Alek Gwilym Commission Sheet
Alek Gwilym is a tall, muscular human-passing half-dragon man. He has light skin, flecked with silver “freckles” (scales) and similarly silver eyes. His blond hair is long for a soldier’s, but by no means long, and is threaded with traces of silver. He is handsome and appears jaunty, almost cocky in portraits. He is the only son of Argynvost, Master-at-Arms of the Barovian army and Castle Ravenlof; Countess Strahd’s secret lover and the father of her twin sons, Godfrey and Alistor.
His attire should evoke that of a soldier or knight. He bears loyalty to both the Countess von Zarovich and Argynvostholt and as this bust may serve multiple purposes, I do not wish for either’s insignia to be present. I do wish for him to wear armor with blue and red clothing.
As he is the “sunshine one” in his relationship, and as he goes on to be the avatar of the Morning Lord, I wouldn’t mind some hints of solar imagery to him - whether that’s through color choice, motifs in the patterns of his clothing, or in the background.
He should carry himself well, with a hint of mischief in his eyes and smile. I want to be able to use this image interchangeably for Alek in the present day and past-Alek in forays into the Tome.
One of the things that is going to be vitally important as we do future commissions is that our party’s cleric, Alistor, and Godfrey Gwilym are Alek and Strahd’s sons. Alistor looks much like his father, so I will have to get the approval of our cleric player (shouldn’t be hard: she’s my girlfriend) as we go. Below, I’ve included some images that I’ve liked of Alek fanart and other, miscellaneous art we have used as icons on Roll20.
Art I have admired (but have never felt captured my Alek perfectly):
Art that I have used despite it not being exactly right either:
I am also including text from “I, Strahd” to help with the process:
“Despite his hard gray eyes and a sharp blade of a nose, which did not flatter his long face, women seemed to find Alek handsome enough. He enjoyed his ladies as thoroughly as he did his wine. In the fifteen years I'd known him, he'd never suffered through a lonely night unless he was too drunk or too battle-tired for such amusements” (19).
“Alek was lean and fast, but cautious. He refused several openings Sergei offered; the first minute dragged as they tried various feints and dodges on each other. Sergei then tried a feint-feint-attack, but Alek read it correctly and countered working both sword and dagger as the expert he was. In the years since he’d ceased to be my second-in-command and become castle steward, he’d not allowed himself to grow soft. Perhaps there was nothing more for him to do now than to keep the guards in shape and to dally with the chambermaids, but he worked his body in practice combat every day as if his life still depended on it. And it showed” (68-69).
“He glanced at me, his pale, hard eyes going bright with amusement as they locked briefly upon mine” (74).
“Alek Gwilym, valiant soldier, trusted officer, loyal companion - for eighteen busy years my only true friend - was dead by my hand” (141).
Northern European/Slavic sun imagery. I love the circular thing and I’ve provided two blues, a yellow, and a red. I’m not the best at color matching, but I hope it can give you a starting point!
Order of the Silver Dragon Insignia:
Alek should dress like a soldier, likely of Barovian persuasion, but I would like there to be siginificanly more color to his clothing than there was/is to Strahd’s - either from personal affect or because the portrait may have been done when Alek served under his father, Argynvost. I would like to see blues, reds, golds, and possibly silvers.
Alek is a military man. I like the outfits below, but would rather avoid him wearing a helmet, so his face can be clearly seen. I have picked both medieval and imperial Slavic/Russian military uniforms. I would like Alek’s outfit to complement Countess Strahd’s, even if he wears more colors.
