Diego Gisbert Llorens - Matsu Koyama Exp
With a battle ability that hands out force pumps to an army I really wanted to make sure he had an army with him, he needed to be shown as a leader noble and worth following so we had him up higher than the rest. Bit of gray in his beard to show some aging. Diego has mentioned he is a fan of this guy really likes drawing him.
Matt Zeilinger - Kitsu Kouki
Matt has been our go to guy for Lion Ancestors, so he’s done a lot of Kitsu. Matt’s style always brings a personality to the individual he is drawing which I really enjoy.
Mario Wibisono - Ikoma Aimi
Aimi changed a bit in the design process but her core idea of being a powerful courtier sensei was the focus. As a fan of the RPG I’ve always liked how court is every bit a battlefield as a military conflict, so for Aimi I wanted her playing shogi to show off that she is a courtly tactician she thinks many moves ahead and perhaps uses games as a method of teaching her pupils.
Also it’s a Mario piece so it’s also amazing looking.
Greg Lambrakis - Akodo Michitsu
Michitsu showed up on my email as a fairly small tactician with a battle action. I saw him as maybe a up and coming general who still gets into the fray at the front lines. Greg did a great job using the examples we gave him, there is a nod to Nimuro in his gear style, the armor is detailed and a variety of the clans colors in use. Really a great example of a Lion
Doug Shuler - Akodo Hotaka
We wanted a close up noble looking paragon for this one. Doug does great faces so he got the call. Turned out really nice, the armor,the pose the face, can’t be evil, seems like a catch.
As per request from several of you!
Precision - I may have a small obsession with Shika
Mirumoto Hikaro - Classic great Drew piece. I think he did this in real physical medium.
Terraced Farm - Based on a crazy cool image of terraced farms in China I found, Luis did an amazing job
Kitsu Miro - Charles Urbach
So this one might look add at first glance a Kitsu Shugenja dressed far more like a samurai.. That is on purpose. This is a shugenja who knows war not just “oh I was at a battle once”, but one who is trained in warfare far more than your average shugenja. To the point that she carries a full daisho, pretty ballsy for a shugenja. Her design mechanics originally reflected that a little more with her handing out various traits to spirits rather than her final one of generating spirits.
Charles brings a nobility to all his characters that I want to transplant into everyone, his characters hold themselves like samurai and that’s an attitude that is so very hard to teach, he remains a high bar by which we look at others.
