It has been a while since I did one of these series posts about a drawing I have been working on, and so what better opportunity than to hit something that I started and completed in a single day. Today.
+Jeff Talanian requested a few more drawings from me (I guess he likes what he sees in my work), among them this guy he entitled "Radioactive Viking Zombie"...yea, I thought the same thing. In fact when Jeff told me about it, he actually said, he wasn't sure how artists rendered "radioactive" but that was why he "wrote words" and I did "art stuff".
To be honest, I have to admit, at first I wasn't sure how it was done in black & white ink either. I was not sure there is a lot of precedence here either, and after scanning the interwebs, I was proven right. So how was it done? Lightning bugs.
That's right, I studied pictures of lightning bugs, you might say that I am a veritable guru on the asses of the critters now. What better creature to learn from that one that glows-sort-of-radioactive-like.
Before we get to all that though, here is where it all started. The sketch.
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| Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. |
I got the initial pose down. I wanted him hunched over, pointing at his prey and carrying a giant axe. He had to be crooked, stooping and feral. He was not only a gritty viking, but a zombie too.
Next came the transfer.
I know high tech. The initial sketch was done on copy paper, like all of my pieces start out. Then I take them to my high tech light box (light provided by mother nature, and hugh piles of reflective snow!) and transfer them line by line over to Bristol board. It holds the inks better and doesn't bleed.
Here is the initial transfer.
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| Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. |
Pretty basic looking at this point. Just the outline (it would probably be nice to print out for kids to color in!) You can see that not every line gets transfered. Alot of the original lines are left out, and new (better?) lines are put down on the final.
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| Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. |
So here you see I added a bit more detail in pencil and then started the inking process. I have decided that the light will be coming from pretty much everywhere (as he is radioactive, did I mention that already). But if there were light that shown through on the drawing it would generally be coming from the upper left.
You can see that the inks really start to bring this guy alive (so to speak). I have really worked the ring mail here, leaving rings hanging off of his chest, as if it were a full shirt, but missing most of it. His sword strap is detailed in,and a ripped (Gaunt +Jeff Talanian ?). But still, here I haven't gotten enough done to really see the final details. This is just the first pass with inks.
Here is more ink work.
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| Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. |
Working my way through the drawing, I have added details to his left (right) arm showing bone and muscle through torn/rotting skin. As well, his right (left) thigh has some rot, with muscle and sinew showing there. The outline of the axe got inked as well.
3rd inks.
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| Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. |
More and more inking, almost done though. His helm got a bit of work, as well as his hair, beard, braids, and cloak. His boots are starting to take shape as is his fur "loin-cloth" (What do you call that thing anyway that hangs around his waist? If someone has an answer, I will send you a piece of original artwork. Post your answer in the comments. I will contact the first comment-er with the correct answer, with original artwork options to choose from.)
I blocked in a sword too. This was an addition that wasn't included on the initial sketch but I needed to put something hanging from his strap, so I put a big sword there. Seemed to hang right and it balanced him out a bit too. Doubt he has the braaaaiiiiiinnnns!! to use it.
His chest got a bit of tearing skin with muscle and ribs showing through at this stage as well.
Next, inks are done (well, mostly).
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| Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. |
Helm details are finished, I wanted it to be covered in leather, so I made it patchwork, with stitches, also some traditional iron rivets. More inkwork on the hair, beard and braids. Finished up his left (right) leg, and boot detail. Poked a toe through the hole of his right (left) boot (reminds me I have to throw these socks away. My foot looks something similar.)
His axe got a bit of detail here too. with chink marks along the edge, and stamped/carved motif along the flat part.I detailed the handle a bit here as well, working the wood grain in.
His cloak was completed, darkened several times with hatching and given spots (not sure what animal has spotted fur like that, but I saw something similar while watching "Gladiator" today.)
Now come the markers. This is where we start to get the final feel for the RADIOACTIVE nature of this dude. I start with 10% Neutral grey, and progress up to 40% neutral grey.
The trick here is two-fold. 1st, I left a white outline along every edge of his body. Where-as usually my markers go all the way to the black outlines, with the radioactive nature of this guy there needs to be a highlight that is basically there to show that there is light/glow coming from within him.
I think it is pretty effective. Again, only on his exposed skin did I leave the high-light along the edge of his body.
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| Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. |
2nd, I added outward playing lines with the fine tip of the marker. I was careful to again leave a white space between the outline of his figure, and the "glow" lines. Those are very sporadic too. They dont all touch, and they are not all the same length. That was key. I went over those glow lines with 10% neutral grey - 30% neutral grey, as I didnt want them to be as dark as the Viking himself.
A a final tough I added "squiggly" lines to some of the glow. Very light, fast and sporadic again.
I made several passes with marker, and I was working rather rapids, so I didn't get up to scan in multiple images of the marker work.
However, here is the finished piece.
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| Copyright Del Teigeler 2015. Licensed to Jeff Talanian. |
I added the ground in here, and some finishing details. Overall this took roughly 3 hours of work. From concept to completion. (That is not including all the running back and forth to the computer to scan.)
I hope you enjoyed the write up on this one.
Thanks for looking, comments always welcome.
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