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Friday, January 13, 2012

The Forest Troll Part VI: Tight Pencil Drawing


I am much happier with the composition this time around. Starting over from scratch generally involves an entire day of suicidal behavior and all-time-lows.  So it's always a good feeling to know that it was the right choice.
The trees do what I had hoped that they would do and the image is a lot more comfortable to look at now.




(Well... unless giant trolls with clubs make you uncomfortable. In which case there may be no hope for the image.)


Next: Watercolor

14 comments:

  1. How can you muster up the patience to do this ALL over?! Seriously! What kind of thoughts do you send through your head while you are spending the extra hours drawing? (I need to know myself. I really lack patience.)

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  2. ... This is beautiful, I keep coming back to it and see more every time I look at it, great work Sir!!

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  4. This looks so awesome, Justin. I can't wait to see it finished.

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  5. Ah, those behaviors and all-time-lows...that sounds very familiar.

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  6. Very nice drawing. Good call to break those vertical shapes in the background, there's more unity now. However, I do feel that the big troll is kinda squeezed between those trees. Like the new tree is blocking his way you know? That's just the way it looks to me now, whitout colour, I'm sure you'll push it into the background though. Anyway, just a small crit from a big admirer:)

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  7. Hi Guys!


    Mike,
    I'm not going to lie. It's really hard for me to do too. Most times I'd rather eat my fists then start over. What makes me do it is knowing that if I push through and just finish it as is, the piece will be, at best, an over-worked piece of mediocre art. And starting over is the only hope I have of making a really exceptional piece. So you gotta do what you gotta do...

    Robert,
    I see what you are saying there. I am hoping that with atmospheric perspective I can separate the troll from foreground and background pretty clearly. Otherwise it will definitely get kind of crunched in there. We will have to see...

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  8. A little bit about your process....
    Do you make big composition changes digitally then go over that with pencil? Or are you using tracing paper to move stuff around.

    I ask because I noticed you changed a LOT of little design things: troll head, hammer perspective, trunk shapes, bird directions, etc.

    All great choices.... I was just wondering how your brain works in terms of speed/efficiency/sanity.

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  9. Hi Logan,

    I was raised by video games, so when a problem comes up I fix it with digital. The tracing paper technique is great as well, but I am just more comfortable in Photoshop.
    Afterwards I print the comp back out and redraw the whole thing again in pencil.

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  10. I'm really stoked for this piece. Good on you for putting in all that extra work!

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  11. good call with this...now im excited to catch your colorification!

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  12. U actually redrew the whole thing over a couple of days ...Jesus Christ, u r fast :D And you did it better! I love them ravens :D

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