(Firelock Fantasy) Santagrine Grenadier

The Army of the Commonwealth, while composed of hardened veterans and professionals, was by the time of the Secession an antiquated force; still reliant on a core of armored pikemen and heavy cavalry, supported by comparatively-limited numbers of musketeers and artillery. Incremental advances in technology and (more begrudgingly) drill failed to upend its basic arrangement. Once, it was said, hard-nosed pikemen had brought about the Commonwealth; and so they would remain integral to its defense, come what may.

The solution, then, was not to force renovation on storied old regiments that at times violently opposed it--but rather to create in parallel a small number of "new model" regiments to lay the groundwork for the next generation. These were to be trained to similar standards as their obsolete predecessors, but equipped in modern fashion: protected not by steel armor but by a blanket of smoke and fire.

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Thinking again of fantasy Firelock. Something I'd like to do is contrast factions with their incarnations in 198X: while the spirits remain the same in most respects, many other things change with some hundreds of years' distance. Where in 198X the Santagrines are a fractious mass of noble pilots and levied groundlings, with severely inconsistent training and equipment, in Fantasy they are a unified and strong country with a professional military--less knight and conquistador, and more tercio-soldier and Parliamentarian roundhead.

This one started with a more conventional justaucorps-style coat, but I changed it for the same tabard I gave to a Santagrine pikeman in a drawing from a year ago:

This itself was based on the dress of Spanish guards regiments in the mid-17th century, and I think nicely illustrates the elite and hardened nature they should convey.

On an artistic side you may notice no small degradation between these pictures. Frankly I'm not happy with this latest piece. For starters, it's too small on the paper (around 4.25" height, hat notwithstanding), which leads to some unacceptable detail crunching. More importantly, I got rusty having done nothing but 198X pieces for a very long time. Some refresher studies are in order.

Something I'm interested especially in trying is variable line thickness via a fountain pen. This is something I love about Durer's work (here, Death and the Landsknecht and Saint Christopher--two of my personal favorites and inspirations:)In both cases, Durer rather carefully controls the thickness of lines, and it varies based on what he wants to accentuate. (Really, what appeals to me about his work in general is his absolute understanding of when not to place a line; despite their visual density, his prints remain visually clear and greatly pleasing to the eye.) Since I work with fineliners (specifically: a Staedtler 0.05 and 0.3) that's something I've never really done before.

While I have 198X to finish right now--something that precludes any more than the occasional breather piece, like this--after 1.0 is released I'm very much interested in getting back to this style in earnest.