Author Archive: Micah Weltsch
Graduate student in history, web developer for a university, author and artist for Planescape: Metamorphosis, avid gamer, D&D, World of Darkness, and Guild Wars fan.
#4 – Marid
I’m a day behind but I wanted to take a little extra care on this picture because I got really into it. This is a marid — that is, a water genie — noble that dwells in the plane of water. He’ll be an important character in a later story arc of Metamorphosis, so I took the opportunity of 30 Characters to design him.
I know I’m behind a day but I plan to catch up over the weekend 😉
#3 — Deph, Queen of the Jungle
Deph is the Queen of the Jungle and the creator of animal and plant life on Ssilir. She is the youngest of the gods and delights in exploring the wilderness. Her mother represents agriculture, but Deph presides over the untamed wilds. Ssilirians believe fruit and meat are her gifts to the people, and many celebrations in her honor involve feasts. Most of her temples are located deep in the jungles. She is also sometimes associated with fire because of the use of wood as a fuel source.
She is usually depicted as a green and brown Ssilirian woman (women have smaller beaks and lack crests or horns) whose coloring changes with her surroundings. She is always shown with a companion animal, usually one of the local species around where a given temple stands.
Still getting used to the pencils and markers. I wonder if it actually is any faster than doing it digitally. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to produce perfectly sculpted works, what with school and day jobs and other things. So I am doing the best I can! Any tips anyone has for working with this medium would be greatly appreciated.
#2 – Nal, the King of Birds
Ssilirians believe they’re descended from the birds. As a result, they treat all birds as sacred animals. Nal is one of the two sons of Iul, the Sky Father. He is the god of birds, athleticism, festivals, hunting, the arts, and the Ssilirian masculine ideal. He is usually portrayed with crests instead of horns, and is always covered from head to toe brightly colored in the manner of birds common to the area of Ssilir near one of his temples.  Nobody knows what Nal’s true skin color is, but Ssilirians widely believe he introduced the art of body painting to the people.* He is usually depicted with wings and feathered armbands, collars, and anklets.
Every year, the Nalian Games are held at his biggest temple. These are a series of competitions similar to our Olympic Games. Qul, the main character of Planescape: Metamorphosis, competed in these games once. He also presids over arts and craftsmanship, including painting, sculpture, and other handiworks.
* Ssilirians generally do not wear clothes. They live in a tropical climate and have naturally thick skin, so have little need to use clothing for protection against the elements. In lieu of clothing, they use body paint. Their habitat has many plants good for dyes and pigments, so they manufacture hundreds of types of lasting paints. Wealthy Ssilirians often hire dedicated body painters to cover them in a rich tapestry of body paint, similar to how humans might hire a portrait painter or sponsor an artist to paint a ceiling.
#1 Iul, the Sky Father
Iul, the Sky God and father of the Ssilirian pantheon. Ssilir is the world the main character in my webcomic is from. Iul is the patron of night and day and the sky and all things in it. He is always depicted in sky blue or night-blue colors. Some temples paint their icons of Iul with special paint that changes color with the time of day so that he accurately reflects the sky. He is also considered a patron of knowledge, learning, and law, and many of his priests are scholars or judges.
This is the first time I have drawn him and the first time I’ve worked with markers and colored pencils together. It feels so different from working digitally. Any suggestions or tips would be welcome!
30 Characters Challenger: Micah Weltsch
Hello! How’s it going?
My name’s Micah, a near-30 amateur artist and history graduate student from the Midwest. I loved to draw as a child, quit for a while (I was convinced I wanted to do something else), and then came back to it about ten years ago and I’ve been doodling and drawing ever since. I’m not a professional, but maybe someday I’ll get that opportunity! For now I’m trying to finish my masters degree in East Asian history, with an emphasis on China, Japan, and the history of memory. My thesis project is an analysis at how the memory of a particular Japanese figure has developed over the last thousand years or so. Once I get that done and settle into a steady job, I’ll really start pursuing my dream. Meanwhile I feel a little overwhelmed by the number of professionals doing this challenge 😉
Until then, I work as a web developer at the university I attend. I also write and draw Planescape: Metamorphosis, which I need to make a button for so Tyler can post it up over there —->
The comic’s been a phenomenal learning experience for me because it forces me to do a lot of things I wouldn’t have ordinarily done. I was in a serious rut before I started it, but it’s helped me break out and keep trying new things. I look forward to more challenges it gives.
Anyone that has played D&D during the 90s (and even during this decade) will recognize the term “Planescape.” My comic is based on the old D&D setting of the same name and follows the adventures of Qul, a saurian man, and his companions across different worlds. Of course, they haven’t left Sigil, the City of Doors yet, but I have plans after my next story arc!
I joined this challenge to try and grease some character design wheels and have a good excuse to get some designs done that I need to do. I’ll be using the challenge to develop some characters for my webcomic, and try my hand at some other designs I can make use of. I love the superhero genre so I might make a few of those. I’ll probably also work on a bunch of fantasy or sci-fi style characters that I can use for other projects. Since I don’t have time to do fully colored digital art every day, most of my designs will be pencil sketches, sometimes colored with markers and/or colored pencils. Here are some examples of my finished art and some sketches I’ve done! Almost all my art ends up over at my very starkly-decorated sketch blog or my deviantART gallery so feel free to snoop around there, too!
#30Characters Chatter…