Blaidd the Half-Wolf by Maria Wolf〔Elden Ring〕

9x12 bristol board, pen and ink

True to her nom de guerre, Maria Wolf loves drawing werewolves so when she was taking a few commissions at SDCC 2023 I tried to come up with a fun wolf-person for her to draw. I’m not well-versed in pop culture werepeople but I am quite versed in Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s lore-rich, smash-hit video game about getting your ass handed to you by terrifying bosses and sometimes small dogs and the occasional crayfish. Amongst the game’s cast of characters is a decidedly lupine standout and the subject of this commission: Blaidd the Half-Wolf.

Despite his scarred and ferocious appearance, Blaidd is soft-spoken, loyal, and kind--therefore making him Elden Ring’s GOODEST BOY. However, he is also unfortunately an NPC in a FromSoft game and--like all FromSoft sidequest NPCs before him--you will befriend and fight alongside him, bear witness to his tragic and inevitable decline into madness, then finally be forced to ruthlessly murder him in cold blood. You will then weep softly at the unfairness of such a noble soul’s demise... while also picking over his corpse like a vulture so you can equip his gear set because it looks boss as hell.

Okay, yes, look, I know how unhinged that sounds but I refuse to be judged for this. If you have ever played one of these games then you have done this. The dignified mantles of Artorias the Abysswalker, Lucatiel of Mirrah, and Eileen the Crow are totally sitting in some box in your save files somewhere, right next to your pile of dung pies and cosmic horror baby umbilical cords (they're a snack for later). Fashion Souls is real, even if we’re not proud of what we had to do to get there.

When I picked this up from Maria’s table a year later at SDCC 2024 I was blown away by how fucking rad it turned out. She told me that she put a lot of love into it and that can be taken both figuratively and literally because clearly a lot of time and care went into the mesmerizing volume of linework on this little 9x12 piece of paper. I love the intensity of Maria's lines and her inks are gorgeous. The fur-trimmed cloak, ornate armour and sword, and Blaidd himself are all packed with detail and it's obvious why her comic covers and Marvel Snap cards are such head-turners. And I really mean head-turners: my first encounter with Maria's work was walking past her table at ECCC 2023 and having my head whip around at the sight of her art. Maria herself is super cool to talk with and given how chill she is, you wouldn’t guess her con schedule is as hectic as it is. If you’re an enjoyer of variant covers or she’s tabling at a convention near you, you should 100% check out her work.