Historical Military Units - Landsknecht

Landsknechts are German mercenary pike units reknowned for their colourful costumes. I'm particularly drawn to them because they're mercs but they're considered professional mercs and they fight wars for feudal lords in Europe in the medieval periods. They are primarily pike and spear units - drawing their tactics from Swiss pikemen who were some of the best in Europe during their heyday.

The most amusing units in a Landsknecht formation are the Doppelsoldner, or Double Soldier. These are more experienced soldiers who take the frontlines, hence the riskier jobs. For that they are paid double - hence the name Double Soldier. Their primary armament is the extremely large, 5 to 8 feet long Zweihander - or Two Handers. The romanticized version recounting the use of the doppelsoldners were that they charge in with the zweihanders breaking spearheads of enemy pike formations so the rest of the Landsknechts can break through. Truthfully zweihanders were probably a pain to handle on the battlefield - tossed away after the initial contact and drawing their common use sword - the Katzbalger - for close combat when the enemy lines are broken.

Find out more about the Landsknechts here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsknecht

For now, here are the sketches.

HOLY! Been a week!!

I SERIOUSLY thought I'd be updating a lot more since there's a few stuff I already uploaded onto the server. Anyway. Here's the development of the Gray Wolf I was working on. It usually takes about 3-5 hours to finish a dog profile but I got sidetracked by some freelance stuff and a job application.

Here's something else I was working on for fun. I hardly, if ever, do fan art. But this is my version of Motoko Kusanagi from GITS - work in progress. So what does it prove? It just proves that I can still draw girls...I used to be pretty good at that.

That's all for this post. Should have something up again tomorrow.

Works in Progress

A couple pieces of work in progress. Just laying down the linework and lighting tests for now. Actually I've got a few unfinished pieces lying around and just have to get around to finish them up.



I'll post the WIP stages bit by bit when I get them done.

Forgot to add this WIP piece. Canis Lupus - or Grey Wolf. Its part of the "dogs" collection of illustrations.


What can I say, I love canids - dogs, wolves, foxes - so expect to see more. Wolves are fascinating to me because of the way the pack works. Anyway there are a few things to fix on this piece. The muzzle needs to be longer and more tapered at the nose but otherwise the proportions of others seem fairly accurate with the reference pictures I got.

More Sketches

Its basically the same batch of sketches, just going thru them bit by bit.

Some Sketches

Some sketches here about the modern infantryman.

There's no specific unit referenced in this, its mostly a jumble of British and Canadian gear. Hope its adequate for a first post.


Hope y'all liked it.

First!!!

Whooo here before everyone....