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Otto Himmel Blog Entry |
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January 28, 2022, 3:44:10 AM May 29, 2023, 2:01:04 AM January 7, 2024, 9:19:54 PM April 9, 2024, 4:07:38 PM April 10, 2024, 12:00:06 AM September 4, 2024, 8:18:47 PM September 5, 2024, 12:46:20 AM 1/28/22: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." Today's character portrait attempt is Captain Otto Himmel from my Trench Rats storyline. He's a pretty new character, but sad to say I've already forgotten how I came up with him. That nasty scar across his throat is from an attempt that was made on his life; usually he keeps it covered with his collar, though his voice is permanently hoarse now. And yes, obviously he's a bad guy, though he has some unusual motivations that end up helping the good guys. There'll be more about him later on in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. (BTW, I fear whenever I post these that it looks like I'm making light of something serious but that was never intended. 😥 This is a serious storyline, the characters just happen to be anthropomorphic rather than human. Most of my characters started out that way; these ones stayed.) TUMBLR EDIT: All righty, a bit more info on this guy. Yes, that's an SS cap he's wearing and his actual rank is Hauptsturmführer (equivalent of captain); I went down a rabbit hole one night and learned they had all these weird rank names. Like I said I've already forgotten the seed of his creation but it turns out he's Dr. C's (the main Nazi doctor character, in charge of Project Doomsday, the experiment the Trench Rats were created to try to halt) brother-in-law; his late wife was Dr. C's sister. (Dr. C, BTW, is of course a nickname which the Allies use to refer to him; his real name hasn't been 100% settled on yet but surely it starts with a C, or maybe a K and the Allies just misspelled it? *shrugs* Dr. C's experimental subjects often refer to him as "Doctor-Father" (Doktor-Vater?)...it's kind of messed up.) Unnamed wife/sister died in childbirth and Himmel's son was deemed "stupid," and put in an institution. Fast-forward to WWII (which in my timeline I believe starts a few years earlier, and the technology is slightly ahead of where it was in reality, though not much), Himmel joining the SS, and the start of the Doomsday Project, which is intended to increase the subject's strength, intelligence, and agility, but the serum is effective only on those with a particular, very rare blood type. Turns out Himmel's son happens to have that blood type and as a mental defective, he's the perfect test subject, if only Himmel didn't care about him, but he does--pesky Nazi standards of mental and physical hygiene be damned. Of course it's a hard no when Dr. C suggests Himmel's son be entered in the project (which Himmel refers to disparagingly as Dr. C's "little science experiment"--there's no love lost between these two), so Dr. C opts for other means to get him in--namely, hiring a couple of thugs to accost Himmel when he's out walking one night, cut his throat, and dump him in a ditch. As his nephew's only surviving relative, Dr. C becomes his legal guardian and voila, gains a free experimental test subject! Except the thugs he hired weren't that great at their job, and Capt. Himmel survives the attack, though just barely. Ironically, it's a couple of members of the Diamond Network--a sort of cross between a guerrilla "terrorist organization" and Underground Railroad to shuttle Jews and other Nazi targets out of the country (founded by former jeweler and work camp survivor Josef Diamant, thus the name)--who find him and while in the act of trying to steal his uniform, realize he's still alive. They reluctantly take him back to their own doctor to get him fixed up, reasoning that, despite him being an SS officer, maybe he'll be more interested in going after whoever targeted him, rather than them--which turns out to be correct, as Himmel decides not to rat out (no pun intended) his Diamond Network saviors but instead turns on Dr. C (who is quite surprised to see he's still alive) by subtly sabotaging the Doomsday Project every chance he gets. Dr. C has no idea about any of this (Himmel, of course, is always the portrait of frosty civility around his brother-in-law--Dr. C underestimates both his intelligence and the depth of his hatred toward him), and just can't figure out why none of his attempts at improving the serum for use on other blood types ever work. Turns out Himmel is the reason. Himmel goes on to have other interactions with the Allies, such as Cpl.s Anna Julian and Drake Rat, though that's somewhat beyond the scope of this page and is even more spoilery and of course nobody is reading this. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Long story short, he remains a racist Nazi a-hole to the end, but his desire for revenge on his brother-in-law overrides that enough that he proves pivotal in the ultimate failure of Project Doomsday...not before it produces a few successes, though, namely Doomsday (D-Day) Rat himself, Wolfstein, and Kolten. Yep--Kolten, the project's first test subject, though considered only a partial success due to his mental status, is Himmel's son. (Himmel continues to visit him as a subject of the experiment, at least, until the Trench Rats shuttle him away. He believes Kolten has no idea he's his father--partly due to Kolten referring to Dr. C as "Doctor-Father"--though the test serum worked in increasing Kolten's intelligence in various ways and yeah, he was able to figure some things out on his own.) ...And this is just a fraction of the weird gargantuan amount of Trench Rats plotting that's gone through my head lately. I have no idea why I'm so fixated on this now after decades of no interest in it, Jeez. [Otto Himmel 2022 [Friday, January 28, 2022, 3:44:10 AM]] 5/29/23: r/SketchDaily theme, "Expressions." Was a long day so I decided to try some rough character sketch practice. Would be nice to draw them in different poses. These aren't technically expression practice though a few have one (Schäfer has his lovely deer-caught-in-headlights look). I'd just like to get better at this. (You can see the first effort really sucked. Seems a boxy shape is better than a round one.) They were done sans reference so some details are off. I drew different expressions exactly a year ago, it turns out. Didn't realize it'd been so long. [Rough Character Sketches 2023 2 [Monday, May 29, 2023, 2:01:04 AM]] 1/7/24: The upcoming r/SketchDaily theme is "Fancy Rats"! The perfect opportunity to not only draw more rats, but to try out a new style! I'm a bit ambivalent about it, mainly because it'd be hard to maintain consistency between drawings of the same person or same species/breed--in case you haven't noticed, I reuse templates I created--and because it's always difficult to get clean lines right with a brush that alternates thickness. But anyway, here's how the initial rough attempt went. I meant to try a three-quarters view but forgot...maybe another time. [Rough Rat Concept Sketches 2024 [Sunday, January 7, 2024, 9:19:54 PM]] 4/9/24: Practice sketch for the next theme, though I'm unsure if I have the skill to pull it off. Just two brief notes: 1. Sorta semi-canon art presumably from just after he was released by the Diamond Network operatives who nursed him back to health following Dr. Kammler's thugs' attempt on his life--see his civilian clothes and the bandages on his neck. I say semi-canon, as I don't think they let him go with his Degen, why is he posing with it?--I dunno. 2. Of course I drew him holding the Degen in the wrong hand: Himmel is a lefty. Of course I did. Perhaps more to come. If I can't pull it off at least I have this sketch, I guess! [Rough Himmel Sketch 2024 [Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 4:07:38 PM]] 4/10/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "A Rat Holding Something Sharp." Info in my art Tumblr (tehuti88-art, which I can't link as the sub always marks it as spam). Practice sketch which served as the rough foundation. TUMBLR EDIT: Of course this is Captain Otto Aloysius Himmel from my WWII anthro storyline. His old portrait is HERE, though the info given in the entry is highly out of date. His Toyhou.se page is HERE though it's currently being rewritten so only the bare basics are there, and his story is quite long. Parts of it which are pretty up to date can be found in the entries for HIS WIFE, HIS PARTNER, and HIS PARENTS. Long story short for newcomers: He's actually a good person in awful circumstances, a sheep in wolf's clothing--he only wears the wolf's clothing to protect his son. Family means everything to him, and given the immense losses he suffers, he'd go to the ends of the earth to keep his son safe. That doesn't mean he feels no guilt over certain of his actions, though. Despite everything he goes through, he manages to keep hold of his humanity and to redeem himself. His Toyhou.se profile will come soon, so keep an eye on it for his story. [Herr Himmel [Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 12:00:06 AM]] 9/4/24: Practice sketch for the upcoming "Tarot Card" theme. I'm having overly ambitious thoughts. :/ [Rough Emperor Sketch [Wednesday, September 4, 2024, 8:18:47 PM]] 9/5/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Tarot Card." The Emperor. (I haven't a favorite card but Otto as the Emperor has been in my head for a while, so, good time to draw it.) Concept sketch. [The Emperor [Thursday, September 5, 2024, 12:46:20 AM]] |