Thanks for the comments people!
@Odinbc
As a roleplaying character, the troll mechant's nice but can and will sell you anything. His grin was always intended to aim towards a used-car-salesman kind of vibe. So he'd likely sell you the vacation then join you on it.
@lylejk, Pat625
Heh, yes it's not the first time people have noted this character having a similarity to Alf.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
I didn't have Alf as a conscious inspiration for Blackback but in retrospect I agree there are similarities.
@dinasset
This G'MiC filter indeed works very well to bring out all the hair-strand details!
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
@Artloader
Thanks, glad you like it! Many of my pictures (and comics) relate to this theme actually - fantastic characters involved in what you might call "mundane" circumstances (or at least not overly heroic ones). There is so much fantasy art depicting grand epic scenes that it's fun to go for something less commonly covered.
Blackback in particular is not from a comic project, he's a character I roleplayed in an online roleplaying (play-by-post) game some years back. Blackback the merchant troll, the (four-handed) Jester and the great Grey dragon (commonly recurring characters in my paintings) are all originally inspired by characters in roleplaying I've done over the years:
![Image](http://img00.deviantart.net/df25/i/2009/026/9/6/the_salesman_by_griatch_art.jpg)
![Image](http://img13.deviantart.net/2118/i/2009/026/2/e/jester_of_the_month_by_griatch_art.jpg)
![Image](http://img04.deviantart.net/f8c7/i/2009/024/6/7/dragon_meeting_jester_by_griatch_art.jpg)