"Shaping a Cardassian" - characters

[Nerys Ghemor]

And here I was picturing The Odd Couple! (Though it sometimes feels like that with Berat and his "real" XO. ) In all seriousness, though, the two of them would probably get along well. They'd complement each other's strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

It's not exactly what I wanted him to look like, but at least I hope it's obvious how dangerous and scary this member of Cardassian feared and cruel troops is. Not.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Oh, the eyes and smile are wonderful. I'm shaking in my boots.

Referring to recent story events--if I'd only had a gym teacher like him, when I was in school, who was able to have fun with bookworms instead of making fun of bookworms and humiliating them publicly...it would've been like a dream.

I think the only thing that might be throwing the drawing off is that I think the forehead is a little too high. Otherwise...I like.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

I know about the forehead. I tried to make an impression that his hairline starts "far," but I suppose more work with shadow would be required.

I'll probably lower his hairline, if I can't make the shadows work the way I want.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Ahh, was this the kind of look you were going for? (NOT a perfect drawing I'm linking, but it gets the general idea across.)

 

[Gul Re'jal]

I was thinking of this

http://www.themakeupgallery.info/images/fantasy/alien/st/card/natima5.jpg

Her hairline starts as far as in half of her skull.
But now, when I look at other photos, it's not so obvious when looking at her en face.

BTW, I was not aware that Glinn Drevot tried to kill Berat

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Nope...Drevot didn't try to kill Berat; I'm talking about the Volan III incident. But after the Volan III incident, Drevot was transferred off the Sherouk so that a glinn who would be better able to handle working with a gul with a disability could be put in his place.

Part of what creates the optical illusion, on a frontal portrait, is that the skull slopes back at a curve; the sense of "distance" from the normal human hairline to the Cardassian hairline therefore doesn't seem as great.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Nope...Drevot didn't try to kill Berat; I'm talking about the Volan III incident. But after the Volan III incident, Drevot was transferred off the Sherouk so that a glinn who would be better able to handle working with a gul with a disability could be put in his place.

Oh, then I misunderstood terribly.

Part of what creates the optical illusion, on a frontal portrait, is that the skull slopes back at a curve; the sense of "distance" from the normal human hairline to the Cardassian hairline therefore doesn't seem as great.

Yes, it seems so.

Well, I will keep working on it later today

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Here we go again. Garesh Aladar without hydrocephalus. I also worked more on his hair.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

VERY nice! I like that!!

 

[Gul Re'jal]

I'm glad that it's better now

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

It's funny, though...I'm not sure why, but I'd always imagined him having longer hair.

You know what's funny? In the SigCat AU, his hair is almost short enough to seem "rebellious," like some people see long hair in Western culture on Earth!

 

[Gul Re'jal]

It will be explained in the story why he has such short hair.

I thought he had it more like Laran, but it seems that he cut it

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

OK...here's something I drew for Gul Re'jal, of her main character, Gul Jarol.

For this drawing to totally make sense, be sure to read her novel Strength Without Sacrifice Is Useless.

Drawn on grey textured paper with HB, 3B, 6B, and 9B pencils.

Here is the photo I used as a reference for the pose, which is from the promo art for Madonna's song "Frozen": http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jCizUs2sl4w/ThQ1YmBbAyI/AAAAAAAAEKE/fzuAPJc6JUY/s1600/Madonna%252Bfrozen_ns1.jpg

Of course, the outfit in the drawing is of my own design.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

She's awesome! Anxious and clearly lost, as she should be.

The texture of the paper seems to work well with her dress of a lightly armour-like design.

And I hadn't noticed that earlier, but do I see a plait on the left (my left) side of her head? A plaited, falling apart bun, perhaps?

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

She's awesome! Anxious and clearly lost, as she should be.

That's exactly what I wanted to get across. "Lost" is a very good word.

The texture of the paper seems to work well with her dress of a lightly armour-like design.

Thanks. I wasn't even counting on that effect when I first started, since I haven't really worked with textured paper (successfully!) in the past, but it just worked out that way.

As for the design, it's definitely influenced by their armor, but I also had something kind of Victorian in mind, too.

And I hadn't noticed that earlier, but do I see a plait on the left (my left) side of her head? A plaited, falling apart bun, perhaps?

That's exactly what it is...a bun or coronet braid that has come undone.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Ok, here we go. On the first page of this thread you have Glinn Brenok. Brenok was promoted and now he's a gul.

This drawing/painting is my second attempt. His hair was painted with watercolour pencils and so were his eyes, though partially--only the green irises were painted. The pupils were drawn with a pencil.


(It's a thumbnail, please click for full size.)

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

As I've said elsewhere, I think you have the most natural ridge shading here that I've ever seen from you.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Thanks. As I said elsewhere my new drawing tools were helpful

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Here's the artwork I made for the cover of my story Among the Dragons.

I used charcoal stick for black colour and coloured pencil for brown elements of the pylon. The paper is actually white, but I wanted a grey background, so I darkened it while scanning.