#69 - (bonus)

This project was from Dec. 2018.

There is no title for this one. There's a couple of reasons for that. It was actually being worked on concurrently with #69, and since both projects were so short and simple, I decided to bundle them together under one project number and name (last defender + bonus). And this was the bonus. Coincidentally, both projects ended up being thematically similar by featuring a contemplating Tauren. Two sides of the same coin, so to speak.

I find myself preferring this bonus project over last defender. Starting with this particular Tauren.

He was very much an advanced customization job for me. It might seem like adding those scars to the textures is simple...if you're a professional. For a hobbyist like me, not so much. Required a lot of effort to try and get them to match the reference art I was provided, and to make sure the commissioner was satisfied with the results. His proportions are also a little different from your standard Tauren; a bit more svelte in build. He also has more noticeably well-defined abs as part of his texture work. Overall, it was a wonderful learning experience, and I'm personally very pleased with how he turned out. I would love to use this Tauren for future projects that require a generic Tauren, but since he's not my character, I can't.

The other major reason why I prefer this bonus project is because of the setting and execution. I mentioned in my commentary for last defender that I felt like I added an excessive amount of detail to the foreground, which ended up detracting from the project. Here, there's still quite a bit of objects in the fore/background, but they're all rather obscured by the darkness, so much of the focus still remains on the Tauren, as it should.

Now, I don't recall the commissioner giving me any specific story beats besides telling me what kind of a pose his Tauren should be in. So, IIRC, I think this strange looking setting is 100% my crazy doing. It's up to you to interpret what's going on. I won't spoil you. Have fun!