ElfQuest Fanart (original art & colorings)

[Jamie]

*Gus jumps up and gobble icecream* 

[Anker Steadfast]

.... who's Gus ??

[Jamie]

The dog in my avatar

[Anker Steadfast]

Actually, it DOES mean anchor, just in danish.
However, it is also a fairly common firstname hereabouts, though it's starting to fall out of use, what with names like Muhammad appearing more and more. It's an old name too, having been used since before the Viking age. I think it has german roots, and the brits adopted it from there.

It's also commonly use in group settings, such as "this and that person will be the anchor for the group" which means he'll be the one the others can go to when they have an odd problem, instead of having to pursue it themselves .. a sort of a stabilizing center person thing.

So, it fits a tank, and it's a nordic name .. perfect for a barbarian warrior.
The Steadfast part came later, but follows the same vein.
I wanted people to think "Oh, he's the reliable sort of fellow" from the very point I joined the party, rather than "oh, he's named suck my balls, in l33t" or something silly like that. It fit into a roleplaying setting too.

Things like that often inspires a bit of confidence in your groupmembers and sometimes made them perform better too.
Next came actually acting like that as well .. on top of that I had a soft point for helping people in distress, and sticking with a group even in a bad situation until it was actually solved. Got a lot of friends that way. Which had a tendency to become a group of friends. and groups of friends play better than random pick up groups too!

Interestingly, I was rarely the leader of the group, unless the leader we had was completely boinkers, then I'd try and take over until the leader got his act together. I guess I'm more of a follower than a leader. I try not to be too much in the way, so I reckon I'm somewhat low maintenance for the leader as well.

It's .. it's just the way a warrior should be, if you ask me ... but then I have a biased view, I guess.




Edit :
I forgot to mention ... an Anchor of Ale is an old wooden barrel that contains 39 pots of Ale .. or, in modern measurements, 37,68 litres of ale.
Which is the same as 64 pints.
Which is the same as 9.95 US gallons.

Nowadays, we no longer use Anchors of Ale, but rather Fustage's which contains in the area of 25-30 litres.
Makes them easier to carry 'n' all.
We still call them anchors though.

[aalyve wyyre]

That's some really interesting stuff! *nods* I always wonder how people get their names 'n stuff!

Your description of your barbarian warrior really reminds me of another I played with on Mith Marr server long ago.  Must be something in the personality of a barbarian warrior.  

Foxeye, your coloring skills are really flourishing!  (didn't believe they could get any better...)  Keep it up!

[Martilena]

Wonderful coloring!

Anker I loved reading about your name. I'm really interested in things like that.

[Anker Steadfast]

Your description of your barbarian warrior really reminds me of another I played with on Mith Marr server long ago.  Must be something in the personality of a barbarian warrior.  

Heh, I once heard one of those millitary types saying that he played a warrior in online games and was one as well in real life because "obviously he was a natural born warrior!" as he said ... I thought about that and asked "Would that be a defensive or an offensive warrior ?" .. I'm not sure he understood me.

In my world of thinking you are not so much a race, as an archtype.
I reckon my base archtype is a big, trustworthy defensive tanking person/character/class sort of thing.
If I played a game where you could only be a dragon, I'd probably end up as a Meleeing earth dragon with an easy personality.

... or a healer perhaps. 

Anker I loved reading about your name. I'm really interested in things like that.

OH R'LY ?

*points at Martilena*

What does that name mean then?

[Martilena]

It means that I took 2 names and put them together for a character in a book I wrote but never attempted to get published. It is a western and she is named for her 2 grandmothers sort of . I surgically joined Mary to Lena. As for their meanings ... I'm tired and too lazy to go hunt up the baby naming book for the explanation.

I CAN tell you that Rivered's REAL name means "A lily consecrated unto God". That is both her first and middle names together.

Tyenn's REAL name means " A warrior who lives by the springs." Also his first and middle names together.

[Jerelyn]

My real name means "spear-bearer who guards the forest".  I always thought that was really nifty.  Rawr.  No girlie name for me!

[Jamie]

It does?  the Jere part, or the Parker part?

[Jerelyn]

The Jere part is the spear bearer (it is the french pronunciation of Geraldine, which comes from Gerald), and Parker is keeper of the park (aka, the name for the people who kept the poachers out of the king's hunting grounds). 

[Cobalt Katze]

My name means "Beloved Chapel" hehe... The second part is easy to guess though

[Jerelyn]

It's out!  The ElfQuest 2007 Fan Calendar is out, and despite them saying it was the toughest competition ever, both my pictures got in.   

2007 Fan Calendar Page

July's picture by moi

November's picture by moi


The ultra cool thing is that the picture with my favorite character, Crescent, was put for my birthday month, and Kael's favorite character Teir, was put for his birthday month.  I didn't even request those months.

Happy happy joyness!

The first picture was something of a rush job, but the second was something I really pushed myself on, and I ended up really proud of.  There are still things I wish I could have had more time to do right, like the water, but all in all, it was one of my best drawings of the year.

Oh, and for the ladies (and men who can appreciate other attractive males), the shirtless version of the November picture.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

She's been sitting on these for months now. Can you imagine the frustration of having art stuff you can't share for months...?

[BrecciaSilentstep]

Oh, but thank you for sharing them NOW!!

(stares at Teir a little more)

(sighs)

-Breccia

[Jamie]

  my little sister so talented and ambitious ... that is so cool  I'm still too *&#$% lazy to be famous    I proud!!!!!!!!

[Jamie]

oh yeah, Jamie = One who supplants ... is that close to someone who "plants" ...?

[Jerelyn]

(stares at Teir a little more)

(sighs)

Isn't he just?

Some fantasy artists like to draw lots of half-naked women.  I try to balance that out.  

oh yeah, Jamie = One who supplants ... is that close to someone who "plants" ...?

Good enough for me.  

[Cobalt Katze]

You mean he was wearing a shirt in the original version?

Amazing work Second piece is one of the best I've seen you do thus far

[Anker Steadfast]

Well offcourse they both got into they calendar - It's because they are both great pictures.

And I'm happy to see you got Teir's bow right ... it's almost frustrating how many can get a simple item such as a bow so woefully wrong, but that's an entire rant of it's own, which doesn't belong here ... after all, you got it right and proper.

And the small child sleeping on daddy, picture perfect situation.

[Jerelyn]

  I give you my blessing to rant about poorly-drawn bows in my thread...I feel very similarly.  It especially irks me in ElfQuest drawings, because ElfQuest fans are supposed to be the sort of people who try to learn archery and pretend to be wolfriders in their early fandom.    I was never a very good archer (I sucked in fact), but I do remember some of the basics.  

Kael just told me one interesting thing...that beginners usually start out sideways (their bow-arm held straight out from their side), but the better and better an archer gets, the more they can hold the bow in front of themselves, until a master can hold it straight in front of themselves (although I'm not sure that would be optimal, even if they could...weee, run on sentence!).  I always thought it had to be sideways, sooo...I'll have to be sure not to rant about that in the future.

You mean he was wearing a shirt in the original version?

Yes, well, there were a few inches of skin covered! 

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

Did I mention that we just registered eqteir.com?

[Anker Steadfast]

Heh .. dunno if they change stances nowadays, back when I shot a few arrows, newbies and masters handled their bows the same way, sideways, it was all a question about precision and strength. But then there's also the Japanese (in an insane sideways fashion) and the Mongolese horse riders way of using a bow (somewhat forward), which is completely different from the standard european shortbow or longbow. And then the recurve hunting bows of old could also be fired horizontally if you had the training for it, kinda gangsta-like style. But that's not all.

The japanese for example, they don't hold the arrow normally, but rather in an insane way that will make your arm really sore next day. They don't even know how to hold the bow proberly - What a crazy people!

So, I dunno ... I reckon that doing the standard sideways thing is probably the most fitting way for a sort of historical fashion.

[Obi-Rak Kaeliri]

For archery ranges, yes. Think bow hunting.

[Anker Steadfast]

Has to be a shortbow then, or you won't have long enough arms, even if you are pretty tall.

And even then, I'd say the most used form is sideways.
Like so :


Florida bowhunting

They also had a bow practice guide, that migth prove insightful, even if you don't hunt.
However, the most relevant part of that article, would probably be this little tidbit:

DOING THE TWIST
Next on our list is maintaining proper form. This is easy from the ground, but how often does bowhunting provide a shot where twisting and contorting the body isn't required? If hunting from a tree stand, the answer is almost never. At the very least, you must bend down to shoot.

A pro shooter once shared an invaluable rule with me. "When using proper form," he said, "you should be able to draw a straight line from your bow hand through your release and out to the elbow of your release arm. As long as you keep that line straight and parallel to your chest, you can twist your body in any way and the shot will fly true. Bend that line or put it at an angle to your chest and it throws a monkey wrench into the engine." In other words, as long as all of your bending and twisting occurs at the hip, you are fine. Drop, bend or twist the arms, and your shot is altered. By practicing this from sitting, kneeling, bending and twisting positions, maintaining that form becomes second nature.