"Aldair: the Legion of Beasts" custom

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I'll probably fall over dead if anyone else has heard of this bookseries, but it has been my favorite ever since I found first it.

It was the first original novel I ever picked out for myself at age 12 (not based off of a license like Star Wars or Doctor Who) and was a book I HAD to own entirely because of it's Ken Kelly cover (not that I knew who he was at the time) called "Aldair: the Legion of Beasts" by Neal Barrett Jr.

Already a fan of animal/man hybrids from The Island of Doctor Moreau and Planet of the Apes, the cover to this had me positively swooning in the aisles, and the book turned out to be everything I hoped it would be, chock full of interesting characters and creatures.

Growing up in the pre-internet days was painful. I always suspected there were other books, and eventually I came to learn LEGION OF BEASTS was in fact the FOURTH book in the Aldair series, so I hunted them all down one at a time, and as fate would have it...backwards, but unlike another sci-fi series, at least these "prequels" didn't disappoint!
The four Aldair books are: Aldair in Albion, Aldair: Master of Ships, Aldair: Across the Misty Seas and the aforementioned Aldair: The Legion of Beasts.

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This cover by Ken Kelly is the only cover in the Aldair series to actually show Aldair and the other members of his cast. It is also unfortunately incorrect on many levels, not the least of which being Aldair isn't blue skinned, he wears clothes, Corysia, the cat creature on the cover is the not a cat but the same race as Aldair (a pig), but it's so damned iconic to me how can I imagine Aldair any other way?

So my custom is a mix of the Ken Kelly cover, the books, and my farting around, based around the Master of Ships book I had fun grunging his clothes up, and giving him real hair.
My next Aldair series custom is going to be his Stygiann wolf friend, Rhalgorn.

I would love to make an Aldair based on the Kelly cover someday, but need to find a nice, not overmuscled body to use to pull of the shirtless look.

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Aldair history
In the first book, Aldair (a pig creature) is a student who finds his life turned upside down and is soon on the run from the Church and being hunted down by the Empire. He manages to escape by the skin of his teeth only with the help of one of his peoples most hated enemies, a maurauding Stygiann ( a wolf creature) who was captured and about to be sentenced to death, only to both end up slaves in a foreign kingdom (to reptile creatures, the Niceans). And there is where Aldairs story truly begins, for he becomes the servant to an archeologist who has uncovered some unsetting questions about their creation. By the end of the first book, Aldair is a freed and has his own ship, continuing his former Masters quest to uncover the secrets of their world.

Aldair learns they were creatures created by man to fight their wars, but now man is gone from their world. Where is he? Aldair travels an Earth formerly believed flat to discover previously unknown continents in search of mans ancient Keeps and explores his devestated cities whos clues that may shed light on their fate.

By the time the fourth book rolls around, the stories are set off world as Aldair and his crew has followed man to the stars, and learns how far man has fallen since they last met their creations.
 
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Cool. Kind of made me laugh but in a good way. I was not expecting a pig man. Love the weathering.
 
Thank you, guys! I realize Aldair's not going to be for everyones tastes, but he's not meant to be. He was just a close personal project. :chew:chew:chew

-Rick :)
 
Congrats on this one---I know how awesome finally completing a pet project is. No pun intended.

The head is disturbing, but that is some amazing weathering work.
 
Congrats on this one---I know how awesome finally completing a pet project is. No pun intended.

The head is disturbing, but that is some amazing weathering work.

Thanks! The experimenting with faux hair was fun too. I'm going to try making his wolf friend with faux hair next to see how well that works out. If it does, the next step will be a full blown werewolf (or I just may try a "Howling" styled werewolf first).
 
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