Jabrosky's Crimes Against Fantasy Art

[Jabrosky]

Tauriel Redesign Bust
My redesigned portrait of Tauriel, the Elven Captain of the Guard in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Not that I really had a problem with Evangeline Lilly's portrayal of the character in the movie, even if a vocal number of Tolkien fans apparently did. I thought a female warrior like her provided a refreshing with the male sausage fest that dominated the rest of the cast. Maybe it wouldn't jive well with Tolkien's gender attitudes, but then he was a man who grew up and died in a very different sociopolitical climate from ours. I don't believe Jackson is obligated to let Tolkien's obsolete prejudices influence the revisions he's making for a 21st-century audience. Furthermore, since Tolkien is dead and can't complain about how his mythos is misrepresented, the movies are for all intents and purposes Jackson's story. He can make it as diverse with regards to gender, race, or whatever as he wants.

I admit that an African Tauriel wouldn't make a lot of sense given the pseudo-medieval European trappings of Middle Earth (though I did spot some African extras in the movie's water-town scenes). However, if a female warrior in Middle Earth is enough to unhinge certain Tolkien fans, it would be hilarious to see their reaction if she was African or otherwise non-European.

 

[Jabrosky]

Jungle Falls
I always wanted to draw a tropical waterfall landscape with dinosaurs drinking in the foreground. Some people might be reminded of the opening from Disney's Dinosaur, but I was actually more inspired by a scene from Tarzan that had elephants frolicking in a lagoon with waterfalls. I think Tarzan has some of the most gorgeous backdrops I've ever seen in a traditionally animated Disney movie, and I've always wanted to give my dinosaurs' environments a verdant and scenic quality like those.

Drawn on 11x14'' paper.

 

[Jabrosky]

Priestess of Slaughter
This portrait is supposed to depict a priestess of Sekhmet, the Egyptian lion goddess of war. Or rather, how a priestess of Sekhmet might look back in prehistoric times when the Egyptians were still nomads roaming the then-grassy plains of the Sahara. I've always thought Egypt's prehistoric (or Neolithic) period most fascinating of all, probably because I'm a sucker for prehistoric and tribal stuff in general.

The hairy headdress this priestess is wearing was modeled after the lion-mane headdresses worn by Maasai warriors in modern Kenya. As for the red face paint, it is supposed to reference a tradition about Sekhmet drinking blood (or rather beer dyed red like blood to get her drunk and pacified).

 

[Jabrosky]

The Old One
It may look like a run-of-the-mill dragon, but I actually got the idea for this picture after thinking about H.P. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu which I recently read. Whatever may be said about Lovecraft's florid writing style, I thought his core concept of malevolent gods with an extraterrestrial origin had a lot of potential and was something I wanted to work with. In my imagination, this "dragon" is really one of several gods who crashed down to the world to dominate humanity in a bygone age, promising them magical power in exchange for regular sacrifices. At some point the human race rebelled against these gods' tyranny, using sorcery to imprison them so that they would starve and wither into oblivion. Of course, it takes a lot of time to starve a god...

 

[Jabrosky]

Defining Geekdom
If you've ever heard of so-called "fake geek girls", hopefully you'll have a better appreciation of what I'm saying here.

In truth, since the construct of "geekdom" has expanded to cover a broad range of interests over the years, its defining characteristics have grown increasingly nebulous. It used to be that geeks or nerds were stereotyped as social rejects who struggled with attracting the opposite sex, but given how geekdom has grown into a vast subculture in its own right (as the vast crowds at the annual Comic-Con attest), I'm not even sure if that applies anymore.

At any rate, I cannot fathom why pretty girls who are interested in geekdom are written off as fake by male geeks. You'd think we would all appreciate the company of beautiful women who share our interests. I know I would!

 

[Jabrosky]

Shul the Neolithic War-Chief
Concept sketch for a character named Shul, who hails from the Middle East's Fertile Crescent circa ~6000 BC, during the Neolithic period. His people live in a small city-state with rudimentary agriculture and animal husbandry, but they are in a state of constant conflict with other city-states in the region. Whereas Shul's job is to lead his local militia as war-chief, his mother is the city's High Priestess and therefore its real de facto ruler.

Shul is planned to be the protagonist of what essentially is a love story. He comes into contact with cattle-herding African nomads from the Saharan savanna and falls for their female chieftain, but this doesn't square well with his mother's warlike xenophobia. He is forced to choose between the woman he loves and the woman who raised him...

 

[Jabrosky]

Aspasia of Miletus
Aspasia (470-400 BC) was born in the Greek city-state of Miletus on the coast of Asia Minor (now Turkey), but moved to Athens as a resident alien (or metic). There she worked as a courtesan and became a beloved concubine of the famous statesman Pericles. Although her status as a foreign migrant protected her from the legal restraints that suppressed native-born Athenian women, it also prevented her from marrying Pericles and didn't exactly endear her to other Athenian gentlemen. Poets and philosophers alike would attack her sexuality and influence over Pericles, with one even blaming her for the Peloponnesian War.

Not all classical evaluations of her were so negative. For example, Lucian in his Imagines complimented her for "experience in affairs, shrewdness in statescraft, quick-wittedness, and penetration" and even claimed that the philosopher Socrates would visit her to listen to her discourse. Unfortunately most of the information we know about Aspasia and her life comes from very fragmented sources.

The ritual scars I've drawn on Aspasia's right cheek are modeled after a star-like symbol that appears on ancient coinage from her native Miletus. However, none of the ancient texts that have been uncovered thus far describe her appearance for certain.

 

[Gurkhal]

Good stuff and I particular liked your part about geeks and women.

 

[Jabrosky]

Aspasia Full-Body
Another drawing of Aspasia of Miletus, a woman who worked as a courtesan in the Greek city-state of Athens during the 5th century BC. She is known to have been a concubine for the famous Athenian statesman Pericles.

Nubian Dagger
Sketch of a Nubian bronze dagger from Kerma, Sudan, which dates back to circa 1750 BC. This particular dagger was actually pretty small with a length of 17 cm (or less than 7 inches) and was found buried in a child's grave. I'm guessing it was some kind of toy for the kid to practice his fighting skills at a young age. The blade's design is similar to that of contemporary Egyptian weapons, but the ivory component in the handle is distinctly Nubian.

 

[Jabrosky]

Nubian Playtime
A young Nubian boy playfully brandishes his toy sword in emulation of the warriors whose ranks he will someday join.

I don't think there are many images of children from ancient Nubia that have survived to the present day, so this child's attire remains speculative on my part. It wouldn't surprise me if little Nubian children actually went around naked like many of their Egyptian counterparts during the same time period, but drawing naked children doesn't have much appeal to me at the moment.

 

[Jabrosky]

Masika the Priestess
Just an Egyptian chick named Masika chillin’ on top of a wall. Actually requested by another user on DeviantArt (the character is supposed to be a priestess of the cat goddess Bastet).

 

[Jabrosky]

Hunting in Time
A time-traveler from the future fires her beam-gun at some off-screen peril in a Mesozoic jungle. I wanted to experiment with a subject more futuristic/sci-fi than what I usually draw, but I've always preferred time-travel stories than the standard space-opera stuff. There's also some inspiration here from old dinosaur-hunting games like Carnivores and Primal Prey which I played as a kid.

 

[Jabrosky]

Sketchbook Doodles
I'm taking a "concept sketching" class over the coming fall semester, and our professor wants us to keep a sketchbook with all least 55 pages filled in by the end of the course. I think I am going to have a lot of fun with this, and it'll give me ample opportunity to do anatomical studies and practice other drawing skills.

From left to right, these are portraits of Cleopatra and a Triceratops which were actually drawn on the same page.

 

[Jabrosky]

Cleopatra's Contemplation
In 30 BC, a distressed Cleopatra VII holds her pet cobra on her arm in nervous contemplation of the fate she will ultimately visit upon herself. Because when you draw Cleopatra more than once, you'll have to depict her most tragic moment sooner or later.

 

[Jabrosky]

And now for something a little different...

These are some furniture and other artifacts I made for an Autodesk Maya class I am taking at a nearby community college. For this specific exercise I went with a vaguely Egyptian theme.

The weapons on display here are a spear, a shield (if textured, this would be made out of cowhide like historical Egyptian shields), and a sickle-like khopesh sword. The curved headrest at the end of the bed would have functioned like a pillow and was traditionally used by ancient Egyptian and sub-Saharan African people. I don't know how comfortable it would have felt, but I guess the users' kinky Afro-type hair would provide an adequate cushion.

No Egyptian tomb would be complete without a giant sarcaophagus to stuff the mummy in!

The table's legs, like those of the bed, are supposed to resemble lion paws. This was characteristic of real Egyptian furniture. The drum's form is of course based on a traditional African design.

 

[Jabrosky]

cont'd...

This three-legged stool was based on a craftsman's seat found in an Egyptian workers' village near modern Luxor.

 

[Noma Galway]

I love your Cleopatra drawing! The look on her face is nuanced well

 

[Jabrosky]

I love your Cleopatra drawing! The look on her face is nuanced well

Thank you! Though looking at it again, I wonder if the lines on her brow make her look too old (though I believe your brow does wrinkle up a little when you're frightened or nervous).

 

[Jabrosky]

Planning for the Climax
"Come to bed, Marco. You've been at it with that map all evening."

"Sorry, Cleo, Roman war is serious business!"

The map Mark Antony is plotting over is supposed to show the area around Actium, the site of his famous naval battle with Octavian in 31 BC. The blue circles represent his and Cleopatra's fleet, the red squares represent Octavian's fleet, and the green cones represent their respective campsites.

Come to think of it, I did draw and color the whole picture fairly late at night too...

 

[Jabrosky]

Shaded and highlighted version of the above drawing: