23.oct 2003

So it has started. Now I have no choice but to do this I guess :)
If you visit Conceptart.org you can see what the competition is all about. This time the topic is "Thunderdome warriors of ancient civilizations". ...Hmm, don't know if this is a good theme or not. I guess it's ok, but hard to do something original because there's been so much fantasy illustrations etc that has done ancient warriors of some sort, it's hard to do something innovative and new. Or maybe I'm just thinking wrong ? Guess so.

Anyway I started doodeling a bit in front of the TV last night. I don't know why I do that, I'm always getting distracted by what's on the TV and my brain stops working :) But it's comfortable. So, then I sat with a bunch of papers on my lap drawing things, I did not have any clue what to draw. I thought hmm, it seems like everyone is doing the egyptian thingie so atleast I wanna stay a bit away from that...even though it would've been fun to do some egyptian warrior. Anyway I startet thinking about maybe inventing some kind of new tribe thing with some weird body paintings and lotsa weird stuff shoved into their skin, like bones and rings and stuff. I did a couple of crappy doodles...
Oh well, I never came up with anything that appealed to me. and I just drew bad yesterday, I almost gave up. But since there's about 7 days left for the deadline I kept on making crap :)
But atleast I found out that the tribe thing ain't gonna do it for me. So I startet thinking about something different. Ok Vikings could maybe be a bit cool. I'm Norwegian so I should do vikings not some egyptian thing :) But vikings are a bit boring, but I could exaggerate. I did a silly sketch...
Uhm. Yeah, hehe. Well atleast I think that I can go somewhere with this. Ok, I'm gonna do some viking thing. But I must make up my mind on how exaggerated and cartoony I want it or not. I don't wanna do some hyper realistic viking, then I would probably fall a sleep too many times to be able to finish it for deadline ;) So, I wanna exaggerate proportions in a bit funny and cool way. I did a couple of facedoodles...
From realistic to inbetween to silly. Well, like I said I don't wanna do this realistic. I think the style of the middle one could work. Kinda comic like and evil. Ok, I will go for something like that. I did also do some thumbnail, I usually do that when I want to think of how the image should look. Those are really small, then I mean like max 2 centimeters big each way, and I don't care about the drawing. They probably won't help anyone else than myself. But for me it's helpful to start get my brain working.

...As you can see, just scribbles. I think something like the nr.3 could look nice. A bit above perspective. Maybe add a hawk or wolf, something that would fit the character. We'll see. But this is as far as I got from last night scribbling. Let's see if I'll manage to do something tonight. Btw, this sketching came from about 2-3 hour of sketching and TV watching :) Of course I did plenty more of sketches, but most withouth a single thought in my head. That's a bad habbit, drawing without thinking, usually a pointless thing to do. Anyway stay tuned, I will update this frequently...and believe me because I have no choice if I'm to finish this by the deadline.

25.oct 2003

Hello again. Yes I've found some time to continue on my viking. Sadly I found out in the forum that I'm not the only one doing vikings, but who cares I just want to do a drawing and have some fun :)
Luckily I had some spare time at work today so I wasted a couple of hours planning out this character a bit more. I started focusing on the clothing and character design now, since this is a "character design contest" and therefore I don't want to spend too much time planning the background or setting for the picture. I talked a bit with my colleague Chester which came up with a couple of cool ideas for clothing and gadgets, as I want to exaggerate this into something more than vikings actually was. Anyway this is what I came up with...
I will make a helmet with big horns, like a ram (is that the right word for the animal ?) and an axe which is overproportional and of course lots of belts and fur. Some metal plates and he should have plenty of plaits coming from his hair. I will not make his thighs without jeans, too Conan, so only his arms will show skin. Powerful chest and head with small hands to make his arms look more powerful. He should look dirty and ready to fight.
Well I think I have a character I want to go further with. But I don't want to pay attention to the background, but I need something that could fit him well. A couple of wolfs would be nice. Maybe one on each side. Ugh, I don't know how to draw wolfs :) But I did some quick sketching, starting with a very dull and tried to make it more exaggerated.


Uhm, well I got further but I still need to work on these. They need to look more wicked and powerful....and maybe more like wolfs:) But hopefully I will manage to do something more with these when I start sketching the picture. Because from this pont I think I will try to start sketching the final picture , as I've made up my mind on most things. So I'll be back within a day or two with something more concrete. Stay tuned.

20.oct 2003
Well, this is as far as I've got now. I haven't had much time the last days. This comes from an hour of sketching. I think I will have to go with something like this. I'd like to work more with it, but time stops me. I just hope I will manage to get it done, as I got a lot of other things to do as well. Anyway, I'm getting there. As you can see nothing new invented, just a drawing based on the design of the others. I will make a bit cleaner version of this, but not with ink, as I don't want a comic like style for the coloring, newer really appealed to me. Anyway, stay tuned for more updates.

29.oct 2003
Hello Again, Finally I have finished the sketch/linedrawing. Actually, what I had most trouble solving was the dog on the left (for the viewer). I don't know why, but sometimes you kind of get hung up, it doesn't turn out the way I want but still I can't manage to think of something different. Anyway, it turned out ok I think. If you compare with the rough sketch you can see that I exaggerated the neck way too much which made him look silly. Anyway, When I started fresh today, it was easier. Now I got the coloring left to do...When I feel that I have a ok sketch to work with, the painting part is really fun. If I know that I will have to change a lot on the sketch when I paint it's less fun, because then I feel that I make up for a not well thought through initial drawing. But the opposite, to have a "uber" clean ink drawing can be a pain in a butt too. I like when I have something inbetween, something I can play with but still things are rather set in the sketch. But I guess everything can work as long as you make sure it's done intentionally for what it's for. ...enough rambling.
When I look at the process now, early drawings are really embarassing, the ideas, etc..But, that is a part of the process. So, that's also why I don't want to hide the silly ones. The only important thing I guess is to make sure you can take it further, forget the bad things and improve and get a mind process going while drawing. And, preferably this should go quick and smooth even though initial sketches becomes crap. Don't let it hold you down, but lift you up, that's how I try to think. Every artist draw crap, they just don't show it all ;) ...guess the rambling kept on going, hehe. Stay tuned for more updates, it's time for the coloring. I got 2-3 days left !!!

29.oct 2003
Hehe, another update the same day. Yes I gotta be productive now, if I'm to finish this...
Actually, this isn't a "big" update, because I've hardly worked more than 15 min on it since the last update. But, still feel that I should keep you posted. Also this is a bit of an important update regarding how I work. Because this is how I start paint my pictures, doesn't matter if I'm going to keep the lines or not, this is how I start. Just punching some colors out, not thinking a lot of the light just contrast and colors. Now I will start thinking a bit more about shadows and smaller areas. If I wanted to keep the lines really clear, I'd start tightening it up while painting from here. But, on this I think it would look better if the lines were less clear or even gone. I would just make the job harder for myself if I tried to think about the smaller areas or all the details and light if I didn't know roughly how I want the picture to look as a whole. Hope you understand. Anyway, more fun job awaits, and the updates will be very frequent. Stay tuned.

30.oct 2003
30.oct 2003

Click Image to see the picture in full size !
Finished ! I didn't make much changes from the one before this one, just removed the most obvious lines and cleaned up a couple of things a bit more. I know I could go on forever with this one, but I choose not to, because of the deadline. And, it's always nice to have something that stops you from fucking it up ;) Anyway, I hope someone has enjoyed this little step by step process. Maybe I'll do another one one day. -Joachim