Roll n Sketch: DnD Animal Characters
This all started out of curiosity and boredom (like most art, now that I think about it). I’ve been a forever DM and have played DnD for most of my life, and creating character concept was always one of the best parts. This series is born out of that idea. A pure exercise in unique character creation (but without having to deal with filling out all those tedious stat blocks and mechanics). The rules are simple: roll 1d20 for a random critter (ranging in size from frog to falcon), then roll for a character class based on the archetypes found in the players handbook, but with a bit more flavor and room for interpretation in their title (ex. “Knight” instead of “Fighter”). With THAT out of the way…enjoy!
Day 6 - Owl Mystic
I’ve been hankering to roll that 20 so I could draw an owl for a bit! I think it was lucky that I also rolled mystic, considering how closely aligned they are to owls, thematically speaking. It also works out quite well in December so I could lean into the obvious Harry Potter vibes. Always a plus when these things randomly work out! If you look close at the video, you can see the eyes of the owl changed quite a bit over the course of the doodle, mostly because I couldn't quite nail the vibe with more standard looking eyes. In the end, I went with two tiny white dots, and although it’s the most basic form of drawing eyes I’m still convinced its the best pairing with the creature and class I rolled!
Day 5 - Opossum Assassin
This one was pretty straight forward as far as approach and layout. Didn’t need to fuss about trying to find the right pose when the first quick doodle totally works. The fun is all the little discoveries and ideas along the way like adding on goggles, making the daggers the rounded off double sided like in kung fu, and adding the little McFarlane torn up squiggles to the end of the trench coat. I was pleasantly surprised with how clean it came out, tbh. Often these sketches are pretty rough around the edges.
Side note: my dyslexic brain always had trouble remembering the difference between Possum and Opossum, and this video is no exception. At least that means I’m consistent?
Day 4 - Hedgehog Ranger
You can see the first layout attempt at the beginning of the vid (3/4 pose with the head tilted down and swords crossed), but it seemed a little too lack luster. Plus, it’s a hedgehog. When is he gonna be looking DOWN at something? Once that head tilted up it really added to the wonder and mood of the piece. And yeah, I kindaaa went to town on rendering that black fur…what can I say? It’ll help mask the chili dog stains?
Day 3 - Frog Mercenary (part 2)
This one was drawn immediately after I finished part 1 (as you can see in the beginning of the vid). I tried to lean into a more traditional non-ranged mercenary build (I even drew some variations on a viking style horned helm if you look close), but in the end it couldn’t escape my wonky line work. Still…I LOVE IT! The mohawk was a last minute Hail Mary addition that I think really brought the piece together. And yes, that’s an oversized braided ponytail that’s trailing behind him, cuz why not.
Day 2 - Frog Mercenary (part 1)
Big amphibian surprise, today! This whole series came about from the need to create more background characters for my comic Kaeru Gaiden, but when I rolled frog mercenary I was thrown by the fact that I’m trying NOT to draw Kaeru. The result wasn’t quite saying “mercenary” enough (hence the part 2), however I knew I was onto something super cool and interesting so I had to see this doodle through. In the end, I think it totally works for mercenary and I just let my perfectionist artist brain create self doubt…but hey! That same OCD/perfectionism just gifted us with two sketches for one roll! Win!
Day 1 - Raccoon Barbarian
Day 1 starts with a bang! As someone who exclusively played variants of Barbarians in DnD as well as any video game that offered the class (I’m looking at you, Diablo 2), and was obsessed with the original stories, comics, and films of Conan the Barbarian, it’s only fitting that the fates have decided day one to be for our big burly tank bashing bad boy!