The Changeling role-playing game is based in a world much like our own. Cars still need gasoline, restaurants still charge you too much for a meal, and nothing good ever happens on a Monday. Hidden in that world is the almost extinct world of fairies. The Fae Folk now hide in plain sight within the bodies of mortal hosts. They still go to boring jobs and do all the repetitious things that can kill us a little each day. However, when they get together they plot and scheme and engage in every bit of mischief they can. They are the stuff of dreams and their cake and mead is the stuff of raw creative thought. Not surprising is it that any artist would feel drawn to such a concept?

For about a year now I've been engaged in a role-playing scenario based in this little magical reality. Organized by Dr. Steven Grabania, the game centers on the lives and dreams of the Changelings that dwell in the tri-state area. I'm glad to say that I'm now good friends with most of my fellow players. Many of the pics below are of the people from the game as their characters would appear. It was an interesting artistic challenge to add the specific fictional elements of fairies, such as the horns and goat legs of a Satyr, without losing the recognizable elements of the individual person. I was very pleased with the results, as were many of my unwitting models. Photographs were used for some of the renderings, but for the most part the designs came from original sketches.

Winter's Edge

King Artemis	The model for the smooth talking King of Goblintown is my childhood "partner in crime" Christopher Fletcher. While in real life he actually lacks the pointy teeth the vicious yet charming smile is all his. My only real complaint would be that I realized too late that I put the part in his hair on the wrong side. So much for artistic observation.
Christian Krosse	Tony Kukal, founder of the Mystic Realms Live Action Fantasy game, was the model for his character. His dour faced Sluagh Changeling was an easy choice to go in this gallery.
Sir Colin	While I enjoy this illustration it often bothers me that it looks nothing like the person it's drawn from. I may redo this illustration at a later date and this time find more photographic references to the man behind the Troll. Still, I enjoy the "carved from the mighty mountain" look of this rendering.
Sir Colin's axe	This massive piece of weaponry doesn't exist really. I had to imagine what sort of weapon a nine-foot tall Troll knight would use. I made the legendary two handed weapon large, simple and efficient, much like the Changeling who wields it.
Danielle Sullivan	This illustration was taken from a specific photograph of model Beth Finn with obvious alterations made. I am pleased with the final result; the image of this Nocker does lack some of the spontaneous feeling of some of the other renderings. This is often the problem with working directly from photographs.
Lady Delearia	Kelly Niedzialek plays the unstable raven Pooka known as the Lady Delearia. The heraldry behind her represents the Royal Sidhe House (Liam) that her character swore fealty to. The House has since fallen from its once mighty strength in the game. Now she is one of the few who still holds to the dream.
Dianna	The lovely Lauren Irish was the model for this seductive Satyr vixen. I think the pose I chose to use delightfully shows off the unearthly nature of her character. To my mind this was one of the more successful renderings in that it answered the artistic challenges of the series very well. The scarf sitting nearby was added as an inside reference from the game.
Chancellor Finnegan Leary	Dr. Steve Grabania plays the part of our resident fae homebody affectionately known as Finny. Steve is the storytelling wonder behind the organizational nightmare that is our Changeling community. The character he plays is the Chancellor to the Seelie Duke known as Benjamin Stewart of House Liam. Finny is a Boggan which is a type of Changeling that is a blend of a Hobbit and the Shoemaker's Elves. In keeping with Boggan characteristics for this image, I had to enlarge Steve's nose and add an extra set of eyebrows.
Lady Grear	The woman behind the Lady Grear is the talented Kathy Sykes, who is the technical expert behind the operation of this very web page. When playing the part of this scarred Unseelie Sidhe of House Scathach and coldly professional hit-woman, Kathy becomes the consummate "ice queen". This piece really captures the unique flavor of this character. She is otherworldly fae and yet very real in a very dangerous way. This piece is one of the most successful in this series.
Squire Malice	This personage belongs to one Keith Jameson. I am not really sure why this character inspired a rendering. I guess I just felt that there was a bit of character there that would work well in a drawing. Between the distinct red cap and hair it was easy to capture the image of the player within the drawing of the nasty, bone chewing character.
Princess Mildred	Danielle Nordyk plays the child-like Goblin Princess. She is a greedy spoiled gremlin; rapidly throwing together parts and machines into nightmarish patchwork creations. I had an image in my mind that translated easily to paper of her with a large cutesy mechanical playmate; one part child's toy, one part monster truck rally reject.
Simon Victor	I don't do self-portraits very often, but the opportunity to do one here was too much of a good thing to resist. I was very pleased with the way the rendering captured this Sluagh's dignified character while still showing a large degree of malignant mischief in his eyes and smile. I attempted to dramatically use the contrast between lights and shadows as well as viewing angle to gain the greatest effect.
Thorax	My friend Scott Laipple plays the savage Redcap known to the world as Thorax. Not the nicest nightmare someone could meet, so I tried to capture some of that bullying nature with pen and paper.
Thorax's axe	The prop for this little piece of hardware is a small plastic axe (the kind you find all over during Halloween) with the handle snapped off. In the imaginative fictional world of Changeling, I figured the hand axe would take on a more dramatic look in keeping with the fierce nature of its owner.

Liberty City Rising

Lord Tyrael	The amazing Andrew Woodworth brought up Lord Bayard Tyrael ap Eiluned. One of the pivotal cast members of the Liberty City sessions, the character met an untimely demise soon after the completion of this rendering (leading many people to believe my drawings were cursed). Lord Tyreal was the winged Sidhe "tough guy" of LCR. Not much for words, the good Lord often let angry storm clouds speak for him. I depicted him with his usual stern expression staring into an unseen distance. His soul rending sword sits at his side with flames licking the steel.
Cyrus Frost	Cyrus is the cold (but kindly) Sluagh magician who comes every so often to aid the poor suffering Fae of LCR. This self-styled gentleman adventurer is brought to life by Peter Woodworth, who is the co-storyteller of the game. I gave Cyrus a dignified look but I couldn't help but add a playful reference to his colder side by adding a small pleasant looking snowman. It added a little visual contrast that I thought was pleasing.
Megan "Cass" Cassidy	I've always liked the imagery of the "green man". So when Retta Harrison decided to play one of the Ghile Dhu, I jumped at the chance to do a rendering. The image was taken from a photograph. Most of the vines and leaves were originally painted on. It's an interesting challenge to take that sort of design and make it seem "real".

Beastie	The Beastie is an absolute in "things that go bump in the night". In olden times the Beasties were the wild terrors that stalked the shadows and wrecked havoc across the whole countryside. I tried to develop an image of a nightmarish conglomerate of completely alien parts. Beady eyes, a wild maw filled with teeth, fishy scales, a pinhead & long snatching fingers made up my perfect Beastie.
Boggan	The Boggan was a helpful household faire. Short, plump and kindly at most times; the Boggan is capable of completing large tasks in very little time, so long as no one is watching. Their short stature, large noses and an extra set of eyebrows mark them for what they are. I gave this Boggan an old English style face with bright kindly eyes. It was just a quick sketch but turned out to have a lot of personality to it.
Boggart	Everything that a Boggan is, the Boggart is not. Vicious and mean spirited it; these little imps are the bane to every smoothly run operation. For every little problem in olden times that came up in a day, the Boggarts often got the blame (and usually rightly so). I rendered this nasty little mugger while at work. Heaven knows that if ever there were a place for Boggarts to cause mischief it would be there.
Bogie	These creatures are the consummate "bogie-men". Shadowy lurkers, they wait to feed off of the disgusting bodily fluids of others. I tried to image such a grizzled, nasty monster. A lanky thing with beady eyes that spends its life hidden in the dark waiting for the unwary. I gave him dirty street clothes and tiny harp needle-like teeth. The cigarette gave him an eerily common quirk. He turned out close to my original vision.
Clurichaun	An Irish faire related to the Leprechaun, these hard drinking Fae are not quite as industrious as their shoe-making cousins are. I got lucky with this piece; it more or less drew itself. I liked the personality that came out of this sketch. The details such as the hat with the Irish pin made it all the more interesting for me.
Eshu	Originally an African wandering spirit, the Eshu are the taletellers and daring heroes of the faire world. Know for having the stars in their eyes and a gypsy's guile, I gave this wily fellow all those otherworldly qualities.
Ghille Dhu	The famous "green men" of the forest. I had just finished reading a romantic short story involving a Ghille Dhu when I was inspired to doodle out this piece. I liked the layering that the leafy "beard" provided. The varying tones played out well also. I had the time to really work those out. There were some parts of the face however that did not sit well with me, but then again this piece was kind of spontaneous and had little constructive planning involved.
Goblin	This sketch was just a quickie, done to get a feeling out of my system. It seemed to suit the twisted mottled skinned menaces that the goblins commonly seem to be.
Nocker	These Fae were originally Welsh in origin. They were supposed to be working deep under ground (their name taken from the supposed tapping sound that miners could hear). They are crafters and builders. However they are perpetually cursed with minor flaws in their work. I added a bit of color to this piece to show off the ruddy skin that tends to look like overdone stage make-up. The cigar added to the rugged and crass look of this fairy.
Ogre	Big and nasty to the bone, these juggernaughts of bonecrunching power take no prisoners. I gave this evil thug a primitive weapons and armor his base violent nature. The large underbite and bony horns add to his rough appearance. The severed heads hanging from the belt were just an added detail to finish it off.
Pooka	The Pooka were shapeshifting tricksters of the fairy realm. They would take unwary travelers on a wild ride, dumping them in odd and lost places. They were spawned from the dreams of children watching animals at carefree play. This young fox Pooka has all the signs of a kid up to mischief. I thought the slingshot and the chucks were a nice touch.
Redcap	The savage Redcap I rendered here was done in a fit of malicious glee. These creatures used to haunt Scottish castles and waylay travelers; later soaking their wool caps in the blood of those they caught unawares. I wanted to show this wicked fairy not in an act of violence, but rather with the promise of a something nasty that is about to happen.
Satyr	This was just a quick sketch done of the classic Satyr. Creatures of carnal passion and whims of mood, I rendered a simple headshot here to show off some of these fae's other worldly and goat-like nature.
Selkie	The Selkie (or Roane) come from the visions of sailors watching seals at play along cold coastlines. They supposedly can come to shore and remove their sealskins to walk among people unnoticed. Their human forms are softly beautiful with devastating eyes. In the rendering I wanted to show both aspects of these water Fae.
Sidhe	The Gods of Old Ireland. The Sidhe are traditionally the nobility among the Fae courts. They are swift to anger and potent forces often-controlling nature to spectacular ends. They sometimes kidnap or trick hapless people into their strange realms, never to be seen again. This drawing is more of a softer view of these ancient elves. "Danger lies there in the land of the Sidhe..."
Sluagh	The dark and slinky Sluagh comes from the nightmares of everything that "goes bump in the night". They are thin and wispy and often have an affinity for these things that dwell in the dark. For this rendering I used a backdrop of various spiders to illustrate this.
Troll	This strong and imposing figure was done during a late night visit to Denny's while discussing character ideas with an acquaintance. I was just visualizing a large Troll in heavy armor while we talked over coffee. It was adjust a quick visual of the Nordic looking Troll.

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