Artwork Bear Ribs' Random Drawings

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Gargoyle Mechanic

W9Xvicf.gif
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
I was surprised to learn apparently these axe-guns were actually really popular, especially in Poland. I honestly thought it was a gimmicky joke when I drew the picture, the equivalent of Mall Ninja gear for that century, but apparently axe guns were just a thing that people did and there were lots of them. Here's a picture of a Polish museum piece for comparison, yoinked from Wikipedia.

xd9iLq7.jpg


I guess tactically I can see this for cavalry, opening up a bunch of holes right before your charge hits would make a cavalry attack much rougher, and you may not have a chance to swap weapons. That still seems really niche though and I'd think you'd want a proper cavalry weapon, perhaps not a gunlance since lances broke so easily but maybe a Gunsaber? Why an axe? Did cavalry frequently do attacks with an axe?
 

Tiamat

I've seen the future...
I was surprised to learn apparently these axe-guns were actually really popular, especially in Poland. I honestly thought it was a gimmicky joke when I drew the picture, the equivalent of Mall Ninja gear for that century, but apparently axe guns were just a thing that people did and there were lots of them. Here's a picture of a Polish museum piece for comparison, yoinked from Wikipedia.

xd9iLq7.jpg


I guess tactically I can see this for cavalry, opening up a bunch of holes right before your charge hits would make a cavalry attack much rougher, and you may not have a chance to swap weapons. That still seems really niche though and I'd think you'd want a proper cavalry weapon, perhaps not a gunlance since lances broke so easily but maybe a Gunsaber? Why an axe? Did cavalry frequently do attacks with an axe?


I would argue that these sorts of weapons were seen more often (somewhat) during the musket and cap-and-ball era, as it took considerable time to reload such weapons, and some felt it was better to have a melee-type weapon on hand if the enemy got within melee range during reloading. Of course, while it looks cool and might be useful in some circumstances, the idea to combine a firearm and melee weapon tends to sacrifice some elements, like making the weapon sturdy enough for melee combat, or being properly balanced for use as a firearm during aiming. Hence, they were never popular, though there were finely crafted versions that were often owned by wealthy or nobility, likely more as a status symbol or just because it looked awesome, however impractical.


There's some disagreement on the use of axes as cavalry weapons, but apparently they were used during the medieval era in such a role, but fell to the wayside later as the sword, or rather saber supplemented it. Axes are hacking weapons, sabers are slashing weapons, and one would argue that a slashing weapon like a saber is more preferable when fighting from horseback. That said, I have seen several examples of a sword with a flintlock pistol built into the hilt. Here's one example, though it's supposed to be a German hunting sword and not a cavalry weapon.

image
 

BlackDragon98

Freikorps Kommandant
Banned - Politics
I agree that flintlock axe is purely a status symbol, much like the gold and platinum plated guns of today.
In a real battle, the flintlock mechanism would be very prone to damage and the images you posted show pretty good craftsmanship, so it's probably nothing more than a curiosity and wall-hangar.
Probably more useful in the kitchen for chopping cabbage and shooting the occasional rat that you come across.
 

BlackDragon98

Freikorps Kommandant
Banned - Politics
Muzzle loaders take so long to reload, the idea was probably that you'd fire it once at the start of battle and then use the axe for the rest of it. If the action gets damaged, that can be taken care of after the battle.
Good point.
But the gun in the picture that @Bear Ribs posted is definitely a wall hangar.
It's a very well made wheel-lock, the kind not used for combat.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Dual-Wielding Magical Girl. Because why do only fighters get to hold two weapons at once? This one took forever. I started out trying to make a magical girl with flapper aesthetics, however I found to my dismay that flapper dresses tend to wind up looking like potato sacks if you draw them out in 2D so ultimately only the hat, which I like quite a bit, survived. Originally I planned a Tiara but there's no point with that hair and the hat didn't look right if she didn't have huge asymmetric bangs to balance it out.

This was also an experiment combining multiple tone patterns into one. I think the static-noise tone used on the dress is a winner (I was hoping it would look sparkly) I don't care for the diagonal line style shader and won't use it on a person again, I think it would work fine on a machine but not a living being.

MPGlPZE.gif


Edit: So what do ya'll think of the different tones used here?
 
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Bear Ribs

Well-known member
u0VmdBe.gif


Pirate in 2 point perspective... kinda since there aren't enough straight lines for that to matter. This one sort-of intersected with the traditional Japanese-style delinquent somehow, hence the pompadour-ish hairstyle. His beard is supposed to be a Jafar-style spiral but I'm not totally happy with it. I contemplated trying to color this one but decided that adding color would only ruin the dramatic interplay of light and shadow. What do you think, would this work with color?
 
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