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 three(four) contributions to the book. Bigby Presents: Glory of Giants focuses on all things giants, and that includes things that eat giants and other giant things. Here is the final painting for the Gigant, a giant insect that eats giants.
Gigant
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 Gigant, as it was a new monster for Dungeons & Dragons. It is hard to go wrong with a giant insect, so I jumped right in. The Gigant was described as:
This illustration depicts a GIGANT. The gigant is a colossal insectile creature 40-50 feet (12-15m) tall. Its carapace is shiny like a beetle and can have a variety of colors on its shell. The carapace is flexible enough for the gigant to appear upright like a mantis. The gigant has SIX limbs, each ending in three-toed talons. The gigant has a pair of long, jagged
mandibles like a Chilean stag beetle (see reference), and razor-sharp teeth.
The gigant has a MALE HILL GIANT in its grasp and is carrying it off to feed on it in its nest. Its wing carapace is open and its wings are unfurled and beating fast. The hill giant is in pure terror and panic as it can’t get out of the gigant’s grip, and it is high off the ground.
This all sounds like a fun monster to work on. The main hurdle, and the hurdle to most of the pieces I did for this book, was to squeeze one or more giant creatures, doing giant things, being giants, into a relatively thin and tall compositional space. At least with the Gigant, the wings could go beyond the dimensions of the assignment. Here are the thumbnails that I submitted.
Gigant- Thumbnails
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
These were well received, but they were not all the way to where they needed to be. The giant needed to be tweaked a bit, and there were a couple of small changes asked for the Gigant. Here is the updated thumbnail that I submitted.
Gigant- 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 phase of the process. 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 Gigant drawing.
Gigant
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 Gigant taking shape.
Gigant - Process
© 2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC
The painting process was straightforward, and there were no issues along the way. I was asked after I submitted the final painting to lighten the overall color of the wings and to show some of the back leg and abdomen through the blurred flapping. These were all changes that I could quickly make, so there is no longer a before and after version of the file. I made the changes and doing them left the final file in the final approved state. I might have a jpeg of the original versions in an email, but for all intents and purposes, that earlier version is gone, leaving only this final version. That seems like a lot of words to say they wanted changes, and I just made them without ensuring a version of the first draft survived. Here, again, is the final painting for the Gigant.
Gigant
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...
