Tag: sketches

Sketch: Skeletor and He-Man from “Masters of the Universe” | June 20, 2026

Posted on June 20, 2026

Drawing of Skeletor impaling He-Man with the shattered remains of the Sword of Power. — Skeletor and He-Man

Saw the He-Man / “Masters of the Universe” movie on Friday, and it was such a fun romp! I’m not very familiar with the source material – I haven’t watched the show – but I went in expecting a campy good time. It delivered on this, and more, as I constantly felt the budget for this movie felt much higher than what I would expect for a movie of this scope. Which was an absolute treat for an audience-member, but it made me concerned for how this movie might perform at the box office – as while I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, it felt very niche.

Initial sketch of Skeletor and He-Man. — Initial sketch.

The standout for me, though, was Skeletor. I know nothing about this character, but hearing the voice actor’s performance in cinematic theaters was an unfathomable delight. The VA’s performance reminded me of a niche character in Guild Wars 2, called “Mad King Thorn,” who is a trickster, jokey character that is vaguely demonic (he’s associated with the game’s version of “Halloween”). To me, this performance was a mix of a more “unhinged” version of Mad King Thorn, combined with a more “unhinged” version of Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas – or, more accurately, Danny Elfman’s portrayal of the character. Danny Elfman can do wonderfully spooky yet appealing things with his voice, and much of the creative choices used for Skeletor’s voice reminded me of several aspects I love in both Danny Elfman’s voicework and singing, along with the VA for Mad King Thorn.

In-progress sketch of Skeletor and He-Man before adding color. — In-progress sketch.

I appreciated the vaguely flirtatious direction Skeletor was given when referring to He-Man in the movie, haha. The little sigh of longing he does after mentioning He-Man’s thighs was comedic brilliance, the actor has wonderful timing. I want a playlist of only Skeletor’s lines to listen to while drawing, haha.

Oh! Speaking of playlists – I was also shocked by how strong the soundtrack is. It is a very modern take on both 80’s themes, as well as older rock/electric guitars from that era. I was very interested in seeing who the composer was during the credits, and learned it is Daniel Pemberton. Who is also the composer for Project Hail Mary – my favorite sci-fi movie I’ve seen this year so far – as well as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse! I don’t recall the score for those Spider-Man movies too well (I’ll also admit ready bias toward Danny Elfman’s scores for the Raimi Spider-man films), but I remember enjoying the score for Project Hail Mary while watching it in the theater.

I enjoyed He-Man’s score even more, though. It’s a standout to me! I was listening to it while drawing this sketch, haha. Oh! Let me link the playlist here. Give it a listen, you might also enjoy it!

I’ll add it in the full post:

Arquel Brush Test | April 9, 2026

Posted on April 9, 2026

Colorful drawing of a masculine figure with his hair tied back. A trio of horns adorns each side of his head. — Arquel brush test

I was playing around with some brush settings last week. This is one of the color tests (the other is Corveil, of course – I’d like to see if I can make him more presentable at some point).

Earlier version of the previous drawing. — Earlier version

Reaper Sketch | March 10, 2026

Posted on March 10, 2026

At the tail-end of formatting the Duskbirds zines – indulged briefly earlier with some imagination-drawing anatomy-practice with my sylvari reaper. I think I’m slightly more comfortable drawing torsos from imagination now.

I need to do more neck studies in the future.

Hannibal and Will Warm-up Drawing | February 11, 2026

Posted on February 11, 2026

Drawing of Hannibal reaching for the back of Will's head, as Will dispassionately takes a bite from an unspecified bit of meat from his fork. — Will and Hannibal Warm-up drawing

I enjoyed season 2, episode 10 of the “Hannibal” tv show for all the wrong reasons, but it’s been a refreshing reminder for how much I love dark fantasies, haha. I knew I’d have to do a small drawing of them at some point.

This is from memory (another drawing from imagination practice), so I don’t expect the likeness to be precise – though I was thinking of the actors’ portrayals (Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelson). My hope is it conveys the “feeling” of their characters, even if the likeness isn’t precise. I’ve been really enjoying the actors’ performances, especially during season 2. This show has been a delightful, slow-burn for me – I almost didn’t continue it after the first initial episodes in season 1 – but the show really rewards you during the second season for sticking with it. I’m very glad I’m finally getting around to watching it after so long!

I’m still within season 2 (I think just finished episode 12 the other day). This show has been sort of fascinating me for how much it was able to get away with. I can’t believe it was a network television show. I question whether they would be able to shoot this show today.

I’m really glad it exists. I learned afterward that this show was cancelled in its third season for poor ratings, and even though I love it, I can understand why – it is so niche and unapologetic in its show creators’ interests. I really admire and respect this level of dedication to staying true to their vision. It almost feels more like an art house or indie production than a network show.

Wider crop of the previous drawing. — Slightly wider cropping.

It’s giving me much to ponder about the type of art I want to do and express.

Cadeyrn Warm-up | January 9, 2026

Posted on January 9, 2026

Loose sketch drawing of Cadeyrn from Guild Wars 2. He wears a crown of golden, glowing vine, as he slouches smugly against twisted thorns. — Cadeyrn Warm-up (Crop)

Super rough Cadeyrn warm-up! I’ve been wanting to sketch the ending portion of Ree Soesbee’s “Dream and Nightmare” passages, particularly the final one describing Cadeyrn after he’s founded the Nightmare Court. The specific portion reads:

Cadeyrn lounged on his throne with a careless, prideful slouch. A crown of golden vine glittered on his forehead as courtiers bowed and whispered before him, hanging on Cadeyrn’s every word, their eyes as lightless as the space between the stars.

— Source: Dream and Nightmare by Ree Soesbee

I love the imagery this passage depicts, and it’s been on my task list for a while to try sketching some ideas based off it. This is my second (very loose) attempt. Below is the full, uncropped (and very rough) composition:

Full version of the Cadeyrn drawing shown previously. He sits atop a throne-like tangle of thorned vines. — Cadeyrn warm-up (Full composition)

I thought it might also be fun to play a little with Cadeyrn’s design, namely his outfit. I’m not a huge fan of his in-game armor, but I wanted to try something that is still recognizable as having that as its inspiration (for comparison, this is Cadeyrn’s in-game appearance). I really like how in the Nightmare Court outfit series of armor, there’s a mild sense of lasciviousness, or this air of seduction, which works thematically with their concept of corrupting (or “seducing”) Dream sylvari to Nightmare.

I also thought it didn’t quite make sense that Faolain (the canonical leader of the Nightmare Court) wears Nightmare Court armor, while its founder wears low-level sylvari cultural armor. From the Grove, no less! This never made sense to me, given how arrogant Cadeyrn is depicting in Ree Soesbee’s writings. (I imagine he might likely have disdain for anything associated with the Grove.) But I do love when concepts are created based off in-game appearances – it’s why often, my favorite games to do fan art for tend toward those with lesser graphics. Because these allow more freedom with how artists can imagine their depictions, and allow more creativity and play among different interpretations across a variety of people.

That’s the idea behind his alternations here – I tried combining features from the sylvari male version of the Nightmare Court light armor (as Cadeyrn is a mesmer) – mainly by opening the chest, and changing his collar armor to thorns instead of leaves – while attempting to keep the “spirit” of his in-game appearance intact.

Incidentally, the first sketch I tried was from two days ago, sketched as an even looser warm-up:

Loose sketch showing Cadeyrn toying with his “crown of glittering vine.”

There are aspects of this sketch I also like. I’m not sure which version I’ll take further – it might be neither, maybe I’ll try a few more ideas! – but it was fun to finally sketch down some potential tries for this idea.

Finally, the first sketch is also part of one of the “sketchpages” I use for warm-ups – this is how the full page looks:

Loose sketches | *Left,* Cadeyrn from Guild Wars 2; *Right,* Corveil, from my own setting (not GW2)

This page started as as warm-up with Corveil first, on the right, as some anatomy construction practice.