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Hi folks. I've recently taken up a pencil and sketch pad and started drawing 40k inspired scenes and characters as illustrations for my Grot fiction here on Dakka.
This is really my first ever attempt at doing anything like this before and its been a learn as i go kind of experience.
I've been sharing some of my pictures on other threads and have linked many to the original fiction threads they were drawn for but I thought it would be good to set up this blog as a dedicated space to talk about the whole process.

Now I'm not claiming to be some sort of serious artist. I just wanted to see some pictures of my grot fiction characters and didn't have the time to painstakingly source and build everyone in miniature form.

I'm going to go through everything one picture at a time and talk about each in order of when I did them. I'll explain what we're seeing, how I like the finished picture etc. Hopefully it'll be more interesting than this log boring introduction.

I fully welcome all comments and criticism. I'm not aiming to get a job with the Black Library. I doubt they'd have a spot in their publishing schedule for something approaching an illustrated children's novel. This isn't the grimdark world of 40k as you may know it.


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The first picture that hit the page was this scene.



Its a scene from Chapter 2 of my yet unfinished (and unposted) second book of Grot fiction, Smirking Da Chosen One.
The orks under the direction of BlackGull the Shaman have dressed a grot sacrifice in bat wings and tossed him into a Volcano. But something huge is falling from the sky.

I'm not really happy with the giant fireball up top but you know, first shot at this, not too bad. I like the colours.

I'm penciling the picture the lines and when I'm happy with the picture I'll ink over the lines and then rub out the pencil. I've got a set of fine ink pens that I'm using for colouring but they're not really the right thing. I really should be using watercolours. But hey ho, I'm working with what I've got.
Last step of the process is to scan it and enhance in Photoshop. I did some tidying and played with the contrast etc. so this version is looking better than the original in my sketchbook.


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My first attempt at some proper characters sees BlackGull in Chapter 1 settling the anxieties of the rival ork clans with his plan to invoke the power of Da Godz.



I was pretty happy with the overall look of the orks. Very cartoonish but lots of character. Most significantly the grot in the centre is the defining originator for all my grots to follow. Pleased as punch with how he turned out.

I didn't like the dark ork on the left, too dark. So I decided to just use the lighter green for all my greenskins, orks and grots. This one needed plenty of photoshop help to smooth out the mess. Actually looking at that "dark" ork on the left it looks like I photoshopped him back to a lighter green. Its the fella in the pirate hat.

Third attempt at this and its on to Chapter 3 of Smirking Da Chosen One.



Smirking finds himself alive and in possession of some permanently fused on wings!
I liked the way this one turned out. Nice colours in the sky and the sea, and on the sand. The little further away part of the island was a bit too dark though, so part of the post production fix up was lightening it and of course brightening the reflection on the water. (Which really shouldn't slant like that)

Also this is my first real attempt at depicting our grot hero Smirking Da Chosen One in the form he'll take for the rest of that story. He's supposed to be all burned up and his face is scarred into a permanent toothy smirk.

That smoking island in the background is the thing that fell from the sky and crushed the volcano island.

I like your style, i think it represents grots really well! I've seen it in the other threads but i do think that picture with the smoke and sun is excellent, even without the written backstory i had a pretty good sense of what was goiing on.

I am looking forward to more

Thanks amazingturtles. I'm hoping to lock down my story ending for Smirking Da Chosen One soon before posting it all here. But at this rate the pictures will have the story told long before the text goes up. You won't have to wait long for more as I've a bit of a backlog still to post and drawing more every day.

The next scene is following on into Chapter 4 of Smirking Da Chosen One as our castaway comes into contact with the Gorka-Fleet Krooza 'Grondhammer'



A very different feel, smaller figures and a very large man-made (ork-made!) non-organic object as the main focus. I enjoyed the technical challenge here. Still looks a bit cartoonish, which is fine, I'm not trying to work up a serious schematic here.
Going for blue as a Gorka-Fleet colour so Kaptain GorGoff's totem on the boat is blue.

These are really cool! I like them a lot can't wait to see what's in store for our diminutive hero.

Thanks Ynneadwraith. If I ever decide to draw illustrations for my Eldar fiction I know where I'll look for inspiration.

And my largest drawing to date, almost a full A4 is from Chapter 5 of Smirking Da Chosen One.


This is the scene that greets Smirking on returning to his former island home now the location of the fallen GorkaMorka. One side of the island is home to Gorka-Fleet and their shipyards and ports. The other side houses The Morka-Wing's airfields and factories.

I made an attempt at some directional lighting here with an orange glow from the right side of the picture.
Wanted to make the GorkaMorka kind of anthropomorphise the whole island so the slopes around the top form a sort of arms and shoulders shape. I had lots of fun adding details like one of Belfast's Harland & Wolf cranes, and lots of chimneys and pylons.
Fine ink pens, great for detail, not so great for large area colouring like the sea. Still just working with what I got.

I was so chuffed with the way this one turned out that it really encouraged me to keep going and see what I was capable of.

Incredible amount of details on the chapter 5 island,gives off a nice sci fi feel that one,like the airship,oil rig out at sea,the boat plane and several other little details you put in there.
All Very cool so far,look forward to seeing what else you draw in the future,keep um coming!

Thanks mate. My hobby time these days is pretty much exclusively drawing, so no progress on those 20 odd objectives I had ready to paint. Don't worry, some of them will be worth waiting for, and even if it takes a year of two I'll happily necro your objective marker thread any time.

So I got a proper sketchbook and immediately noticed an improvement from the better quality paper. The ink spreads a little nicer and doesn't look so scratchy.

Took a few pot shots at some individual grot characters from Smirking Da Chosen One (Interestingly not Smirking himself)


Goggz- Grot Bomba crew


Kanz - Grot navigator


Sleekit aka Da Grotfather -Revolutionary Grot general. (Not happy with this depiction of him at all.)


Unnamed Grot with Blunderbuss. (Go on, name that grot)

Nice bit of play in variations on shape of noses and ears and activities here. Trying profiles and more straight on angles. Bit quicker and more fun than my last epic effort.

The next set in the Sketchbook sees another few grot character sketches. These guys are creations from a thread I have going in dakka fiction Give it yer best grot!


Sgt_Smudge's Sniper grot Gakkit- Da Eye of Mork. (Honestly I like Sgt_Smudge's story a lot better than this drawing. I should re-read it and do a better picture.)


Sikkum- the Feral Grot



A bit of an experiment in conveying motion. Wotzit is kicking Sikkum in the rear. I found myself imitating the pose trying to figure out where Wotzit's hands should be to keep his balance. Then Sikkum is just arms up feet off the ground, all very cartoony.

This scene is of KommissarKiln's character from the same thread Grimy the Ex-Grot Oiler.

In KommissarKiln's story Grimy has just been shoved off a trukk just as it takes a missile hit and he's the only survivor.
I liked the character's attitude and the story made for this neat little snap shot. So I'd say this one is probably more of an exercise in story telling in one small frame. We've got the character, his attitude, the empty ork helmet, the wrecked vehicle in the background. I included the heavy shoota he finds at the end in the middle distance but I don't think it improves the picture. Maybe just one story element too far.

If you'd like to contribute to Give it yer best grot! come on and jump in with a new grot character story of your own. I look forward to drawing him almost as much as reading about him.

I think that the grot with the blunderbuss should be named... flinto?

or maybe not.

i love the island. it reminds me a bit of some of the settings in the borderlands games.

I love how you have a children's book style meets grimdark subject matter. Really fun stuff.

Thanks guys. Glad you're enjoying my madness.
I hope I'm not loading these on too fast but here's the next one.

It was at this point I decided to look back at my old original grot fiction story The Adventures of Smirking: A Grot's Life Starring another grot by the same name (my main protagonist grot is always called Smirking) This guy is the original Grot called Smirking imagined back in 2009. The fella with the wings is a newcomer from 2015.



I thought it would be great to see Smirking as we first meet him in Chapter 1 at the spawning ground. Trouble is spawnlings presumably don't have clothes so he's butt naked eating a bug.
I actually really like this picture, not just because I drew a butt naked grot. He looks happy but more importantly I think anatomically it works which is so important for this one. Clothing is much easier to get away with doing roughly.

And back with Smirking Da Chosen One following on to Chapter 6 where GrodMek's secret weapon is loaded aboard a Gorka-Fleet Mega-Krooza 'Gargantic'



Pretty happy with this one. The boat isn't particularly orky but it's Boaty which is more important when trying to draw a boat. Also the perspective on the ship's deck I think is off but it seems to work anyway somehow. I had a lot of perspective issues trying to do the looking up at things angle. Had to totally redo the crane at the pencil stage.
The crane is based on a Harland & Wolf crane from the Belfast ship yard.
The ork glyphs on the side of the box say Grod Mek.

So what would a grot mob be without its fearsome ork minder? Free, revolutionary, still awesome! Ok all those things but there's a Runtherd in "Smirking: A Grot's Life" So here he is.
Introducing SkagNet, an old ex-Bloodaxe Kommando who's resorted to catching and selling grots for a living.



This was my first attempt at him and I was happy enough. His legs are a bit odd. I like his long face, looks kinda tired and hopeless. I dropped a little Smirking in beside him just to annoy him. Look at that happy little guy! I like seeing Smirking in this kind of totally benign attitude.

Seeing old Skaggers made me want to see the rest of the gang, so here they are, the real core group as they are around chapter 6.



Left to right this is SkagNet, Smudge, Unki, Nurd, Slakka, Smirking, Runt and Snikkit.

I really enjoyed this little set of all very different characters. Drew them on a nice long bottom third of an A4. (Crummy copy paper! My pens don't like it) You'll notice Snikkit is pretty much the same as Sikkum from before. They're very similar characters, manically violent feral grots. And look at little Runt, isn't he just adorable!
This picture is the most children's-book-like drawing so far. "Smirking: A Grot's Life" Really belongs in some kind of Cadian Children's library.

Next up its the top and tail of Chapter 9 of The Adventures of Smirking: A Grot's Life in two very different pictures.

This time I can actually show some work in progress shots I took as I was going along.

Goff Boss GorGoff gives SkagNet's grot mob a nasty mission from Boss GorGoff. This one is at the beginning of the colouring stage with the red just going on. I've ink outlined all the pencil drawing and rubbed out the pencil already.

This is the next scene in which it all goes horribly wrong. I had originally intended this piece of paper for a rough concept plan. But by the time I'd gotten the Sentinels looking right I'd done that much work on it I just continued on the page. This is the pencil sketch almost ready to ink the outlines.

And once they were both inked and coloured and done and after a bit of computer touch up the two final pieces look like this.



Really pleased with this although I'm not sure if GorGoff looks big and nasty enough. Or if SkagNet looks old and tired and put out enough. A first of this kind of thing, closer up character stuff. Still working on my skills at doing certain expressions. I'm finding it tricky.



Enjoyed this one too even though the copy paper didn't help. Very technical and fiddley trying to do those Sentinels. One or two small things I'm not dying about, Smirking for one is a bit naff. Despite that though I do love the interaction between SkagNet and Nurd in this one.

Thanks to everyone who's following my progress here and commenting. Its an odd thing, I know. Not everyone's into drawing silly pictures of 40k stuff. So I really appreciate all your encouraging feedback so far.

Liking the Ork battleship cool AA guns and Cranes,interesting chapter one pic definitely gives off a fantasy world feeling with the mushrooms and naked grot,Totally agreed on the cuteness of the runt ,Also Lol the hell is the one at the back doing,eating a Tree!
And i see what you mean about the sentinels,lots of weird angles on them legs musta been hard to draw.

Ha ha. Yes, he's eating the tree. No actually Snikkit is breaking the tree into spiky sticks for weapons. He's awful staby that one.

Sentinels look quite difficult to draw with their spindly legs and such, i think you got them pretty good. Runt is certainly my favorite in the group shot

I once retold the whole story of A Grot's Life in verse and couldn't resist this time adding a few lines from it to this picture.



Total children's book material! Grimdark it ain't! Apart form the whole subtext of slavery thing of course.

Haha all fantastic work! Really enjoying this

It also fits into my headcanon about orks basically, I always imagine that to the orks the entire world runs through their head like a sort of cartoon strip. So, where an Imperial soldier sees a ravening hulking murderous brute the ork sees a load of cartoony characters where everything's a bit of a joke and not really real.

Thanks man, still enjoying it myself. Not getting much painting or writing done but sure its all good.

On with the next page.
A brief trip back to "Smirking Da Chosen One" (I know its confusing that I have two stories both starring a grot called Smirking but not the same grot)

Honestly these are my two least favourite pictures so far. Smudge reveals the BigMek's secret weapon is a giant grot bomb.




And Sleekit assures the grots that their hero Smirking will fly it and survive!



Sorry to be a moan but I don't like how I'm doing Sleekit (he needs a total character redesign), I did Smirking too dark (trying to make him look burnt, just looks crappy) and Smudge's face paint looks a mess. (I had it alright bit then added darker lines and ruinee it.) Not to mention the scratchy background surfaces (the whole filter is an attempt to smooth out and fix this in some way) and sub-par crowd characters. (No excises I was just being lazy.)
Not a big fan of either of these drawings but I suppose its a learning process and you gotta accept that not every step of the way will be a big hit.

Total style departure here from previous pictures. Big mad close up for the big mad ork as WazzBad the weirdboy gets some face time.



Just thought the old wierdboy suited a looser more erratic scrawl. Lots of scratchy lines giving an altogether wilder look to this portrait. I gave him a freaky squared spiral of Waaagh! energy blazing from his eye. Don't know how well it worked really or how I'd do it differently. It is what it is I suppose. I actually really like it. Might try and do one of Smirking like this some day.

Staying with WazzBad for the moment and its the scene of his triumph over GorGoff (spoiler alert). GorGoff is doing his thing while a fella with a traktor kannon is trying to drop a tank on his head. WazzBad commandeers said tank and has a face off with the Goff warboss resulting in GorGoff's head exploding.



Pretty heavy on the post-production enhancements here. I wanted the waaagh powered hovering Russ to really glow but I think I darkened down the rest a bit too much. Still happy enough with it.

Bit of a time consuming job though drawing all the wee figures and vehicles, then again if I wasn't working on probably 5 other sketches at the same time it might have gotten done quicker.

I'm sure it was a lot of work, but i like that there's still a lot of character in all of the little orks and grots around the tank.

Glad you dig it AT. There are some funny little dudes in there. I should've drawn one in the stripey hat and glasses.

I was pretty happy with my WazzBad close up so I thought I'd give SnazzGutz the Painboy the same treatment, though not quite so scribbley.



I might have darkened the background down a bit but it didn't cross my mind till it was already in the can, so to speak. The big yellow glow is supposed to be a light on the doc's head (likely bolted on) shining in your eyes. Not sure if its a bit much but I'm really quite happy with how the whole thing turned out in the end.
I enjoy the psychotic gleam in his eyes. The doctor will see you now.

Back with the Grots of "Smirking: A grots life" and its chapter 3 "Da Heist" where Smirking and a few of his pals steal some weapons from a Mekboy's workshop.



Trouble is they're broken ones and the Mek's helper grot is busy fixing them.

Really enjoyed this little scene. A good snapshot moment to draw with a lot of comedy characters to play with.
My main issue here was the black background. I'm not a fan of trying to black out large areas. It's a pain to get it smooth (a serious amount of photoshoping helped this) but more than that it's a real skill to select areas for shade and not overdo it and kill the detail or ruin the whole thing. New found respect for comic book artists who draw a lot of black in the frame. It's not a skill I'm likely to enjoy working on in the future though I may try.

Just thought I'd use this opportunity to make a note on my post production editing. I'll scan the finished sketch and run it through Adobe Lightroom. Sometimes it's just touchups, a bit of a contrast boost and some smoothing off but sometimes the original and the finished picture are really very different.

Here's the original sketch without any fixing up. Smirking in Chapter 8 of A Grot's life, finds a plasma gun on the battlefield.



It's supposed to be night time. So either I draw the whole thing darker and fill in all the background sky (an unpleasantly time consuming job that ends up looking messy.) or I just give it a hint of colour and make it look like night time on the computer.



The final result fixes the look and also hides a lot of the mess in the foreground. I the angle of the wall was way off but it isn't nearly so noticeable in the dark. Cheating my way to improvement. Maybe I overdid it a bit. Think I just wanted the moon and the plasma gun to glow.

Yet more awesome Artwork.
I like the Night & Day themes,I kinda think the backround with the city ruins looks good though,reckon to many ruins would look weird,and the tanks are well drawn too,nice crazy glow on the floating russ very comic strip looking that one.

Thanks, I'm glad you're not getting bored of this yet. There's more still to share and I just keep on drawing more.


Back with the erstwhile unprinted story of Smirking Da Chosen One. I really should just start posting it soon but I don't want to foul up the whole fiction forum with anothet Grot fiction thread. Its not finished and still very much in flux so... Some time.

Anyway, I'd skipped a chapter in my SdCO illustrations so here it is.



Not a super dramatic moment but here it is. Pretty happy with my Skirking this time. He's not darker, just a bit hashed up, and looking kinda smug actually. Not sure how I'd draw him close up. A challenge for another day maybe.

Your work continues to make me happy. The moment in the mek shop really is a wonderful scene, i like the one reaching sneakily for the gun

Keeping on rolling out at least one picture per chapter of Smirking: A Grot's Life and this time we're hitting chapter 8. This is the scene shortly before the big gun on the tank goes boom.



I had to completely redraw the tank at one point because the scale was way off. It looked like some sort of RC Leman Russ Scale model coming round the corner to shoot Nerf darts at them. You could probably kill a grot with a Nerf dart though.

Anyway, a quaint country courtyard gets the (not) grimdark treatment as another grot bites the dust. Smirking looks a bit "come hither" in this pose. I had originally planned on having them both just standing on the mat. Sometimes the actual details from the story just go and ruin your picture idea. Accuracy... pfff.

Another chapter another silly moment in the life of our favourite little guy. Smirking takes refuge atop a large rock as the trukks of Waaagh GorGoff go rolling by singing "'Ere we go, 'Ere we go, 'Ere we go!"



Aw... Remember when orks were mostly daft and had comedy written into every bit of fluff? I mean, that's firmly the world that Smirking inhabits. Was it all Jervis Johnston? It was all good, that's all I know.

I liked the Gorka Morka era of orks - fun but kind of gritty also in terms of the details of their life. Just like your stuff! Now it is all super grim.

I like your characters because they are brimming with personality, and because they exist in a world that could actually function! Too often the orks are only this mindless ravening horde in the fiction, in a setting that's already filled to bursting with mindless ravening hordes.

The way I play that is that the Orks inhabit a sort of dual-world in a way. There's the world that the outside world sees (ravening horde of murderous muscle-bound killing machines) and the world as the Orks see it (everyfing's a bit of a laugh, see. Chop dis dude's 'ead off an its funny!)

Can't remember where I saw it but someone did a brilliant piece of artwork that displayed this perfectly. On one side it had a familiar gritty piece of artwork of an Ork charging a desperate Guardsman. On the other side it had the same scene written from the Ork's perspective which was basically a badly drawn cartoon with the Ork shouting something entertaining and a comical-looking Guardsman.

So basically both examples of Orks exist at the same time, the way other people see Orks and the way Orks see themselves

Thanks guys. Good to know I'm not alone in my appreciation of the lighter side of 40k orks.
The plan to draw at least one scene from every chapter of Smirking continues with this picture.



Smirking (he's the tiny grot way in the distance) and friends find themselves in a minefield. I enjoyed the cartoony truck full of little grot faces. Didn't enjoy the landscape so much, but ho hum, here it is. I think I enjoy big close up portraits or little character sketches best.
Just one more chapter still to illustrate but there are a few more iconic scenes I'd also like to draw before I'm done illustrating my original story.

Yes, all those little heads poking out is a nice detail.

Haha neat I do like the Grot clown-car. Seems exactly how they'd travel around.

Here's the next instalment from my Grotlife (that'd be a good name for a grot boyband. No I won't draw that!)


Not a chapter that needed a picture as Chapter 3 already has one but more of an iconic moment that deserved drawing.
GrodMek and SnazzGuts hatch their KillaKan plan while Smirking hides inside.
Not entirely convinced with my portrayal of GrodMek here. He looks more Borg than Mek but not to worry, I like the picture as a whole. Only trouble is the last chapter I have to draw is all about GrodMek. I'm not looking forward to it, no good ideas.
Expect much procrastination to follow.

Having read the story, (brilliant), and seen the artwork, I'd really like to think that this is how orks see life, no matter how awful the reality, to them it's a vivid cartoon filled with fun and humour and if something bad happens, they just enjoy a little bit of revenge and the merriment continues. Orks would be Ryan Reynolds in the movie "The Voices" when he's not on his medication.

I like that the Orkish ecology/economy kind of works as you describe it. There should be more Grot Cars and more Grot fluff! Keep it up.

Thank you both. I'm glad my madness is making sense to people. Maybe we're all a bit mad though.

Anyway, onto the next doodle. Kinda giving the game away early over on Give it yer best Grot! with this one as the story hasn't quite caught up to this happening yet.
One of those moments when fluff leads to questions that require creative answers. The question is how can our grot buddies Grimy and Red use their big shoota as effectively as an Ork (i.e. as an assault weapon). The answer...



Really makes me want to grab some minis and scratch build a grot big shoota wheelbarrow assault team. Someone please do this!

Ok, remaining with the same band of hapless Grots we've got Gorsneek, an original character created by Warboss Grimdakka
. He's a straight up Kommando Grot.



So i figured I'd draw him like Arnie in Commando

Kinda a small little character sketch more than a full A5 scene. Its actually drawn on the rest of the same page as the above wheelbarrow picture.

Haha nice! Love the wheelbarrow assault weapon definite conversion potential there.

Also, I can't help but imagine Gorsneek speaks exactly like Schwarzenegger after a couple of helium balloons...

"Get to da Choppa!"

 theCrowe wrote:
"Get to da Choppa!"

Haha. Definitely exalted

Man if i had a little wheelbarrow of some kind i would try to make that setup.

I like to imagine the poor confused enemy seeing that pair bearing down on them

Hi folks, been a while since I posted one of these. But then I haven't been drawing much so after this one there's only one more to go for the time being until I pick up a pencil again. My hand seems to be a bit preoccupied with paintbrushes these days. (Painting tiny WW2 planes) anywho...


In this one SkagNet is busy being nasty. I've drawn him plenty of times bumbling around in his usual mode (abject failure) but rarely doing any proper bossing around of grots. Not sure who the little guy is. Not sure SkagNet knows, or really cares much.

And another picture, this time it's KommissarKiln's grot duo, Pokey and Snot-fer-Brainz from Give it yer Best Grot!


I hadn't done any big close studies of grots yet, all my close ups had been orks to date so I took the oportunty to do these two nice and close and big. Turned out alright, bit tricky getting the grots' noses right when they're facing you. I do so many of my big-nosed grots in profile because its so much easier.

Been drawing like crazy!

Watch this space grot-lovers.

Sitting drawing with the kids i picked up some of their colouring pencils and this guy popped out onto the page. Smirking is back baby!


So then things got a bit more serious.

The first time I've drawn a version of Sleekit aka. "The Grotfather" that i'm actually really happy about.


So that was it. I'm back to drawing like a man posessed.

Grabbaed a postit note pad at work and sketched out this little guy. Smirking Da Chosen One. Coloured with watered down acrylics. very happy with the result.

Lot's more to follow soon. Thanks for looking.

Haha awesome stuff dude always look forward to updates on this

Glad you're still enjoying them YW. (Can I so abbreviate your name?)
I'll drop another couple quickly too. Cause I've been dead busy.

Just a wee drawing of Nurd, the book 2 incarnation of Nurd sees him less of a smart arse fixer grot and more of a gobby know-it all from a grot bomba crew.


Thought I'd try out some alternative colouring methods. Grabbed the kids' crayons for this one.
A scene from waaaaay further on down the line in book 2. Something I haven't even written yet, just know I want to do. I'll say no more...


Then this is one for my last un-illustrated chapter of book one, which now has at least one picture on every chapter. I still want to draw Smirking in the very final scene though, but that hasn't happened yet. This is GrodMek of Book 1 preparing to dish out the Dakka.
Used some colouring pencils (as I did with the Sleekit sketch above) which really, given the smooth look, I should just be doing from now on. (I say that knowing I haven't been... Old habits.)
More to come soon, and thanks for looking.

I am very glad to see these little guys back, your art always gets me in a good mood. I love the grotfather's expression.

Thanks AT. Glad I could brighten your day.

Now, introducing... Aaris Da Butcha

The big cheese of the Morka-Wing and Kaptain of Da BizMork, the Morka-Wing's largest and fastest aircraft carrier.
Another painted postit for another pretty successful portrait. We're going to be seeing a lot of this fella.

Going on holiday for a week so I'll drop a good few pictures before I go.

Ok, so telling the story of Aaris Da Butcha in a few pictures.

Here's Aaris laughing it up as Smirking outsmarts GrodMek like a total Grot boss.


Aaris takes Smirking for a flight on his big red bomba.


But things get nasty and he takes our hero on, not realising that Smirking is not exactly, alone... Its a long story.


Smirking wins.


Now look who's joined the party.

That's all for the big fella in the coat and hat. Quite enjoyed drawing him, but I don't think he'll feature much in my future drawings. Still you never know.


As ever folks, thanks for visiting my grot-life sketchbook.

Well I'm back. Had a great holiday, thanks.

Knocked out a couple of doodles on the inflight magazine.


But seriously...

Or about as serious as a bunch of grots partying around the campfire of the revolution can be.

And one last one.

WazzBad's Dakka-jet gets bounced by some human fliers outa nowhere. The Dakka-jet designs on display here were inspired by Buttery Commissar's own Dakka-Jets which are some of the first kit-bashes on his rightly legendary blog. Buttery, wherever you've been these days, hope you're doing well.

That's all for grot-life for now. Might get back to painting my planes again so no more drawings likely in the near future. But you never know.

And wrapping things up here for now it's the last picture in my original Grot fiction The Adventures of Smirking: A Grot's life.


At this point there's little danger of spoiling the ending cause lets face it, I've been shamelessly promoting this story on Dakka for years and if you haven't read it by now you're not likely to. (Though I still think you should) This right here is the final scene, where Smirking strides off, triumphant, into the moonlight.

So that's all for my Smirking Book 1 illustrations. Thanks to everyone whose encouragement helped me complete a long term project goal.

Also I'm very excited to be able to tell you, if you haven't seen already, that I've started uploading my second book in the Illustrated Adventures of Smirking
Smirking Da Chosen One Many illustrations for which were seen here first.

As a story it's a slightly different format this time around. Shorter chapters but many more of them, though not all of which have illustrations just yet. Only four chapters posted so far but lots more are drafted.
Its a very different world this time around but if you enjoyed "A Grot's Life" I really think you'll enjoy "Smirking Da Chosen One" too.

I've no more pictures in the pipeline just now but if I get the bug again I'll be back on here. Not hanging up my drawing skates just yet.
Thanks again to everyone who's commented and shared my enthusiasm for daft grot fiction inspired illustration.

I'm so glad I got to see this.

Mate, glad you did too. Always a pleasure BC, hope you're doing well these days.

I've enjoyed the story and the art immensely. i know i already said how happy your art makes me, but it really does.

Thanks buddy. I'm actually working on something right now. Don't know if you ever came across Who Wants to be a Kommando by Chazz Huggins?

Well I'm drawing a little group shot of Gadnuk's Gutrippas. Look forward to sharing that when its done. I'll properly necro that thread over it too, its well worth it.

And here it is!
For everything there is to know about these guys see Who Wants to be a Kommando by Chazz Huggins.

 theCrowe wrote:
Thanks buddy. I'm actually working on something right now. Don't know if you ever came across Who Wants to be a Kommando by Chazz Huggins?

Well I'm drawing a little group shot of Gadnuk's Gutrippas. Look forward to sharing that when its done. I'll properly necro that thread over it too, its well worth it.

I haven;t seen that yet so i will check it out now! from that group shot already looks like fun

This is worth an exalting chuckle. Well done!

 theCrowe wrote:
Mate, glad you did too. Always a pleasure BC, hope you're doing well these days.

I'm on the up. Hoping to get back into painting soon, so peeped on the forum in time to see this. Really glad to see you're still going with it.

Bit of advertising for my Insert your own grot fiction Give it yer best Grot! I reckon I still got room here for maybe three more grots if anyone's keen to get involved.

Go on, help me finish this one in glorious technicolour.

GORK GAVE ROCK AND ROLL TO YOU
gave rock and roll to you
Put it in the soul of every Grot.

Experimenting with watercolours.

I love a good watercolor and i love a good grot, and i love rockin' out.

All is well here.

You know how when you're bored you naturally start doodling a Grot with a blunderbuss? No? Is that just me then?


Not my best work by any stretch, just a little scrap sketch I found that needed colouring and so I hit it with some watercolours. Still a long way from Quentin Blake but I'm learning. What I need is a fountain pen. The lines are all too hard and definite for the wishy-washy watercolours. It just looks like a smoother block colour treatment of the same old thing. Maybe it's just a boring picture that lacks much artistic flair. More wiggly lines more washy colour that's what I'm aiming for when I think of watercolour illustration. ...not this really.

So then I had another go and produced this.

It's Gulgog Tuftoof's characters from our Grot Mob collaborative fiction project Give it yer best Grot. Cutty the absent minded Mek and his minder Weazul who is stopping his crazy ork boss from blowing himself up.

Another watercolour effort this time with maybe a bit more... artiness going on.

These are delightful. Well done.

 theCrowe wrote:


It's Gulgog Tuftoof's characters from our Grot Mob collaborative fiction project Give it yer best Grot. Cutty the absent minded Mek and his minder Weazul who is stopping his crazy ork boss from blowing himself up.

I too would have went for cutting out the neat looking shield from that container - it would look cool on my armor and cool protects You better, right?!

Hilarious! Thanks for sharing!

theCrowe,

I have to admit that this is like no other painting log I have seen.

Cheers,

CB

Ladies and gentlegrotz I give you...



bounce over to Blunder the Wonder Grot in Dakka Fiction to read about him.

More Blunder-fun to follow shortly.

So here is the story and artwork associated with Blunder The Wonder-grot. In Limerick form!

There once was a grot known as Blunder
Whose tale is a legend of wonder
His blunderbuss shots
Could floor a Bull-Grox
And even rend armour asunder.

One thing that the Ork Mind can do
Is to make what they think to come true
And the more that believe
The more power they receive
And that's how the grot's power grew

A blunderbuss so it was told
That could blast with a power ten fold
Stupendously shot
By a wonderous grot
Was truly a sight to behold.

Orks from all over da Waaagh
Heard tell of this rising green star
They came to his side
from far and from wide
To witness his Blundering power

The more that attended the show
The greater his power would grow
Each target they stood
Got blasted real good
There was nothing that grot couldn't blow.



And so began Blunder's adventures
Though battlefields, buildings and trenches
His blunderful buss
Caused such a big fuss
And attracted a lot of attention.

Now the tanks of the Imperial Guard
Though their armour be ever so hard
They seemed to just melt
When his power they felt
Like a knife through a slab of Squig-lard



As the Blunder-Waaagh gathered momentum
The humans just could not prevent them
From blowing to bits
All their tanks and their ships
He blasted whatever they sent him.

But alas came a terrible day
When a Titan came stomping his way.
Took a shot to the head
And fell down like the dead
and squashed him beneath where it lay.



And so ends the legend of Blunder
Whose blunderbuss echoed like thunder
Gork-damn, what a Grot!
and a zogging good shot
A mighty peculiar Grot-wonder

:The end:

If you enjoyed that then check out my Epic Poem Version of The Adventures of Smirking.

Just got done on a picture of Smirking's dream from chapter 10 of Smirking Da Chosen one .


Wazzbad's gonna getcha!

all very messy pastels, yuck, better wash my hands, and the scanner...

Lovely stuff! I really liked the tale of Blunder the Wonder-grot!

I love it.
I need to catch up with your written stuff when I can sit down at a PC properly. I'm glad Smirking got another run.

Dang but how did i miss the limericks. They are brilliant, and beautiful.

Thanks everyone. It makes me happy to know my silly notions about orks and grots make other people smile too.

Been writing and drawing again of late. Got this one finished at last.

All the characters from Give it yer best Grot! Bounce on over there for all there is to know about them.

Then pulling a scene from Smirking Da Chosen one


Smirking goes crowd surfing at Da Grot Liberation Party.

Couple more in the works but I'm struggling for inspiration. I've got any number of scenes from the story I could have a look at though some of them I'm feeling a bit stuck on. Sometimes I've got an idea of how it should look but when I try it it doesn't come out right. It's frustrating when an image is clear in your mind but your skill is lacking when it's pencil and paper time.

Thanks for sharing this with us!

Inspiration for others to create models is just as welcome as models themselves in my book, plus this is a great refresher to see time and again.

Four more doodles for the sketchbook this weekend.

First up it's a solo rendering of Bschwi1's character Slimey from Give it yer best Grot.

I gave him a mallet for "tenderizing" his squig food.

Then it's back to Smirking Da Chosen One, from a chapter soon to be posted...


and from a chapter a Looooong way off being posted.


and sticking with all smirking all the da time I invented a new character,

I give you Mogz, the Ship's Squig on Da BizMork.

Mogz is the best and i am glad to see you are still making these

Another couple of pictures a from Smirking Da Chosen one for you all today.


Smirking takes a shot at someone with a hand cannon.


And Smirking feels a bit ill and barfs all over their plans.

Lots more little character sketches in the making so watch this space for more soon, and thanks for visiting the grot-life blog.

A few more little character pics for the sketchbook.


First up its Grunt. He's a big grot.


Then we've got Swab. Ten-hut!


Smudge is on the lookout for enemy fliers.


Mogz has caught another one.


And Sleekit is chillin' on holiday.


Thanks for looking dakkanauts.

Another batch of doodles from the Smirking collection for you all today.


Smudge has been busy brewing up another batch of his famous Gutt-Rott.


Orkdom's answer to Tom Cruise, it's UzKop, the flashiest top-gun fighter ace of da Morka-Wing.


And GrodMek's Grotbomb gets a Morka style make over with a nice lick of red paint.(To make it go even faster of course) and a tidy tricycle wheel undercarriage. Though, I'm not sure what purpose the wheels might serve considering the plan was always to have it carried and released like a bomb from a bomber. Rule of cool I guess.

Anyway, not much left from this flurry of sketchbook activity. Hope you've enjoyed them. I have a half finished watercolour on the go of an air-sea battle but it's proving beyond my brushmanship and I'm struggling. Maybe I'll come back to it later. If so, as always you'll see it here first.

Oh wow, these are awesome. I love this! I need to start reading Smirking.

Thank you very much. I hope that you enjoy the story too.

I'll admit I'm a bit concerned that Smirking Da Chosen One has taken a really wierd turn in the last couple of chapters and I'm not at all sure it's making sense to people or if I'm confusing the life out of my readers. But based on what's written and still to post its only getting wierder. I just hope people are following along and not too confused. Hopefully the pictures help.

The limerick of Blunder is pure gold. Great stuff. The closing stanza was perfect. “Gork-damn”.

-Rids

Thanks Rids. Really glad you enjoyed it. There's not a lot of poetry in the 40k world so like to have a go sometimes.

One last picture as promised. It's the sinking of Da Gargantic.

Was there Sabbaton playing in background? Hillarious as usual, thumbs up!

He woz made to rule da waves across da seven seas
To lead da waaagh machine
To rule da waves and lead da Gorka-Fleet
Da terror of da seas
Da Gargantic and da Gorka-Fleet

Good god these are brilliant - getting real Quentin Blake/Raymond Briggs (maybe even a little Pratchett, dare I say?) vibes, but there's a certain unique flair to them, too, you've got phenomenal style.

There's something really delightful in the contrast between horrible surroundings and the cheerful joy you've managed to evoke in the expressions of your grots, really doing the Orks justice in an innovative way! Can't help but fall in love with that little fella sat on a log munching a bug in his birthday suit.
I hope someone form GW picks this up some day and writes you a big fat cheque to make a kids book out of this (with plenty of poems!), it's definitely high enough caliber for it! Gonna check the writing out soon, as this is some of the best stuff I've ever seen on Dakka!

That's very kind of you to say P McB. Very kind indeed. Thank you.

I have often thought about making a proper children's book. Like one actually for kids. Smirking's definitely working with some grim-dark themes for all its lovable cuteness. Kids don't take kindly to characters dying chapter after chapter. I don't really tell these stories to my kids at bed time. (That's Lord of the Rings Time!)

Anyway, super glad you like the illustrations and thanks for your kind comments. Hope you enjoy the written stories just as much.

Not terribly inspired for this one. Just. A doodle testing out some new watercolours. Feel like I've done this one before.

I'm also working on a bit more of an air battle scene, of sorts. I really can't be bothered with drawing large flying machines though. They're definitely more fun to write than to draw.

Two more from the Grot-Life Sketchbook today.

the original GrogMek's Grot Bomb


and a big chase scene in the sky!


enjoying my new watercolours. hope you are too. Thanks for visiting the sketchbook.

Does the grot hanging from the red aircraft have a plan? Great sketches. They have a wonderful amount of character to them.

Many thanks Captain. I'm afraid the story of the the dangling grot will have to wait another few chapters, quite a few yet I'm afraid. It's a good action packed chapter, though. I'm looking forward to posting it when the time comes.

Anyway, on with more sketches. Just a few pictures from the grot life sketchbook for yous all today. Lots of green on the go, lots of vegetation and lots of SNOTLINGS!



And our hero Smirking showing 'em wots wot.


Then next, (not a great scan) (but sure it's not a great pic either) Smudge peaks out of the undergrowth.


Before emerging and advancing on the enemy.


This last one is actually one of the pictures in the latest chapter of Smirking Da Chosen One so if you've been following that, firstly thanks for reading, and secondly enjoy.

Snotlings! always good to see them get their day in the sun.

Totally didn't see this one coming. Not been feeling very Orky-inspired these days but sat down to draw with the kids and this popped onto the page.

Your drawings bring a lot of silly joy, theCrowe. I hope the kids found them interesting. Are the gobbos tricking the orc into the wheelbarrow or is it all a big mishap in action?

Thanks cap. I really don't know. I think Blunder is maybe making an innocent blunder of working on his blunderbuss while it's loaded. It's gone off and scared SkagNet who has stumbled backwards. Red is all too happy to be the instrument of the big ork's embarrassment and Grimy (who I forgot to add grime to) is enjoying the joke. There's no written story to accompany this picture. It just came out of nowhere based in the characters from Give it yer best grot.

Another one from Give it Your Best Grot. The grot Mob is growing thanks to new member DalekCheese.
Here we have a grot banker/accountant/Kounta. Tickled by the idea. lots of scope for comedy there.

very nice!!!

Another couple of visions of madness from the Grot-life sketchbook.




otherwise known as spoilers from the far future of Smirking Da Chosen one

I'm so glad you keep the grot sketches coming, they're so wonderfully characteristic!

Thanks Mac. Always glad to be drawing again and delighted that other people get a kick out of it too. Thanks for the encouragement.

As it happens I've been busy again. Two quite different takes on the same thing this time.

The cute cartoony version.


Aaaand, the other one. The messy kinda scary version.
Smirking the badass!

 theCrowe wrote:


otherwise known as spoilers from the far future of Smirking Da Chosen one

This one takes the cake for me! Maybe not for the whole year, but for the December - truly! Love poking into Your cozy thread here to see what is new, theCrowe. Keep up the fun and green, Happy New Year!

thanks Wirecat. it's a fav of mine too. look at him there all swashbuckling and happy.

here's a little doodle of UzKop on a postit note.

not one of my finest works but sometimes i just have to draw something, you know. use it or lose it.

One more from the sketchbook tonight. If you want to know what's going on here it's pretty much Smirking Da Chosen One in a nutshell.

That's got "a rough day" all over it

Yeah, unfortunately for Smirking every day is a rough day. These guys are all ghosts who now live in Smirking's head. (And occasionally try to help him fulfil his destiny as Da Chosen One) I know, it's nutz.

Something a bit more on the normal side this time. A gathering of grots assembled to welcome our hero back onboard Da BizMork. All my fav little grot faces make an appearance, and some other funny expressions too. Lots of fun this.

Been sitting on this one for a while but I finally blew the dust off the sketchbook and finished it off. This is a scene from Smirking Da Chosen One chapter 34

 theCrowe wrote:

One more from the sketchbook tonight. If you want to know what's going on here it's pretty much Smirking Da Chosen One in a nutshell.

To quote Dilbert and Dogbert (too) freely - every engineers life goal is to retire without being blamed for a catastrophe, or, in the other strip

Dilbert: Today I've made a difference at work
Dogbert: How many casualties.

(goes away whistling "But the memory remains")

Great, thank You a lot for sharing this!

Glad you enjoyed it Wirecat. It's a fun picture but it's hard to describe what's really going on. Did the casualties at Dilbert's work get trapped as ghosts in his head by any chance? No?

I really should get to sculpting my own little Smirking some time. You'd think with all the characters I'm doing for my kids they'd give me a chance to do at least one of my own.
I may have to just stick to the 2D renderings for now, but some day...

Another one from the sketchbook today. Saying goodbye to Da Big Red Bomba.

I don't exactly know what I've tripped across here, but it's glorious. I'm gonna hafta take a look at that Dakka fiction place.

It's definitely worthwhile, Vermis. Plenty of creative folk like theCrowe. You could be like me and hardly reply because I usually have few words, but still explore it all and enjoy it. Thanks for your work, theCrowe. It's always a pleasure to see what you've been up to.

 theCrowe wrote:

Something a bit more on the normal side this time. A gathering of grots assembled to welcome our hero back onboard Da BizMork. All my fav little grot faces make an appearance, and some other funny expressions too. Lots of fun this.

I missed this one but it's one of my favorites now! So many neat faces. I love how much personality you can give each one of them with just a crooked grin and a change in snout size. This is grim silly at its best (we are making that a thing, it must be)

Another crazy one. Never thought i'd see this.

A nice little roundup of some of the grot faces from Smirking Da Chosen One.

A bit of a harder ask this time around as there's not been such a tight little group as there was in the first story, though admittedly I'm not killing off grots with alarming regularity this time around.

 amazingturtles wrote:

 theCrowe wrote:
A gathering of grots assembled to welcome our hero back onboard Da BizMork. All my fav little grot faces make an appearance, and some other funny expressions too. Lots of fun this.

I missed this one but it's one of my favorites now! So many neat faces. I love how much personality you can give each one of them with just a crooked grin and a change in snout size. This is grim silly at its best (we are making that a thing, it must be)

thanks for your encouraging comments. I'm glad you're on board the grim-silly train.


Here's a new one. this is GitFingaz. He's a great mechanic but not a very orky one.

What a happy crazy place this thread is! Love, green and kaboom! I think I've met GitFingaz more than once in one lab here... maybe other.

Thumbs up!

Yes. The name came from a character I submitted for Chazz Huggins' Who Wants to be a Kimmando - that guy was Tiny GitFingaz- a big ork who's chronic lack of self confidence led to his only being able to use the weapons of the enemy because no ork weapon would work for him (their efficacy being largely tied to the power of the orkish psyche and belief) His breadth of knowledge and experience with enemy tech made him an excellent behind the lines agent.

This guy isn't him. THIS GitFingaz is the one from Smirking Da Chosen One. He's GrodMek's chief Spanna. GrodMek knows he's a clever mechanic but he's better at fixing things than at making his own orkish creations out of recycled parts. He's just not orky enough. Handy enough to keep around and no threat to the BigMek's top spot.
He's about to become another leftover odd-bod adopted into Smirking's tribe of rejects.

Alright folks, one more for this batch of drawings.

This is an odd one depicting the three ork bosses in the final chapters of Smirking Da Chosen One. Left to right it's GorGoff, still holding on to the top spot as the big dog of Gorka-Fleet.
Then it's GulGog in the middle. Based on our very own Dakkanaut GulGog Tuftoof's eponymous warboss.
And bringing up the right hand side of the page is supposed to be whoever is newly in charge of the Morkas on the Biz-Mork. DazzDakk or RoxxGorr I'm not sure as I havnt written it yet.

Thanks for visiting the Sketchbook and hope to be drawing again soon. That's me for now at any rate but you never know when the urge to pick up a pencil and doodle will strike.

One more for this time around.

Lets get this straight, Smirking is the Boss.

Welcome back to the Grotlife sketchbook. I've been busting out the pencils and paint once again to provide some colour to my story Smirking Da Chosen One.
Three pictures to show.


GitFingaz doesn't like the engine. It's got no flapz!


Nor does he appreciate being bossed around by a grot.


I'm not sure though if GitFingaz appreciates that Smirking can do this to a passing Dive Bomba.

That's all for now folks. Thanks for looking.

That's an interesting change of pace and really nice drawings. Like the one where he's working on the engine, looks like he's teaching them how to do it properly.

One more doodle from the sketchbook. It's Kaptain UzKop going full green pirate.

Here's a couple more grot portraits from the scrapbook.


Red from Give it yer Best Grot leads the grots in another great less than heroic retreat.

And also we have Goggz the long suffering vox and Waaaghdar monitoring grot from Smirking Da Chosen One.

Whatever he's hearing on the vox channels he's not impressed.

Have you thought about doing the story of "Not throwing away my grot"? Hamilton and Orcs should blend perfectly

Axhanda Hamelgrot
Thomerz Jefforkson
Gork Squashington
Jawz Madorkzen
Waaaron KlobBurr

That sort of thing? I Wanna be in da trukk where it 'appens.


haha, couldn't resist!

another one from the sketchbook tonight. Smirking thinks he is going mad!

 theCrowe wrote:
Axhanda Hamelgrot
Thomerz Jefforkson
Gork Squashington
Jawz Madorkzen
Waaaron KlobBurr

That sort of thing? I Wanna be in da trukk where it 'appens.

haha, couldn't resist!

Amazing pic and yes, that was exactly what I was hoping for. Made my morning

Glad you liked it. Sounds like a fun idea, lots of silly potential and maybe not so political as to set off the Mod alert.

Anyways. Last one from this bout of sketchings. I'm actually going to spoiler this one because if you're reading along with Skirking this pic actually is a spoiler. (Edit: chapter is posted, no longer a spoiler.)





Nice bit of action coming up. Looking forward to writing that chapter in the near future.

Got one more for you all tonight.


I think maybe the expressions are both a bit week here. I'd have liked GorGoff to be a bit more menacing and Smirking maybe even more terrified. But still, I like the dynamic.

It's a scene from the current chapter of Smirking Da Chosen One.
In fact I'm going to go over there right now and edit that post to put this pic right on the end.

Back once again with Da Chosen One.

Bit late to the party but the most recent chapter now has this fun illustration tacked on the end.

 theCrowe wrote:


Another crazy one. Never thought i'd see this.

This one gives me Armageddon vibes with the Ork Navy attacking Helsreach. Great stuff!

A new doodle for the newest chapter of Smirking.

And good news if you're a fan of the Give it yer best grots because I have been working on some sketches for those guys in the hopes of inspiring some action over there, or inspiration for more story in my own head.

There's 14 little character pics. Maybe I could post one here every day for a fortnight. Or maybe that's dumb. Though sometimes it's just fun making it a dakka thing for people to call in and see something new everyday. If that sounds good let me know.

Well here goes day one of 14 character sketches.

It's my classic RuntHurd SkagNet. It was nice to draw him one more time after I killed him. (Again)

Day 2 of the Give it her best grot skethathon brings you Wotzit.

He's an inquisitive guy who's curiosity will likely get him killed some day but in the meantime provides a useful plot instigator.

Next up for day 3 its Grimy.

Grimy was given to our little band of misfits by long time Dakkanaut KommissarKiln.
He found himself and the heavy shoota he was loading the loan survivors when their trukk got blown up.

Day 4 or the "Give It Yer Best Grot" illustrated character roll call brings you Gakkit.

Gakkit was the first of our little green heroes donated by Sgt_Smudge. Known as Da Eye of Mork, perhaps only by himself, he's got a long-las and an eye for a good shot. His foul mouth isn't helped by his taste for lho sticks. Chewing them that is.

Day 5 brings you Cutty & Weezul.

Dakka's own Gulgog Tuftoof selected these two from his own collection. Cutty is an absent minded Mek of brilliant destructive potential and Weezul is his minder, dedicated to the rather hazardous task of keeping him alive.

These orks and grots have so much personality!

Thanks WaaaZag. High praise from someone who owns aprox 90% of the world population of ork minis. Love the moniker of da Kant Stoppable. So funny.

Day 6 and were rocking a nasty bit of work with Sikkum.

Since I just posted a little bit of story on this guy I think it's only fair I link to Give it yer Best Grot
Sikkum is a feral grot with a savage temper and a taste for blood.

Day 7 rounds out a week of Give it yer Best Grot character sketches with these guys.

In some ways the real backbone of our grot mob, Pokey and Snot-fer-brains are best buddies, a twosome or as their creator KommissarKiln says, a duality of grot intelligence. Pokey is the brains and Pokey is the brawn. Snot's just along for the ride.

Day 8 brings you Red, the revolutionary.

He's a rebellious type ever willing to be rid of SkagNet and the orks' yolk of slavery. He talks the talk but isn't in reality much of a leader.

Day 9 brings you GorSneek.

Given to us by Warboss Grimdakka, GorSneek is the ultimate grot Kommando.

Day 10 and its Dapper the fancy grot.

By far the weirdest grot I've come up with. He's a social outsider with a fondness for the unorkish things in life. His stolen fancy laspistol being one of them.

Day 11 and we have Slik.

Slik used to be an oiler on a trukk that was blown up. Pokey found him still oiling the wreck and grabbed him for SkagNet's grot mob.

These are great, so much fun. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Robbo. Glad you're enjoying the grotly doodles.

Day 12 and we're on the home straight. This time it's Slimey.

A latecomer to the party brought in by Bschwi1. Slimey is a blood smeared, meat tenderising squig-feeder. We've yet to see that mallet raised in anger but it'd make for a fun story.

Is Dapper a Dapper Dan man? I mean, grot? Either way he's great.

Slimey looks pretty darn content with his life.

I love Slimey's tiny spiked helmet.

Thanks AT, yeah I think he might be a Dappaer Dan fella. He likes to look and feel fresh. He's a smooth operator is Dapper.
And yes, content might be Slimey in a word. He's got a full tum and a big mallet to smash stuff with. What more could a grot ask for? The very picture of satisfaction.

Thanks Waaazag. It's people enjoying little details like that that make the pics worth posting.

Day 13 and its Blunder.


I tossed Blunder into the mix because a grot with a blunderbuss is always a fun story element even if this version of him can't harness the power of the waaaagh and blast through tanks. At least not that we're aware of.

And the last one of the series for day 14 is Booker da Kounta.

Created by DalekCheese and our most recent addition Booker is a Kounta, a grot accountant who looks after the teef. He's been a fun addition to the mob and will no doubt appear in more stories to come.

Thanks for taking a look at the sketchbook for the last two weeks. Nothing more to show for now but you never know when the mood to doodle might strike.

Another one from the sketchbook for you all.

It's the final scene from my epic tale Smirking Da Chosen One. Now finally complete after what must be 6 years in the writing.

Love the use of colours in that one. Very nice, indeed.

Booker's very no-nonsense. You'd have to be to be a grotcountant, of course.

And that is a beautifully drawn sunset (sunrise?)

Thanks Rob. The original is not very vivid. There's a whole lot of digital editing going into that punched up colour saturated version.

Thanks AT. I'm going for sunset. Not sure if I specified in the text of the story but it's the classic hero strides off into the sunset ending, albeit aboard a mega Gargant flanked by battleships and bomber squadrons. No better way for a grot hero to stride off into the sunset in my opinion.

And just since I'm keen to spread the word I'll share this here too...



My Blunder the Wonder Grot story got picked up by A Vox in the Void for a YouTube video narration. If yo fancy a giggle go have a listen and tell him how you want lots more fun grot content! I'll be happy to supply that of course.

Lovely sunset and some lovely grots! A Vox in the Void did a great job narrating your story, that was a lot of fun.

Thanks T-horde. Glad you enjoyed it. I really loved hearing it. It doesn't get the hits like the space marine videos but it's nice to see it out there. I'd encourage anyone with a story that would suit a short video narration like this to get in touch with Paul and let him read it. He's doing great work and always interested in quality original content.

Sadly no more content from me these days. I'm busy with a house move. (No craic at all) So hobby time is mostly on hold.

Been writing a story with the boy about all his characters. Here’s a little sketch going left to right it’s Ortis the Tortoise, Hedgee the Hedgehog, Hooter the Owl, Noodles the Panda, Kitty-Mitty the witch’s cat, and Bufo the Toad Mage.

Back to the green drawing board for me today with this little number.


Apologies to any Ramones fans out there that might recognise these guys from another album cover.

Again you’ll find story’s relating to these guys over in Dakka Fiction where an ork drinking game is on the go.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/804886.page
It’s a bit of story writing fun.
You just show up. Tell us who your ork is, what he’s about and importantly what he’s drinking. Open invitations to all to come join the fun.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And one more for any Pantera fans out there.


Not that I’m in particular a fan of either Ramones or Pantera, they just fit the vibe of the bands in the bill at Da Guzzlin’ Grox.

Just wanted to say these sketches are the number reason my kids are interested in this stuff. So nice to share the hobby with the young uns with age appropriate stuff.



Thanks for the effort. Looking forward to finishing up the drinking game so we can move on to other story telling collaborations.

Some other ideas I had for future ork/grot stories.

1. An orky racing adventure.

2. Grotpiercer... a spoof of snowpiercer. (Da Red Gobbo's greatest revolution).

Nice one. I’m all for getting the kids involved and enjoying the less grim-dark side of things.

Check out my blog https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/784135.page where most of my kid-friendly gaming adventures get uploaded. There was also a fun goblin spider hunt game on this one
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/60/649487.page

And a collection of ideas for a goblin Olympic Games too.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/781174.page#10600818

Lots of fun for playing daft little games with the kids.

Absolutely wonderful art. Thank you for sharing this!