Saturday, March 5, 2011

Gaming Goddess



I used to do commissions for gamers, illustrating their gaming characters. This gal is a Goddess, or more likely a demi-goddess, from someone's role playing game. My client gave me elaborate instructions for both the character and her background, and I remember working hard to stuff all the details into a rather small picture. She's holding some type of Sphere of Power, and is standing in front of a glowing yellow altar, on a mystic screen disc. A dragon made of smoke curls around her above the altar, and an emerald dart or arrow rests in a holder placed on the altar. A ruby-encrusted crown is at her left, also on the altar, resting on a black velvet cushion.

Her name was "Ivutar Blackheart," and I don't remember whether she was evil or good, or even whether she had an action role. Anyone else would have made her with a low-cut dress and a lot of buxom cleavage, as well as a slit skirt revealing lots of leg. But I didn't, I made a modest Goddess which I vaguely remember was what my client wanted. I was never satisfied with the way this picture came out, and it's not well documented in my files nor was it well photographed. I still love doing character portraits. I wonder what ever happened to my gaming client, or Ivutar. Probably she is long forgotten, except for her unexpected revival here in this By-Product...but no! I found her on the home page of my old client, and here she is - (click on the little image of the painting under the word "Warp")...with my mundane name totally misspelled.

"Ivutar Blackheart" is acrylic on illustration board, about 8 1/2" x 11", 1985.

1 comment:

Erik said...

Your client, Bob, was my DM oh those many years ago. I just came across a sheaf of old role-playing papers, including a description of Ivutar Blackheart (the search for "Ivutar" led me here, and to his site):

"Ivutar Blackheart:
She bears many names; Empress Ivutar the Golden of Ivutar, Lady of Entwater, Vana’s Bane, the Blackheart, the Betrayer, Dragondaughter, Kingswhore, Blasphemer, Lonerider, and many more both as dark and glorious. It is said that she will betray every army she leads, and thus far it has been true, though none have followed her knowingly for many a year.

She has not been seen with certainty in the two hundre and thirty years since She abandoned Her throne in the first year of Her reign. Rumors of Her works have spread, mostly dark, but Her motives are as unknown as the others of the Three."

So there you go. She's not _completely_ forgotten. Bob's was a very entertaining universe and some of the stories linger on...