The Making of " Kalikos Hero Quest" for the Guide to Glorantha

The Making of “The Kalikos Hero Quest”.

Final Print Version with Adjustments

Since the Guide to Glorantha is finally finished and on sale, I thought that I would post up another “making of” article to explain the process that I used to create the illustration “Kalikos Hero quest”.

As always, each commission that I am given by Jeff Richard at Moon Design is accompanied by a long and detailed document outlining the events to be depicted as well as includes many points of reference for me to consider. 

Here is the initial Art Brief:

It shows a group of heroes (and heroines) from the Lunar army walking through frozen wastes towards the edge of the Sky Dome. The stars of the Northern Sky (based on the attached Inhabitants of the sky picture) can be clearly seen.

Story: Each year, the Lunar Empire sends a band of its most talented magicians and most powerful warriors to travel beyond the edge of the world to strengthen the White Pillar God and defeat the God of Winter. They drag the Kalikos Boat with them, which brings the magic they will need to perform their heroquest.

Sky Dome: The celestial sky dome is a key part of this picture. The attached picture Inhabitants of the Sky show the position of the major constellations in the sky on New Years Day, when this picture takes place. Once we have the major constellations in place we can always add additional stars. We should be able to see a slice of the sky, from the North Horizon to the Pole Star, reaching out to the Love and War stars on the far right, and the Bagog constellation on the far left. Both the Red Moon and Orlanth's Ring are visible.

The God of the White Pillar: Glorantha's skies are a physical dome (like http://dcsymbols.com/mastersquare/mayan_cosmos.jpg), separated from the firmament by four pillars (one in each direction). The North Pillar -White Pillar -manifests as a huge, white-bearded god carrying a compass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:God_the_Geometer.jpg) and clearly struggling to hold up his corner of the sky. Our heroquesters are approaching the edge of the world and can see the dome and White Pillar god (as a shadowly figure in white who for some reason I imagine as being a muscular white bearded man drawn by William Blake) wreathed in the Aurora Borealis. The Aurora Borealis should look as magical and fantastic as possible (http://cdn.tripwiremagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Magical-Aurora-Borealis.jpg), it represents the transition into the Outer Realms of the Otherworld.

The Icy Wastes and the God of Winter: Our heroquesters are traveling through icy wastes (http://www.world-traveller.org/images/no05-s05-002.jpg), so cold that it takes on a white-blue cast.

Above the icy wastes can be seen the God of Winter, a huge giant, dripping with ice and a frozen beard. The giant is hostile but far away. Perhaps something like this: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7v6ow7jQI1rbdu7po1_1280.jpg, although he is more likely to use a wintery sword (with icy winds that cut) than a club.

The Lunar HeroQuesters: We have a group of Lunar heroquesters - magicians and heroes who are entering the realm of the gods in order to strengthen the God of the White Pillar. There are at least seven of them, half are male, half are female. I have attached two pictures that give a feel for Lunar costume (plate01final and Pelorians-FINAL - here is another good reference picture http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q545/quicksabre/84b266a3.jpg). The Lunar heroquesters wear heavy cloaks of red or bear skins against the snow. The warriors are armored (bronze cuirasses, bronze scale, or lamellar, and with greeves on their legs) wear their shields on their back, trousers under their ornate tunics, and their leader should have a high golden helmet, similar to http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q545/quicksabre/84b266a3.jpg, but higher and based on this: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5h53igZ9lrkrA5OmWtvgx-e68fgup7dRD5cvTG-EjPT229BGULI5OWGixfsdcXu57e5PdFd8h5jBs3FhtCbk4XXaN1rxXS8CurwP2W-14TFhb_RStVQRwJjzJn5fa9TOotLRVefCZQp5d/s1600/Golden+Hat+Schifferstadt_sm.jpg

They are on horseback - their horses are laden with gear, and perhaps some are on foot, guiding their animals (http://www.suryaschool.org/images/post-images/2008/08-10-06.jpg and http://www.suryaschool.org/images/post-images/2008/08-10-06b.jpg for inspiration). At least one carries a standard like that attached as Lunar standard1.jpg, although it only has one star, not two.

The Lunars are dragging a sled behind them: the Kalikos Boat!

The Kalikos Boat: This is a reed boat (like the Egyptian reed boats - http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~catshaman/15Sailors/Image4799.JPG) on top of a sled like this: http://ancientweb.org/images/explore/Finland_Ancient_Sled_Reki.gif. The sled is being dragged across the icy wastes by the Lunar horsemen.

In the center of the boat is a pillar (like this: http://www.touregypt.net/images/touregypt/si-amun13.gif - but without the Egyptian gods or winged beetle). On top of the pillar is a glowing red rock, as bright as a star. This star houses the magic the Lunar heroquesters need to perform their heroquest, and must be defended by them with their life. Without this, their quest will certainly fail. 

Rough Thumbnails.

At this stage, I sat down and brainstormed a few ideas for this composition. I deliberately keep the drawings loose with and focus primarily on composition.

Final Sketches:

Usually, I only do one of these but after discussion with Jeff and my own personal taste, I thought that I would work up these two comps to a more refined stage. As you can see, we ended up going with comp#1.

References:

Now that I have a plan for the final illustration I begin “gathering” references and information to help me put this piece together and “fill in the blanks” for what is to be depicted. Luckily for me, this image was commissioned in January and since I live in Canada and my mom owns some horses, I did not have to go too far in order to get some relevant references. For this picture, I stood on my mom’s balcony while she walked her horse off in the distance a couple of times. This allowed me to get a pretty good approximation for the horse’s anatomy and perspective as well as some additional information for the environment.

Next I went to trusty old google Sketch up and put together a quick 3d model of the boat and riders and took a few shots of them in perspective. Sketch up can be a great tool for this kind of thing.

Lastly, my good friend Owen McManus is a 3d Guru and he whipped up a quick lighting setup to give me some more information regarding lighting and scale for the scene.

I also took some reference photos of myself posing as a struggling Northern giant/ god but we won’t be sharing those ;)

Lastly, I saved only a few process shots but at least you can get a bit of information regarding how I combined all this information into the final image.

Finished the Questers.

Blocking in the Dome.

Adding the Constellations. A lot of noodling went on in this process. I think I have 4 or 5 emails from Jeff discussing the subject and a few versions that include the Red Moon and more. This is what we ended up with.

Add the "Big Guy" and some atmosphere.

Finally we have several layers of snow effects. I really wanted to give this piece an epic " Lost in the Barrens" feeling type of snow storm. As if the weather was on the brink of turning for the better or for the worse.

Thanks for tuning in and if you find these of interest, let me know which image from the guide that you would like me to do a write up on next and I’ll see if I can’t accommodate you.

Cheers!

Asag, Son of Anu. Utukku Demon

Hey Gang,

Sorry I missed posting in February but on the bright side, I've been swamped with work and as a freelancer, that is not necessarily a bad thing;) So for today I am posting a personal piece that I finished up and submitted to the art book for the upcoming Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

This piece is a depiction of a Sumerian Demon called an Utukku.  I recently had an opportunity to illustrate one for an unreleased project and this image is based on one of my unused concepts. The final design that I ended up doing for my client ended up quite different than this version. I had an unused concept sitting around that I really liked so I asked for and received permission from my client to polish up that concept and that is what you are seeing here today.

Enjoy!

Game Cover Pt 2

Today I am sharing the recent piece I completed for RnR Game's new product "Strike a Pose". I've been working on this image infrequently over the past 6 months and it is nice to finally be able to share it.  It's always fun and challenging to illustrate happy people.

Cheers!

Laboratory of the Forsaken...

Happy New Years!

2013 has come and gone and with the new year, I am able to share a few more pieces of work. I think I wrapped this one up last spring for Crafty Games and it was just released in time for Christmas. I did 2 pieces for them and I expect the next one to be released soon as well. You can find more about the product here and you can order it here.

The Princess of Power

Here is the latest in my Motu Fanart series for Lily. This time, the Princess of Power her self, SHE RA! I figured it was time to do a good guy. I showed it to my daughter and the first thing she said was " She's so beautiful" and then "You need to paint He Man". lol I have a rough started for He Man, we'll see if I get to him next. Personally, the villains are more fun and I'd like to do Scorpia.

Here is the image with a couple of Crop Variants and a Detail of the portrait. This one took much longer because of all the metal and 80's Glam.

Harrek and Jar eel

Hey Gang,

It looks like the folks over at Glorantha.com have released a teaser to their upcoming "Guide to Glorantha" which has one of my pieces in it. I figure that it is now safe to post up so here we go...

Basically, this image is meant to be a wall mural that recounts the mighty battle between Jar Eel and Harrek during the Hero Wars. (Harrek won ;))
You can find the teaser link here  http://www.glorantha.com/layout-from-the-guide/

Cheers!

Blade of the Iron Throne Pt1

Recently, I completed 2 series of 3 narrative illustrations for Iron Throne Publishing which is due to be released in the next 3 weeks or so. I have received permission from Iron Throne to post up 2 teaser images so here goes!

To find out more about Irone Throne and their upcoming products, you can view their web site Here.

Sketchbook and Studies + Reilly Method too!

Hey all,

I was going through my files today and I realized that I have not posted any studies or Sketchbook stuff in a long while. According to my blog's statistics, I get a lot of hits related to my Reilly Method studies and since I have not really stopped doing them, I thought that I'd get back on the horse and share. All of these studies are digital but I do still scribble in my sketchbook. I have not gotten around to scanning anything from there but when I do, I'll post those up as well.  I apologize if some of the images are doubled up in one or two pics but that is just how things came out this time around.

Thanks for tuning in and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

Reilly Method quick Portraits. I try to do these in under 10 minutes each.

 So for a while there I was on a Predator kick and I was doing some studies of the various characters. My favorite was always "Blaine" played by Jesse Ventura. I still have plans for these....

 Gestures and quick studies.

 The two on the right were drawn using the palette knife in PS. There is something about that tool that gives the drawings a nice mark and energy. I don't know why I don't use it more!

The Making of Hon El

Hey Gang,

Today I am going to share my process for creating the illustration "Hon El the Dancer" for Moon Design Publications's up coming "Guide to Glorantha".

To preface this article, I'd like to explain that the world of Glorantha was created over 40 years ago and is probably the most richly detailed and complex setting that I have ever worked in. I've worked on over 20 illustrations for Moon Design Publications and pretty much all of them come with very specific and detailed art direction like the following document.

Art Direction:

OK, this is an "In-Gloranthan" piece that decorates the wall of the Temple of Hon-Eel in the city of Furthest (where the goddess Hon-Eel founded the ruling dynasty). It depicts the goddess Hon-Eel the Dancer overcoming the horse barbarians and enthralling the storm barbarians, bringing both the Lunar Way. Stylistically, this should be a cross between the color and dynamism of Etruscan tomb paintings (http://www.anatomyofnorbiton.org/images/Etruscan-monsters-fs.png) and the movement and grace of ancient Hindu-Buddhist devotional art.

 

I've attached a picture by another artist of scene from this culture, just to help with the feel.

 

Background: The goddess Hon-Eel is the daughter of the Red Emperor (the god-king of the Lunar Empire that is like an ancient Assyria ruled by a Greco-Buddhist mystery cult). The Lunar Empire was desolated by horse barbarian attacks in its early years. After the barbarians were defeated, Hon-eel appeared and renewed the empire. She restored provincial lands which had drifted from Lunar rule as a result of the barbarian attacks, settled new lands, drove the last of the horsemen off, and discovered a new food grain, maize, for Peloria. Hon-Eel brought the Lunar Way to the storm barbarians and founded a mighty royal dynasty. Hon-eel danced her way to the end of the universe and brought back rich blessings of fertility for all who were wise enough to call on her.

 

Picture: This picture is a color fresco, based on the attached sketch (Hon-Eel.jpg):

 

A. Hon-Eel the Dancer. Hon-Eel is a graceful, beautiful woman. She is dancing, balanced on her right foot (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apasara_Img445.jpg). Her left foot is on her right knee, and she holds forth a bundle of maize. She wears golden bracelets, armlets, anklets, and necklaces (like http://www.inst.at/trans/16Nr/05_1/sengupta_08.jpg). She wears a beaded skirt (like http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apsara_441.jpg or http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLA_lacma_Celestial_Nymph_ca_1450_Rajasthan.jpg.)

Her skin is golden-brown and her hair red. Hon-Eel's eyes are green. She is not tattooed.

Behind her head is an ornate halo like http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apsara_441.jpg, but glowing red.

In her left arm she holds a bundle of maize. In her right hand she carries a bronze sickle that is dripping blood. 

 

Hon-Eel is flanked by two ripe maize plants.

 

B. Red Goddess. Above Hon-Eel is her grandmother, the Red Moon Goddess. She is seated in a lotus position and making a gesture of peace (the Abhaya Mudra, see http://www.cambosastra.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Mudra.jpg). Her skin is red and she is surrounded by a glowing red halo like Hon-Eel.  She is either naked or wears a gown covered with stars (see plate01final.jpg).

 

C. Red Emperor. Watching Hon-Eel, and giving his blessing is the Solar Emperor (who in various incarnations is the Sun God, the son of the Red Moon, the father of Hon-Eel, and her lover). He is based on the Emperor Yelm.jpg, His garments are golden, as are the wings, but the disk is red like the moon.

 

D. Dead Orlanthi King. Hon-Eel dances atop the corpse of a dead Orlanthi king (like Kali does with Shiva, see http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Kali_1800-1825_Kangra._The_Walters_Art_Museum..jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Goddess_Bhadrakali_Worshipped_by_the_Gods-_from_a_tantric_Devi_series_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg or http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kali_lithograph.jpg). The king is bearded and wears a crown, a golden neck ring or torc, and golden spiral arm ring. He has a bronze sword (symbolizing his violent nature). He is tattooed with Air, Movement, and Mastery. Bonus points if he has the same tribal tattoo as Arim the Pauper did in the previous commission - this is Arim's distant heir, King Pyjeemsab. Pyjeemsab was entranced by Hon-Eel's beauty. He was killed after the marital conjugation (perhaps during it), but nine months later, Hon-Eel gave birth to his son and heir, who became the new king of a new dynasty (that worships Hon-Eel as a goddess).

 

E. Defeated Horse Queen. This is the Queen of the Horse Tribes. She's much smaller because she is a barbarian. She is riding a horse and wears an ornate costume like that of the Scythians (eg http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Images2/General/Iranian_Women_Warriors.JPG or http://realtruth.org/images/scythian-ashz-120523.jpg (on the left)). She has her hands up in worship of Hon-Eel.

 

F. Worshipful Storm Barbarian. This is a bearded Orlanthi barbarian (one of Arim's people). He carries a sword but has his hands up in worship of Hon-Eel.

The art direction was very specific so I put together 2 Comps for the AD to look at with my preliminary ideas.

After discussing the image with my AD ( Jeff Richard), he was on board for my idea to do this illustration in the style of Alphonse Mucha. This was great news to me because I greatly admire Mucha's work and it is always nice to pitch an idea to a client and have it accepted.


Next I completed 4 more rough sketches incorporating my ideas and all of the various symbology.

 

 Once we settled on the various compositional elements that we liked, I set out to incorporate all of them into the image as well as some Mucha inspired design elements. These next 3 images depict the various stages in the evolution of the final drawing.

 In this stage I had masked off the various elements and on a separate layer, I had flatted in the basic color scheme for the image.

 Final illustration.

I hope that you found this article informative and if you have any questions or comments, I'd be happy to hear from you.

Cheers!

Guild Hall

Last Summer I was contracted to provide the artwork for AEG's new game product Guildhall. I ended up creating the cover and six character illustrations for the various trade classes that the players use in the game. For more information, stop by AEG's site HERE and let them know that you love the artwork and you want to see more! Wink Wink ;) I've already begun working on the next version with 6 new characters and another cover so stay tuned for more updates.