Lubash the Ogre - The Village of Hommlet
© 2013 Wizards of the Coast
Those who are connected with my on Facebook are probably all too familiar with this image since it is my current avatar. I knew from the moment it was done that it was becoming my new avatar... one because I was happy with how it turned out, and two, I had a lot of fun posing for the reference and there is a lot of me in Lubash. Did I say something about reference? Yes I did! Because I shot reference with dramatic lighting first and foremost with this piece. Since it was a monster portrait I knew what I wanted to do and the look I was going for. I shot the reference I knew I needed to make sure this piece hit the mark.
Once the reference was shot I got to work on some thumbnails to flesh out my ideas... I say ideas, but I really had one I REALLY wanted to do...
Lubash the Ogre - Thumbnails
© 2013 Wizards of the Coast
Yeah, option 'A' was the piece I wanted to make... from the moment I got the assignment. Sometimes that happens and when it does it can be hard to get it out of my mind and to work up some other options. Cause you never know, that first awesome idea might just be crap. I had a good feeling that it would not be crap and I had my fingers crossed. Production ended up picking 'A' so it all worked out! With an approved thumbnails it was time to get started on the drawing...
Lubash the Ogre - Drawing
© 2013 Wizards of the Coast
RAWR! Lubash is starting to take shape! I revisited my reference and pulled a lot of myself into the piece and worked up the final drawing. My, that skull tied to his beard is cool... look at all those marks, he must have killed a lot of people and must be a real monstrous ogre. I was so proud of myself for thinking of adding that detail... Only thing is, production didn't really notice it in the thumbnail. It was not until the final drawing that it stood out... and they thought it stood out too much and would be distracting and I was asked to remove it before moving onto the final painting. No worries, that is how it goes sometime. Also, since they didn't use it it is still my idea and I can use it on another project or on one of my own pieces! Now that I had a more or less approved drawing it was time to get to painting...
Lubash the Ogre - Process
© 2013 Wizards of the Coast
I had a very clear idea and some really strong reference to work from so this piece really came together quickly. I may say that a lot it feels... but this one really did just seem to paint itself. After drawing / painting out the beard skull it was smooth sailing to the finish line. I can't say enough about having good reference. It helped this piece SO much. Posing in a strong direct light with a back light showed me everything I need to know to make this piece work. Granted, I was not married to the reference, but having it showed me the path and allowed me to deviate when necessary for the sake of the piece... rather then blindly stumbling down an unknown path trying to figure out what I was doing a long the way. REFERENCE! Use it people! Anyway... Once the piece was finished and turned in I was ask to make a vignette out of it. Apparently making it a vignette at the end reduced a lot of problems faced along the way for production and it was a lot better for them. I was all too happy to make the requested modification and the piece was done.
Here is how the piece finally turned out once vignetted...
Lubash the Ogre - The Village of Hommlet - Final
© 2013 Wizards of the Coast
That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...
For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com
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