Resting Orc Process

After taking a brief hiatus to spend some quality time camping rustic style with my two boys, I am returning to the drawing board. I apologize for my absence, and am ready to get back into the swing of things. 

During the camping trip I kept getting flashes of this worn out orc resting, perhaps after a battle or just on guard duty. It could be that after carrying a 70 pound backpack through sandy terrain over the course of several miles I was exhausted and was contemplating someone who felt like I felt at the time.  

I wanted to be able to confer the feeling of how it must feel to be theses humanoids pushed outside the realm of humans, to have to live in a world where you are hated, and in turn where you project your hatred upon human civilization. 

Here is the quick thumbnail sketch I did, roughing out the ideas. 

(Click to Enlarge)

I wanted him to have a sense of weight to him, hunching his shoulders and resting his forearms upon his knees. He had to look fatigued in my mind. He needed to have a look forlorn as well. He had to be "pig-faced" as that is my classical OSR memory of orcs. I felt he needed to have some armor on but I didnt want to so overly burden him with armor that the details of his figure were completely removed. 

I took a break and looked over a ton of Frazetta paintings, and after looking at them I knew I wanted to work on the way the orc's muscles and body looked. I didnt want to copy the masters work, but if I could improve my characterization, body mechanics and shape and composure of the illustration, I figured I might as well learn as I go. 

I started inking it today, and thought I would get some "work in progress" posts up.

(click to enlarge)

Rather than drawing on top of the original thumbnail (which I normally do) I redrew the image and worked it from ground zero so to speak. I increased his hunched over look, and changed the bench to a rock, though I may change that too. I am wanting to drop in some heavy shadows, but wanted to work the textures of him first. There is something about the way he is seated with his feet overlapping that I feel makes this "feel" natural. 

Back to the drawing board to finish it. I will post up the final inks before I add in the grey marker work, for the final piece. 

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.