Undead Troll

This one has come a long way from a sketch design on a cross country airplane ride. I posted the original sketch here. 

This undead troll will be submitted to & Magazine for issue 11 due to be released in November. My original concept through the final piece pretty much stayed the same, and while I do not think that my backgrounds are totally up to par yet, I suppose I am being harsh on myself. 

I wanted him down in a hole, clawing out from under heavy vegetation over some rocky outcroppings. Mostly I wanted to get the vines that he was parting to make sense, and I really wanted to show foreground vines and background vines going in separate directions indicating that he was actually holding them out of the way in order to climb up and through in order to devour the flesh of some unsuspecting adventurer. 

Again I started with black ink Pigma Micro pens and finished up with the Prismacolor grey markers for shadows. I then put a few highlight in his eyes, teeth and gum line with white gauche. 

(Click to Enlarge)

Next on my agenda is to finish the Ettin sketch, start a Gnoll illustration and finish up on an idea I have for a group of Goblinoids. Should be fun.

Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.