CG Fantasy Character Inspiration For All The Modeling Paladins And Elves Out There!

There's more to fantasy than Tolkien, you know! Of course, people will disagree, and that's why dwarfs will always be racist against elves (and vice versa). However, we can always try and push the envelope! Warhammer Fantasy Battles had a good idea with their fantasy Holy Roman Empire equivalent, Empire. You know what's better than knights in shining armor? Knights in shining armor backed by arquebusiers and steam tanks. Now that's some serious business! And we have collected this sampling of great fantasy stuff to get you inspired! And when you're done with that, you can check out our previous post about 13 fantasy characters we want to appear in movies. Don't forget to take a look at the 3D galleries available at FormFonts when you have the free time.

The Encounter by Fabricio Moraes

Not all tree-like creatures are slow and wise ents. Some can be more akin to arboreal brutes. Still, we see trees as benevolent more often than not, so we hope that tree-brutes (or brute-trees) would be friendly to kids at the very least. Unless they're the kind of kids that like carving their initials on the tree trunk, that is...

The Agents by Pascal Blanche

Who are the agents? Why is plural in use when we can clearly see that it's just a solitary figure? Can a fantasy tale have guns in it? Can sword-and-planet (it's an old and venerable genre from a more optimistic time) stories be considered fantasy? Is it fitting to write an entire paragraph made up entirely out of questions?

Bear King by Andres Ehrenborg

He is not king bear, since he isn't actually a bear (unless he's a werebear), but he is the bear king, at least judging by the pendant. Did he get the name for his salmon fishing skills? Was he good at raiding beehives when he was young? Probably not. But he might have bear cavalry in his ranks, because as we all know, putting a knight on a blood-hungry mount is a winning combination.

Mambacore by Fer Aguilera Reyes

Is this an android... shaman? Is it a relic from before the end of the world, revived in a new magical environment? That might just be it. Or it might be something akin to the Destiny's aliens, who are both technological and mystical at the same time. Who would expect alien robots to be magical? I guess that would be one ace up their sleeve!

A Tale Of Troll by Gilberto Magno

Hey, look, a troll! Trolls are indispensable to fantasy much in the same way that orcs and goblins are, yet they're always different. Elder Scroll's trolls are simple beasts with some regeneration powers, Warhammer's trolls have more intelligence, and Warcraftian trolls have their own culture, yet lack the muscle mass or significant regenration. This guy is probably of the more cultured sort, and he definitely doesn't live under a bridge!

Warrior by Park Jun Hyuk

This is no mere Asian fantasy hero! He's highly Westernized: you can see that's he's white and probably in his 40s. However, he still has those demon wings. A demonic barbarian? Is this some sort of Chaos warrior before he got his armor? Probably not, because then the author would have been swamped by lawyers...

Cheers! by Anto-Tony Juricic

Usually it's the dwarfs that really love beer in fantasy. Beer, grudges, mining and Scottish accents - that's the forte of dwarf! However, this seems to be a gnome. Or some shoddy hob... halfling! Yeah, let's stay with the non-copyrighted races. Did you know that most medieval people drank ale, which was no carbonized, weaker and was only good for two or three days? Women brewed a lot of ale back then. So gnomes can probably do that too!

Viking by Pedro Conti

The vikings didn't really wear horned helmets, you know! That's a terrible liability to have in battle - anyone can grab them, and then you're in real trouble! However, they certainly were badass seamen, warriors and raiders. Cared a lot about their hair, too...

Red, A Grim Tale by John Hayes

It's popular to reimagine Red Riding Hood as a bad-ass. I mean, she's a girl who's facing down wolves and dark forests on her own. She's either a badass or insane!

Stormcast by Alessandro Baldasseroni

Stormcast Eternals are basically the fantasy Space Marines. Yup, that's what happened when Age of Sigmar replaced Warhammer Fantasy Battles. It could be anyone inside that armor: a human, a female elf (aelf!), a dwarf... just pay not attention to the fact that all Sigmarines share the same proportions and look outwardly male.

Toto by Ali Zafati

We're not in Kansas anymore, and Toto isn't a dog. It's some sort of diminutive mage critter. Can it launch lightning and fireballs? Maybe, but the blasts are probably really small. Good as a pocket pipe lighter, I guess!

Renaissance by Anthony Guebels

Truth be told, I have no idea what kind of "Renaissance" is this supposed to be. Maybe it's some post apocalyptic thing? That might explain why stuff is on fire. And yes, it's OK to set your fantasy books in the post-Apocalypse. Why, Numenera books are set after multiple ones!

Swamp Creature by Alessandro Baldasseroni

No, it's not the Swamp Thing, it's an entirely different creature. I'd say it looks like a swamp troll. I would know how a swamp troll looks like, I have a degree in fantasy fauna.

Watcher by Pascal Blanche

Who watches the watchmen? And who watches the watcher? Or what does this watcher watch? That's the problem with a lot of fantasy art: the subjects are usually taken out of their context and we have to come up with it ourselves. On the other hand, some would see it as a feature!

Venom hunter by Robin Benes

Do we have some Warcraft art on our hands? I believe we do, because that's a dead ringer for Murloc.