Iyce'lasher, the taskmaster & 1st mate aboard the Dragon's Maw!

This was another character I created back in the 90's as a teenager for my 'Creature World' series of stories & artwork. Back then, he was just a green monster who found a pair of rare magical ice-themed artifacts. With a crack of his whip he could freeze enemies in their paths. He was a bad guy back then, and in all honesty his character had almost ZERO development put into it. I can't even remember WHY I created him or for what reason ice & whips seemed like a good pairing for a magical weapon. Plus, if the whip itself emits ice..why does he have a stone of the same color on his chest?? These are the questions I ask myself as I go through my old drawing books & try to figure out just what the hell my teenage brain was thinking.

Below is the original Creature World drawing of the character. He's from a time before my drawing style got a bit more polished so there's not alot of depth in here aside from a large green monster with an ice whip.


Next I sat down & did a quickie concept study sketch of what this character would look like as a canne'boid. I gave him a cross-bite where his top & bottom jaws over lap one another and a little goatee because, well his face didn't have much else going on. The more difficult part of this figure was going to be the frost whip; I had no clue how to sculpt a whip with those teeny-tiny little ends on them. I put him on the back-burner for a few weeks to mull over how to do this and finish some of the earlier canne'pirates instead.


Eventually, this Tuesday to be precise, I sat down & began sculpting the figure. Having already assembled the build a few days prior, that would have made the entire process fast & easy....how wrong I was. Due to the softer nature of the mixed color green I made, I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to get his head sculpt just right. It took a few dozen tries but I eventually got it to a level I'd be happy with. Check him out:

Iyce'lasher "Taskmaster & 1st Mate to Captain Jahroh"


"There be quite a bit o' work in runnin' a ship smoothly, and even though I be a tough and fearlful captain...sometimes I need assistance gettin' the crew in line. This is where Iyce'lasher comes in. This 'boid has a vicious bite and is quick with his whip for anyone not followin' orders. Most o' the crew doesn't give him trouble, as they know as dangerous he is- I'm worse. I rely on him to keep Shark-Hook in check when he enters a feedin' frenzy as he can eat the whole crew if not taken down quickly. For some reason, he and me ship's cook don't see eye-ta-eye and constantly get into disputes over some such nonsense, I can't be bothered to figure out why.
"A number o' years ago, we stumbled upon a tribe of Frrr'ohst and did battle with them ta steal their riches. Iyce'lasher found nothin' of too much value but took the heart of one of the ice people as a trophy. When wearing it around his neck he be shocked ta see it enables him to emit freezing cold temperatures and aiming werever he be choosin'. Later he embedded it in his forehead, and doin' this allowed him to channel freezing temperatures through his whip and freeze anything it touched. In battle he be one o' me best fighters and the Glyans run for the hills when his frost whip rains frozen death down upon them."- Excerpt from Captain Spakk Jahroh's Log Book

As a nod to the original drawing, he was originally going to have a pair of green gloves for hands...but I really wasn't happy with how they looked so I gave him one regular hand and his whipping hand is wearing a torn, finger-less glove. Instead of giving him twin boots, I had his toes "burst" through one of his boots- this was something I saw with old TMNT figures alot & I always liked that look on characters. The more I sculpted him, the more he came across as that crusty/tough type of character who can put anybody in their place easily. I think my subconscious mind might have been channeling the orc captain from the Rankin/Bass "Return of the King" animated movie ("where there's a whip there's a way!"), just the face reminds me of them a bit. Below are more pictures to look over.





















I have another canne'pirate ready to make his debut, but I just need to alter his build colors a little bit before his un-veiling. Stay tuned for more!