Today, I am happy to share the process and steps for one of my contributions to the Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants. This is one of four contributions to the book. Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants focuses on all things giants, including giant things that are not living creatures. Here is the final painting for the Runic Colossus, a giant statue that can shoot energy-PEW PEW PEW.
Runic Colossus
Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants
11 x 14 - Digital
Art Director - Emi Tamji
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
I was asked to design and illustrate the Runic Colossus, a new monster for Dungeons & Dragons. I was provided with the necessary reference, so I jumped right in. The Runic Colossus was described as:
This illustration depicts a RUNIC COLOSSUS. The colossus is an enormous CONSTRUCT made of smooth STONE with mithral or adamantine around the joints and stands at 30 feet (9m) tall. The colossus is modeled after a STORM GIANT. Runes are inscribed along its body (no more than 1 per body part).
The colossus is firing a beam of MAGIC ENERGY at a foe offscreen. This beam could be fired from the chest, hands, or eyes.
This all sounds like a fun thing to work on. While I had some trouble fitting the Gigant into the compositional space, the Runic Colossus was a lot easier to make work in the tall narrow area I needed to work in. We shot some reference of me doing my best Runic Colossus impression and started scribbling. Here are the thumbnails that I submitted.
Runic Colossus- Thumbnails
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
These were well received, but they were not all the way to where they needed to be. Production liked where 'A' was headed, but they wanted the body twisted a little more and the waist accentuated more to show that this is not a living, breathing giant. I will say that I was pretty excited to do a version of 'B' with that cool frontal helemt plate and the eye beams shooting around, but it was not meant to be. Here is the updated thumbnail that I submitted.
Runic Colossus- Revised thumbnail
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
The updated thumbnail checked all the boxes and was approved without additional notes and revisions. I was now approved to take it to the next process phase. I always create a final traditional drawing for every project to work out the details and to give myself a tangible product from the assignment. Here is the Runic Colossus drawing.
Runic Colossus
Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants
11 x 14 -Colored pencil on paper
Original - SOLD
Art Director - Emi Tamji
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
The drawing was approved without comment, and it was time to start on the final painting. Here is the painting of the Runic Colossus taking shape.
Runic Colossus - Process
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
The painting process was straightforward, and there were no issues. There were no edits or changes requested for the Runic Colossus. Sadly, I have no juicy stories to share about how production wanted major edits or that I had a breakdown halfway through and decided to make this as an etching. I sat down and painted it, and it was done. I will say that I have found I like to paint green leaning rock and stone. I'm not sure why, but I just prefer it a LOT more to a more neutral grey rock or stone. It just spices it up more, and it makes me happy. Here, again, is the final painting of the Runic Colossus.
Runic Colossus
Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...
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