Pinup Boy Sunday - Corliss

Today's pin-up is Corliss Baenan, mercenary, head of security and current punching-bag from The Rose Queen.

Taken on as the head of the Orenda's security with the specific task of guarding the Rose Queen, Corliss managed to screw up spectacularly, losing not only the Rose Queen's trust, but the man himself.  So much for good intentions.

Tasked by his Captain with retrieving him, Corliss discovers his adversary might be a little quicker-witted than expected—and even if he wasn't, RQ has his own opinions on the matter .  If Corliss is to have a hope of fulfilling his job and avoid being unceremoniously dumped back into his past life he might just have to join forces with a man he hates to protect his target, because if he can't he might just lose everything...

Pinup Boy Sunday - Alex

Today's pin-up is Alex, former antagonist and now slightly unexpected main character from Radial and my occasionally-ongoing webseries Unravel.

The acerbic Alex started out life as a guinea pig in a semi-governmental facility, passed along—he supposes by his parents—due to his paranormal abilities and odd personality.  From there, he moved through the Academy to graduate at 18 and take his place working for the same shadowy organisation, cataloguing others like himself and 'claiming' those signed over to them for experimentation.  (And indulging in a lot of alcohol and casual sex along the way.)

One of those was Milos, and because the damn alfa survived his procedure, Alex is stuck with him.  But it did turn out that Milos had more uses beyond clawing his opponents and spectacularly failing to hit him during sparring lessons—though the same can't be said for the floor.

Not that he can work out how casual, grudging and somewhat blackmailed sex ended up in what seems to be an actual relationship, or why it seems so natural to share Milos's bed...  but it does make getting laid a lot easier.

Not that they really need a bed for that.  The car'll do just fine.  Or their office; the gym; behind the bar.  Or the kitchen, or alleyways, or...

Pinup Boy Sunday - Milos

Finally found time for another picture that took wholly more time than it looks like it did!

Today's pin-up is Milos from my occasionally ongoing project Unravel.

Milos has not had the best start in life, but through several incredible twists of fate he has ended up in a significantly better situation than he could have hoped: he's employed by the government, has been given an apartment of his own and best of all, a place to keep his beloved motorbike--the only thing of his own he was able to take from his old life.

The only downside is the colleague he's now forced to work with--the man who kidnapped him in the first place, with the paperwork to prove that it was all perfectly legal--who, despite Milos's best efforts, has become more like a partner to him, in every sense of the word.

Oh, and the genetic mutation he was forced to undergo that turns his fingers into polymetal claws.  That too.  Only that he can use as an advantage.  He's yet to find any advantage to Alex at all.

...Well, except that if Alex is in bed with him, it's another night he can put off buying a radiator for his apartment.

Pinup Boy Sunday - Tauma

Maybe not a two-weekly feature per se...  Though in my defense, this one proved to be a little awkward.  I couldn't do it the way I wanted in 3D so this time, I'm sorry, you get my actual hand-drawn and coloured artwork instead.

This is Tauma, protagonist of my NaNoWriMo 2014 project.  He's a happy, unassuming man who works at a 'Palace'--a kind of exclusive club where men go for alcohol, music and conversation with handsome and intelligent young men, and who can then choose to sleep with said men.  Tauma has a secret, but who doesn't in that kind of place?

Except Tauma's secret can bring two countries to their knees.  Worse, so could his crush on one of his clients, the enigmatic Raven, whose own secret could just be enough to ruin Tauma's life entirely...

Pinup Boy Sunday - Admiral Fayth

This is rapidly turning into a two-weekly feature, isn't it?  The irony is, it's not the time it takes to render the image--it's the time it takes to render it again, and again, and again, until the lighting looks good and as little looks weird as possible (which in my case is the most time-consuming part; I always miss something).

Still, it's a good thing I enjoy it!

Today's pin-up is Admiral Fayth, the protagonist and all-round force of nature from The Rose Queen.

Fayth lives his life from his shuttle, quite literally: he eats, sleeps and works from it, hunting down property that is, if not already lost, then is likely to be in the foreseeable future.  Fayth is a thief, and he'd like to think he's damn good at it too (as well as being the hottest misappropriator of goods this side of eternity, of course).  That's why he gets hired for obscure jobs... like finding a certain gardener and returning them to their rightful owner.

Shame it all goes horribly wrong, really.  Still, every cloud has a silver lining, right?

As to the gun?  Well, he wouldn't want to brag... too much.

Pinup Boy Sunday - The Rose Queen

Possibly as punishment for being so happy last week that I could finally render images in a timely manner, this week's image took around a week to render, which is why I missed last week's posting.  Not a week continuously, no.  The main body of the picture, however, took around 25 hours solid to complete.  I then discovered some issues that needed correcting, so without the hanging and foreground plants, the image took around 7 hours per pass to render, and had to be re-rendered twice to fully correct everything.

Of course, none of this would have been possible at all on my laptop, so perhaps it was less of a punishment and more to prove a point.  So, therefore, after a week's unintentional hiatus...

Today's pin-up is The Rose Queen, from my project of the same name.

The Rose Queen—which is his title, not his name, but his name is something he guards jealously and dislikes announcing, instead most commonly going by the name of "RQ"—is sometimes a quiet and unassuming man, but not incapable of defending himself or standing up for himself verbally.  He is intrinsically a good man...

...but if he really wanted, if he really knew what he could do, then absolutely nothing in the galaxy could stop him.

Pinup Boy Sunday - Milos (Sci-Fi)

These have been on hiatus somewhat since my original attempts, mostly due to the fact that Sixteen sometimes struggles with rendering images and it's nearly impossible to do absolutely anything else while it's going on.

However!  Now I have Echo, I can still use Sixteen for everyday things and renders that could have taken five or seven hours on Sixteen only take two or three at most.  Unless they're ridiculously enormous, of course, and then what might take seven or eight hours on Echo would have probably overheated Sixteen entirely...

As a result, this totally pointless weekly feature is now back!

Today's pin-up is Sci-Fi Milos.

I normally avoid the 'elves in space' trope, especially considering his canon is already pretty damn odd, but I had the unexpected urge to render this.  I think he came out nicely enough, so I'm not complaining...

Pinup Boy Sunday - Niko Lunen

Postponed from last week due to certain technical hitches, this Sunday it's the turn of Kirill's love interest, legal owner and unintended rescuer, Nikolai Lunen.

Niko is a 29-year-old engineer, mechanic and alchemist with an affable, if somewhat solitary demeanour.  He lived alone in a small manor in an upmarket part of the city until Kirill came to live with him, and makes a living by working on constructing mechanical and alchemical commissions.

He enjoys reading, working and music (sometimes both at the same time), and enjoys taking care of Kirill.  He dislikes the practice of slavery and isn't quite sure how he ended up with one, although suspects a soft heart is a bad thing to take to an auction.

Pinup Boy Sunday - Kirill

It was originally going to be "Sexy Boy Sunday" but... really there's no word less appropriate to describe half my characters, so this is what we're stuck with.

Today and nothing to do with procrastination whatsoever it's the turn of the protagonist of the steampunk story I'm working on, Kirill.

Kirill is a quiet and serious young man whose most distinguishing features are the white streak in the front of his hair and the gold scarring covering a large part of his upper face.  At 24 he has the general demeanour of a man twice his age and, until the riots, was living quietly with Nikolai Lunen, his legal owner and best friend.

He likes nice food, the feel of soft fabrics and the sight of Niko's smile; he dislikes people invading his personal space and the cold.  His favourite place to be is curled up in a chair in Niko's conservatory.