Jabrosky's Crimes Against Fantasy Art

[Jabrosky]

Hannibal's Bad Eye
When he was crossing a swamp early in his Italian campaign, Hannibal Barca of Carthage lost sight in one eye, possibly due to a disease called opthalmia. It probably would have looked much more gruesome than I've depicted here (judging from Google image search results on opthalmia), but eye gore is utterly terrifying for me to look at.

We have no definitive portraits of Hannibal dating to his time period (though there are coins speculated to depict him), so exactly how his physical features may have looked remains a mystery for the time being. The skin color I've chosen here is meant to represent a mix between Phoenician (or Punic) colonists from Lebanon and local African people. The ritual scars on his face definitely have an African inspiration, but the symbol on his left cheek actually is a Carthaginian symbol for the goddess Tanit.

 

[Jabrosky]

Komba the Nganga
This lady, whom I've nicknamed Komba for the time being, works as a nganga (spiritualist and healer) for the jungle society she comes from. A career of working with the spiritual realm and magic has changed her eye color to bright gold. Though her piercings and other getup may give her a fearsome appearance, Komba is actually a nurturing and intelligent young woman even if she does adhere to her native beliefs on a dogmatic level.

Komba's design owes some inspiration to the Witch Doctor character archetype from the game Diablo III. I wanted her to possess a beauty that her "tribal" ornamentation could not fully obscure. Although the term nganga comes from Central African languages, Komba's fantastical outfit isn't necessarily meant to portray that of any real African group.

 

[Jabrosky]

Komba's Spearhead
Although healing and magic are Komba the nganga's career specialties, as an adventurer in a savage world she still needs to defend herself when her magic runs dry. The weapon she uses would be best described as a cross between an execution sword used by the Baule people of Africa's Ivory Coast and a Japanese naginata. It's technically a pole-arm, but its curved blade allows for enhanced slashing action.

In the story I am writing for Komba, she and a male warrior named Brodi discover a secluded city in the jungle that is the last stronghold for a persecuted religious group (at least they present themselves as persecuted). In that regard it's vaguely like the famous Robert E. Howard short Red Nails starring Conan the Cimmerian, which in fact did inspire it.

 

[Jabrosky]

Komba the Adventurer
Another drawing of my original heroine Komba the nganga, a healer/magician who travels the world with her boyfriend Brodir in search of adventure. In the story I plan to write for these characters, they chance upon a secluded city in the wilderness that claims descent from a persecuted religious group. The city's leadership wants Komba and Brodir to capture some trouble-making rebels, but are these rebels really the vicious terrorists they are claimed to be?

This style is supposed to have more cartoon-like proportions than what I usually work with, hence why her head and eyes may appear larger here. Her eyes' bright gold color isn't natural but the product of her working with magic and the spiritual world.

 

[Scribble]

Just a note to say I quite enjoy your work. It has a unique character. There is a deep love of African beauty and a sort of... mythological optimism? that resonates through it all. Your characters, though they are cartoon and stylized, they have soul, realness. Plus you have dinosaurs

Keep it up

 

[Jabrosky]

Just a note to say I quite enjoy your work. It has a unique character. There is a deep love of African beauty and a sort of... mythological optimism? that resonates through it all. Your characters, though they are cartoon and stylized, they have soul, realness. Plus you have dinosaurs

Keep it up

Thank you very much, but could you explain what you mean by mythological optimism?

 

[Scribble]

Mythological optimism...

The characters have a strength, pride, and beauty that seems to emerge from a fierce self-knowledge - their physicalness is not separate from their will. They are unambiguously who they are in that world, and it is a world filled with rich colors and experience. It's far brighter and richer in color than our world is. To be in that world is to be fiercely human. In a world that sees blacks having a hard time for a long time, particularly in the US, it represents also a kind of lost African mythology of heroes. Like Tolkien was writing LOTR as a kind of mythology of pre-historic Britain, your images have that kind of mythological sense to them, like a bright past that once was, but also represents a bright, colorful future that might be.

It is very hard to say with words what art makes you feel...

 

[Jabrosky]

The Shining Kingdom
Sometime in an age undreamed of, this capital of a shining kingdom stands surrounded by primeval jungle. I've always had a special fondness for the contrast provided by high civilization juxtaposed with untamed wilderness. In retrospect I should have probably put some kind of dinosaur in the foreground.

 

[Jabrosky]

Triceratops Takes a Dip
A Triceratops horridus goes for a swim in the river among some prehistoric ancestors of the red-bellied piranha. Don't worry, the fish aren't hungry at the moment. I don't even know if a piranha's bite could penetrate a dinosaur's thick skin.

I got the idea for this from various photos of Indian elephants swimming underwater. We used to have one of those on a poster at one of my old grade schools.

 

[Jabrosky]

The Priestess and the Pyramid
An African priestess and magician holds a magic staff of incredible antiquity. The ancient pyramid in the background obviously has Aztec or Maya influences in its design, but the rounded terraces also draw upon some lesser-known Igbo pyramids found in the West African country of Nigeria.

The creature flying in the sky is meant to be a Pteranodon longiceps, the most iconic of the pterosaurs.

 

[Jabrosky]

Conan and the Pterosaur
Everybody's favorite barbarian warrior, Conan from Cimmeria, has a run-in with a predatory Pteranodon. This would probably take place somewhere in the jungle-swathed southern reaches of the Hyborian Age, such as one of the Black Kingdoms.

I'm not entirely satisfied with this composition. I think it would look better with Conan actually attacking or parrying the creature instead of just standing there like a deer in the headlights.

Conan the Barbarian (c) Robert E. Howard

 

[Jabrosky]

Pyramids and a Pin-Up
I may have said it before, but I will say it again anyway: there is something especially alluring about beautiful women in power.

The big grinning face in front of the pyramids and behind the palm leaves is supposed to represent a Sphinx. It's almost all worn away now, but Egyptologists believe that the original Sphinx at Giza once sported a full and brightly colored coat of paint (and while we're at the it, the pyramids really would have been bright white with gold caps).

 

[Jabrosky]

Egyptian Leopard Minion
Once a law-abiding member of ancient Egyptian society, this hapless gentleman has been transformed through malignant sorcery into a man-eating half-leopard.

Although there are a number of genuine African myths about people transforming into leopards, this concept borrowed a lot from an old cartoon series called The Legend of Tarzan, which had the villainous Queen La command an army of anthropomorphic leopards like this. Truthfully I am not sure a leopard-man would need a sword if he already has fangs and claws, but maybe a blade would give him more reach.

 

[Jabrosky]

The Stalker of Qianzhou
The newly discovered tyrannosaurid Qianzhousaurus sinensis lurks in the rainforests of what will someday become southeastern China. This is the smaller, slender-snouted cousin of T. Rex that the press is calling "Pinocchio Rex", but personally I think that nickname is too cutesy for a predator like this.

 

[Jabrosky]

Some projects of mine for my current Drawing and Composition class:

Conan's Discovery
Deep in the jungles beyond the Black Coast, Conan the Cimmerian has uncovered the moss-stained ruins of a pyramid that was ancient when the oceans drank Atlantis. What pre-Cataclysmic treasure---or peril---will he find in its shadow-guarded depths?

Egyptians Attack Greece
In an alternate timeline, the ancient Egyptians have sailed across the Mediterranean to conquer Greece. This is of course ahistorical, as there's no evidence of such a confrontation that I know of.

Defending the Village
An African warrior challenges a predatory Allosaurus in defense of his village. Unlike my other drawings, I had to use charcoal for this. I hate how messy charcoal is, and it doesn't allow for as much detail as other media.

 

[Jabrosky]

The Warrior Queen
This pseudo-Egyptian matriarch stands ready for battle with her spear and shield. Someday I will complete that story I've always wanted to write about her. Then she can have a life outside my art for once.

 

[Jabrosky]

The Strategas
This female warrior has risen to the top of her city-state's military pecking order through a combination of strategic brilliance and ferocious devotion to her people's cause. Now she is one of the city-state's most influential citizens, almost a de facto leader.

I wanted to draw her with a helmet on but didn't think it would fit on the page. She's supposed to look Mediterranean, but I wonder if she didn't come out a little Asian-looking instead.

Of course ancient Greece wasn't known for its female warriors or progressive attitudes towards women, but anything goes in fantasy art.

 

[Jabrosky]

The Negus
This woman rules as the Negus (monarch) of a mountain kingdom based off ancient Ethiopia in northeastern Africa. If her expression looks like a sneer, I created her with the idea that she would function as an antagonist for my Egyptian warrior queen character. I imagine her as a sort of religious zealot who believes she has a God-given duty to force her kingdom's culture onto "infidel" countries.

 

[Jabrosky]

Captured Queen
My pseudo-Egyptian warrior queen character lies in captivity within the bowels of an enemy dungeon. It may not be the most uplifting experience for her, but with great adventure comes great suffering. Hopefully she'll figure a way out of this nadir and fight her way back to glory.

 

[Gurkhal]

More good stuff there Jabrosky.

Regarding your Greek lady I think she looked mor Greek than Asian.