This is a living staff that vampirically leeches life from an enemy on command. This life essence is stored in a crystal that rests in its abdomen and slowly pours out red smoke that gives its wielder the stolen life of others.

I created it by rendering the design in pencil, inking it in felt pen, and painting it in painter. I used Photoshop only to flatten the final layers and add text when it went to print. One of the best things I think I was able to accomplish in this piece was substituting red smoke for blood, which represents life, and looked like it was dripping down the vertebrae of the staff.

This was a design that I made for SOE's Everquest Omens of War expansion

(Used with permission from Sony Online Entertainment)