Amdall Gallery

This is a continuation of my post last week about the Witcher Netflix show and game series. In that first post, I discussed the show in detail and shared some artwork featuring Geralt of Rivia, the Witcher himself. I mentioned that, unlike with Stranger Things, I actually caught this show during its peak popularity. Something I didn’t touch on though is that there is a downside I didn’t consider to being “on time” for a great show – the wait for more. I tore through all three seasons of Stranger Things in a massive binge, but it still took me a few weeks because there was so much I missed. But with The Witcher, I was hooked from the first episode and found myself ready for more after the finale. Fortunately, I realized I had a video game available to quench my need for more Witcher!

I actually own all three Witcher games. The first two I could never really get into for some reason. But the third clicked with my right away. I originally played it a couple years ago and got about 30 hours into it. For some reason, I dropped the game and never picked it up again. I can’t remember exactly why, I’m sure general life things step to the forefront and perhaps I just forgot about the game. Anyhow, freshly invigorated by the show, I decided to pick the game up again. I ended up starting over though because I couldn’t remember anything about the plot.

I’ve still not made a ton of progress in the game’s plot, but I’ve spent a large amount of time just roaming the world and checking out side quests. I’d forgotten how amazing this game is! It’s really a masterpiece in the open world genre. I’m not sure if the world and customization aspects reach the level of Skyrim, but it’s sure close, and the combat is far and away better in The Witcher 3. The combat does have it’s flaws, and isn’t on the level of Dragon’s Dogma or Dark Souls, but it’s pretty fun dancing around clobbering enemies. My main complaint is that sign (magic) switching is slow, which could have been remedied with trigger hold and face button combinations. It’s a bit dark, but here’s a solid example of Geralt’s movement in battle:

Much like Skyrim, I’ll probably never finish the main story if I’m being honest with myself. I’m interested to see what happens with Geralt and his adopted daughter Ciri, so hopefully that isn’t true and I can force myself away from side quests. It’s just too tempting to jump on Geralt’s horse Roach and randomly seek out new trouble. I’ve had so much fun with all of this Witcher-related stuff, as I covered in the last post, I had to draw a few things. I started with Geralt, then eventually did a couple featuring Ciri after completing the very compelling “Bloody Baron” questline. After four pieces, I might be done with Witcher-related artwork for a bit, but I would still like to draw Yennifer. She isn’t around much in the early plotline of the game, but she’s key to the show. Maybe if work on Yennifer, I’ll follow the show’s version instead to keep it fresh?

So, let’s get to the art. Here are two featuring Cirilla, the former Princess of Cintra and Witcher-trained warrior. After each drawing I’ll include a brief discussion and some progression .gifs.

This first drawing actually turned out better than I expected. I had worked on the two Geralt pieces first and struggled a bit with the armor, but here I think it worked out a bit better. Geralt’s metal armor didn’t look right, but Ciri’s lighter leather, cloth, and padded material looks more natural to me. This was from a scene early in the game when Ciri helps a kid who is lost in the forest. The perspective was actually a bit tricky, with the parial-view child looking up to her. Here, I really wasn’t sure if I got her head size right…I’m still not certain about it, but I guess we’ll call it “good enough.”

Looking at this in hindsight, I think she’s actually supposed to have some wounds that I apparently forgot to include. Aside from some not depicting some injuries, I mostly got the colors and tones right. If I had this to do over again, I think I might make her head larger and possibly re-examine pupil placement. While it does give the impression Ciri is looking at the kid, she also might look a bit cross-eyed.

The second one I actually like better than the first, despite the fact that it’s a less complicated and probably easier drawing. I’m really happy with the action that’s suggested here – it’s right before she really lets this monster have it, and it does seem to come through here. Larger paper would have been nice with this one, because then I could have shown more of the Cockatrice and maybe even the Baron on the ground trying to shield himself from the monster. It was difficult to capture real facial details for a scene that’s zoomed out like this, but I think that aspect is as good as I could expect. Most people could probably tell this is the same person/character as the first drawing, even without being familiar with the series.

With the Geralt drawings, I didn’t have enough photos for progressions on both. This was almost the same situation, but I ended up with just enough usable frames. So, here they are:

It seems like I mention this on every post, but I’m still pretty far behind on my blog post backlog. There are a few on tap, hopefully I can knock more out soon. I’ve been thinking about doing another portrait giveaway, but I have just got to share the artwork from the last one before I start another! By the way, if another portrait giveaway interests anyone out there, definitely feel free to let me know. The last one was a very positive experience and definitely motivated me to get another one going at some point soon.