now thats METAL XD

That's exactly what I was going for.

I legit think while working on this, Dio, Tenacious D, Disturbed, etc etc were playing. You gotta' have the right playlist for the right pieces, you know?

Super awesome job on this.

Thank you! I'm very proud.

You’re super welcome.

For context, this piece is for my D&D character Brik-a-Brak. He is a goblin artificer that rides a steampunk wolf.

And wow Mr. Daddyfox, you freaking killed it....this...this gives me IDEAS. I can't wait until next session!

You know, I assumed it was D&D related. Not gonna lie, in that it gave me a little added pressure thinking that this was prolly a dude SUPER close to your heart. BUT, I'm glad I could do him justice. This is genuinely one of my favorite pieces I've done in a looong while.

STUNNING line work here! Amazing detail and sharpness!

I legit really appreciate the "sharpness" mention. I think it's easy to overlook how simple it can be to just clutter this piece, what with all the working parts and machinery elements. I took a lot of care to make sure that numerous components were crisp and clear.

So, thanks for noticing :)

F'n awesome.. ;3

Oh go on!

Thanks, buddy.

Goblins always had wicked looking tech, and your style makes it pop even more. That difference in shadow play between the more organic shadows against the metal's shiny reflections would have taken forever to do as well. Mind if i ask how long this took?

Sooooo.... it's hard to say. I work with a light table right? So it's similar to how digital artists work in layers. There were some alterations that needed to happen with the mechanical wolf at different stages. The Goblin was a walk in the park, which isn't bad, but his concept I pretty much nailed in the first concept. But that wolf, I had a general idea of how I wanted him to look. What it came down to was layers. With all of my mechanical work, while I myself am no engineer, I want it to at least LOOK like it would function in a physical world. So there is some layering of plates over gears and pistons that would let you believe that this thing could move and not snag up its own bits and pieces. However, there were areas then that I needed to remove some plating so you could see some of the cool gear-work, and vice-versa. And then, there was also a version of the head that had more fur mingled in with it -- like you see in back there with the tail. But I knew that I wanted to have those cheek vents, which to me, just didn't make sense aesthetically; especially since it might just look more confusing with the mix of fur and steam, and it may just look like the head was shedding. Couple other little things, but ultimately, I opted to just leave the head completely metal. And speaking of the head, it took a little extra time to make sure that literal death-trap of a mouth looked just right. For instance, if you REALLY look at the bottom jaw, it's crooked, compared with the upper. And that was completely intentional to give a feeling of movement in a swaying head and slacked jaw. But it also meant I had to make sure stuff still lined up properly, to allow for that kind of mobility freedom.

I will say that this piece, for it's actual size took longer than similar sized pieces, but not really due to time in shading; more specifically differentiating between textures of organic versus metallic. For me personally -- and this is just gonna sound like shameless bragging. And it's just meant to be complete honesty -- it's very easy to switch on and off in my head what I'm detailing and how to go about it. 'It's a sheet of metal: okay, I've got to make sure I do this, this and this,' or 'it's hair' or it's whatever, 'gotta make sure I do this, that, and the other thing.' It's more just second nature at this point. It's not EASY, but not necessarily time consuming (as much as you may think) either.

Ballpark, from start to finish, cumulatively? well over 12 hours, but proooobably under 24?

That's super impressive though, and quite complicated in the amount of phases gone through. Absolutely great job :D