"Wight" by Alex Pass

Yeah everytings out of proportion. But I love the concept, shame bout the sword.

Alex Pass replies: "I disagree about the proportion and don't understand what's wrong with the sword :-S"

Something is terribly wrong with the horse anatomy. I can't put my finger on it, put it just might be the lenght of its rear feet. As for the guy that is supposed to be sitting on the horse, he seems to me a bit too outstretches in relation to the horse's position.
Just a thought, probably all I said is wrong, anyway.

Alex Pass replies: "You can't see the horses feet, they're still in the ground and he's not sitting on it, he's standing up :-P"

To add to the present strain of comments, something is definitely not right with the horse skeleton. Its head is far too large for its body, especially the lower jaw (look at a real horse if you would like to see the difference, even with flesh the jaw is still much smaller). The hooves of the horse are also far too small to support its weight properly. The lower legs of the horse look very fragile, probably because of the tiny hooves. The entire horse seems to have an air of fragility rather than power and strength around it (almost like its legs will break under it when they hit the ground). Also, if the wight is standing up in the saddle, his feet should be in the stirrups and yet his right foot looks to be simply floating in space. I realize that you used a reference photograph, but it is still easy to make mistakes with a reference, especially with such a difficult subject. I am not trying to put down your work, I am simply offering constructive criticism - everyone can improve and no one is perfect XD Wonderful concept and composition, keep at it!

Alex Pass replies: "I still stand by my opinion that the head is pretty much in proportion. It may be something to do with the armour and its mouth being open that makes it look larger, I don't know. I have looked carefully at a horse skeleton for reference and I am confident that I didn't make any mistake. The hooves are none existent, the outer hoof which is similar to human nail has rotted and fallen away leaving just the phalanx exposed. This does indeed leave the horse looking fragile but I feel a skeleton should look fragile, its muscle that gives the strength and power. It would break when it hit the ground if it wern't animated by 'magic'.The wight's feet are meant to be in the stirrups however a mistake has put the layer in the wrong place and the stirup is behind his foot, you can see part of it sticking out. I shall have to correct this and upload again. Thanks for pointing this out.Thanks for your constructive criticism, I know my art is not perfect and I am usually the first to criticise my own work. In this case I just disagree. Nice arguing with you ;-)"

This picture is amazing! How long did it take you to draw in all the bones for the skeleton? It takes a great eye for detail to pull off something like that. The horse skeleton is of course stunning, but my favorite is the human skull. I've tried many times to draw a skull and it always comes off looking like an overly filled balloon. One question though, what are the origins to the wight? Are they in mythology or a game or something? I've never heard of them and I'm interested. Congrats on Mod's Choice!

Alex Pass replies: "I don't know how long it took me, I worked on it on and off over about a week. Perhaps 20 hours or something. A quick search has found that Wights were originally from Norse mythology, although they were nothing like this, more like supernatural beings or gods. Tolkeins 'barrow-wights' from 'the fellowship of the ring' probably came from this but have been interpreted since in other fiction and games as the undead skeletal warrior I drew. Cheers for your comments"

And actuly, no I didn't, That is a really big sword that barbarians use.I say this because the wight couldn't do very much damage compared to the dead legions of the underworld. It's like, "let me poke you with this puny long-sword" and the other people get their zombies and stuff out to eat the bones of the thing.. Do you understand WHERE I'm going with this?

Alex Pass replies: "Yes I know what a bastard sword is, when I said 'you just wanted to say bastard' I was joking. As I said, the size of the sword is dependent mostly on composition of the piece. Anyway, its not the size of your weapon, its what you do with it - that was a joke too"

the bones are blurred. if the light that is producing that much shine on the armor was hitting bones that have been buried under ground, the bones would not look shiny. they would be muted from dirt, but mostly, bones aren't all that shiny until they are polished. the bridle on the horse needs more detail as well. the reins tend to blend in with the jaw which causes confusion on the head size. also, if the hooves have rotted away, should there be some sign of that? Perhaps just some jagged edges to accentuate the rot. just a couple more thoughts.

Alex Pass replies: "Yeah maybe..."

I do like your drawing but the legs are to thin and the head is to large and the neck is to short, but i still think the drawing is good...

Alex Pass replies: "Ok. Thanks."

I like your interpretation. the horse looks as if it's laughing...

Alex Pass replies: "Maybe it is.. Mwhahahahaha. Cheers"

I'm amazed you are so certain you've got the picture correct to your reference... I'd like to see the picture(s) you used.

If you used a picture in the same pose, you should try overlaying the 2 and thus proving to everyone (or yourself, depending on the result) if its correct or not.

And to you lot complaining about the sword, with a steed like his, its the least of his worries.

Alex Pass replies: "When the comments first came in about the proportions I did indeed do that to prove to myself. It was pretty spot on which is why i've argued so. Anyway, I'm beyond caring any more. People can say what they like."

All these people criticizing the shape of the horse skeleton, have you ever actually looked at a real horse skeleton? This hrose is really well detailed and is actually beautifully proportioned. A horse hoof bone (phalanx) is like a third the size of the actualy hoof itself. The skull is a huge heavy bone and does indeed look too large for the body, but if you think about it, the head does not have much muscle to build it up, but the body does. So it is in fact in proportion. Beleive me or not, i'm a veterinarian, and i've seen my share of horses.