art: "Banner of the Crossed Staves" [Teyla, John, team]

[tielan]

TITLE: Banner of the Crossed Staves
MEDIUM: drawing/digital colouring/manip
RATING: PG-13
CHARACTERS/PAIRING: Teyla, John, Ronon, Rodney, implied John/Teyla
NOTES: For the paintedspires art challenge to the prompt "Teyla is a warlord and John is her assassin/lover/confidant." This started off with just Teyla and John in the drawing as per the prompt, and then, when I realised they were leading an army, Ronon and Rodney turned up, all dressed for the part! I would have liked to do a wolfskin on Rodney but that was unfortunately a bit beyond my capabilities.

Grateful thanks to arabel, queen of art betas and encouragers to someone who has no art experience, allisnow, appreciated appreciator, and ileliberte, who listened to me whine a lot!

Preview:





Figures were drawn in pencil on paper, scanned in to Paint Shop Pro and coloured, with manipped background and adjustments.

My original design idea featured more of a Baeodicea angle to it, but I made the mistake of watching Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers to observe swording styles, and ended up getting ideas from the Rohirrim armour.

pentapus? I'll have to 'pony up' at a later stage, I'm afraid!

Comments

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Very cool :)

[tielan]

Heh. Thanks. :)

[calcitrix.livejournal.com]

I love Rodney as the standard bearer and the armor is great. Well done!

[tielan]

I was originally going to put him in armour, and then the idea of him as a standard bearer just kinda popped up.

Thank you!

[leyna55.livejournal.com]

Well done! I like Teyla's pose, their armour is great (excellent chainmail!), and so are the banners. I'm glad you added Ronon, Rodney and the army. It gives an epic (movie poster-ish) feel to the picture.

[tielan]

It was touch-and-go with Ronon, Rodney, and the army for a while - I just didn't think I could draw them all. Thankfully, in the end, I didn't have to.

Thank you! I love your work, so it's lovely to get this comment.

[rokeon.livejournal.com]

The armor designs are great, and I love that you gave Teyla something actually protective rather than a chainmail bikini or Xena knockoff. Very cool.

*intrigued by suggested possibility of future ponies*

[tielan]

ileliberte and I had a good bitch about 'unequal dressing' when it came to male and female clothing/armour - namely that the guys get all the protective gear, and the women end up in the scanty little bits and pieces.

I can't imagine Teyla standing for a chainmail bikini...and she needs a bit more support than Keira or Miranda Otto/Eowyn since RL's a bit more curvy.

*is having trouble with Shep-hair on a pony*

[rhi]

Oh, man, I love the swords, the crossed bantos on the banner, and the army behind them. All that said, I squeed over the mile marker. Sorry, it's the history background. Thank you, this is great!

[tielan]

The mile marker was a last-minute addition. :)

Thank you!

[retrofit88.livejournal.com]

Nice. The mail texture is particularly good.

[tielan]

Thank you!

It got so much easier once I realised I didn't have to make lots of little marks with the mouse and could just use a paintbrush to add the impression. Shortcuts FTW!

[renisanz.livejournal.com]

Cool beans. I love how Rodney and Ronon just hijacked their way into the piece, as you explained. LOL. But *love* Teyla's armor (good job on the chainmail). The manipulated background blends nicely as well.

[tielan]

The breastplate was a worry. At first I thought I should stick with the chainmail and a surcoat over the top, but I figured if she was going to be a warrior, she'd need the protection.

And, really, can you imagine Teyla not being in the fray?

[gnine.livejournal.com]

Nice! Like Teyla's position and her expression!

[tielan]

*snickers* I love your icon!

Thanks - I'm glad the expressions came out well. Faces are stressful, as I told my drawing group meeting when I was doing the drawings for this: "Why can't people not have expressions?"

[echelon-ga-l.livejournal.com]

I love their costumes and the moves of Teyla ! Great !

[tielan]

Thank you!

[elli.livejournal.com]

Very cool!

[tielan]

Thanks!

[acusa-dora.livejournal.com]

I like the wry expression on John's face--very realistic, plus anytime I see Ronan, I'm happy. This is great!

[tielan]

Thanks. :)

[sonadorita.livejournal.com]

That's pretty :) Nice work with the armour and swords!

[tielan]

Thanks!

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

Dude, you did my prompt! Yay!

[tielan]

That was yours?

\o/

[gardendoor.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I like that Teyla's sticks have become their standard; makes it very clear who's in charge of this quest!

[tielan]

Hehe. Yes. Th prompt called for Teyla as the warlord, so it had to be her standard, and that made the choice obvious. :)

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! Nice job!

[cheekygal.livejournal.com]

Love it. As someone who has strapped on armor in the past and swung rattan swords at others, I heartily approve of full protective armor for Teyla.

Part of me is wondering where their helms are, but then you wouldn't get such nice detail on the faces. :)

[ubiquitous-girl.livejournal.com]

Great work! ^.^

[angst-angel.livejournal.com]

Oooh, very nice. :)

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Very cool :)

[tielan]

Heh. Thanks. :)

[calcitrix.livejournal.com]

I love Rodney as the standard bearer and the armor is great. Well done!

[tielan]

I was originally going to put him in armour, and then the idea of him as a standard bearer just kinda popped up.

Thank you!

[leyna55.livejournal.com]

Well done! I like Teyla's pose, their armour is great (excellent chainmail!), and so are the banners. I'm glad you added Ronon, Rodney and the army. It gives an epic (movie poster-ish) feel to the picture.

[tielan]

It was touch-and-go with Ronon, Rodney, and the army for a while - I just didn't think I could draw them all. Thankfully, in the end, I didn't have to.

Thank you! I love your work, so it's lovely to get this comment.

[rokeon.livejournal.com]

The armor designs are great, and I love that you gave Teyla something actually protective rather than a chainmail bikini or Xena knockoff. Very cool.

*intrigued by suggested possibility of future ponies*

[tielan]

ileliberte and I had a good bitch about 'unequal dressing' when it came to male and female clothing/armour - namely that the guys get all the protective gear, and the women end up in the scanty little bits and pieces.

I can't imagine Teyla standing for a chainmail bikini...and she needs a bit more support than Keira or Miranda Otto/Eowyn since RL's a bit more curvy.

*is having trouble with Shep-hair on a pony*

[rhi]

Oh, man, I love the swords, the crossed bantos on the banner, and the army behind them. All that said, I squeed over the mile marker. Sorry, it's the history background. Thank you, this is great!

[tielan]

The mile marker was a last-minute addition. :)

Thank you!

[retrofit88.livejournal.com]

Nice. The mail texture is particularly good.

[tielan]

Thank you!

It got so much easier once I realised I didn't have to make lots of little marks with the mouse and could just use a paintbrush to add the impression. Shortcuts FTW!

[renisanz.livejournal.com]

Cool beans. I love how Rodney and Ronon just hijacked their way into the piece, as you explained. LOL. But *love* Teyla's armor (good job on the chainmail). The manipulated background blends nicely as well.

[tielan]

The breastplate was a worry. At first I thought I should stick with the chainmail and a surcoat over the top, but I figured if she was going to be a warrior, she'd need the protection.

And, really, can you imagine Teyla not being in the fray?