it’s funny because he never looks this “open.”

I finished this up with a “squash”! Again, not an expression he usually makes–or if he does, it’s very fleeting. And thank goodness. He looks like he’s like 80 years old, in pain, and/or about to cry! D: Figuring out the chin was the hardest part of this. Because his lips are pulling in and upward, his chin is puckering, but that would also pull his beard up…unfortunately, I don’t have a beard to examine, so I just guessed!  I feel the squash turned out the least accurate.

Now that I have this guide to work with, I can move on to more suitable expressions and more challenging angles! …and, eventually, I’ll get to adding the hair, cowl and jewelry… >.>

vahaaditurnaround2

P.S. Adam’s apples are the weirdest things ever. o.e