Craig's Viking Thumbnails

Scott's right, so many ideas for vikings!

This is how the idea progressed. I just want the most intense, fierce looking warrior I can paint. Hopefully a real contrast to the Unicorn piece. One was a little wonky. Two introduced a cool storm filled sky with vertical shafts of light streaking down, but much too posy. Three is a much more interesting pose to me, how does it work for you? Four is vertical possibly like a Magic planeswalker and I'm trying to push the half barbarian/half viking idea farther, but way too posy. Five is starting to look better, he's on the dragon ship about to hit shore, throw his spear and attack, more perspective and depth. Crazy storm filled sky with these sort half angel/Valkyrie things (from two) looming above and a strip of sea and bright horizon line way in the back.

Anything good here? Let's all get in Spectrum!

Owen's Viking Thumbs

After a lot of different ideas, I felt I needed to do a piece based on existing mythology.  I'm really excited about the last thumbnail; it's based on one of the events in Ragnarok, the Norse armageddon.  At one point, Odin's giant wolf, Fenrir, swallows Odin whole.  Later, Odin's son cuts the wolf open and Odin is set free.  So I want to show Odin being gobbled up by Fenrir, while Valhalla is on fire in the background.  I'm pretty sure I want to do the one on the far top right, but I did a horizontal version on the bottom right also. 

Becca's Viking Thumbs

Here's my idea so far for the Viking piece. I'd like to do a piece that can play to my children's book portfolio, but also have enough of a fantasy element to be a good entry for Spectrum. The image will be of a young girl and her father, who is about to leave on some sort of expedition. I'm not sure if he's going to war or trading or what - that will determine whether he's holding an ax, shield, etc. They are having a tender moment before he has to leave - I'll have to play with their expressions a bit, I'm trying to decide how stoic to make him, and how sad to make the girl. I'm going to have to do some research, but I'm really excited to design their clothing (lots of furs and heavy cloth). I plan on using a very limited palette, with muted tones except for his beard and her hair. I'm thinking of it as a book cover.

Anyhooo these are just my ideas so far, and I know these thumbs are suuuuper simple, but hopefully they get the basic idea across. Also, let me know if you think any of these might be better flipped to face the other direction.

Scott's Viking Thumbnails!

RARRGG! VIKINGS! So at last I can manage to get back in here with another RWP project! It's been way too long!
This one's been both fun and tough so far for me because vikings are just so cool...and I've had waaay too many directions pulling at my brain. So it's been a little tricky to get my mind to slow down for a minute so that I can settle on some solid ideas. One could literally spend a lifetime trying to illustrate all of the tales and images that vikings conjure up!
Anyway, here's a few of my favorite thumbs. Please be as critical as possible because I really want this piece to be sweet. If you think they all suck...tell me! and I'll start over. There's plenty more images in my head to contend with.

Ok, this one is kind of a wraparound cover sort of thing.  Pretty straight forward. The leader or hero or whatever of the viking army stands facing us while the others are pointing to a distant village which has beams of light cast on it.

Next, we have a brave viking chick who is valiantly sailing across the seas to conquest or something. She has her pet falcon with her also. But she has a grim side because there's a head and skull hanging from the side of the boat in the Foreground cast in shadow.

This one is not looking nearly as badass and I have in my head...yet. But its a really gnarly looking viking dude walking towards us with an evil smile and a raven on his shoulder. he is lit by moonlight on top and fire from below as if from a torch. The background is fire and silhouetted figures.

This one is from the story of Sigurd and Fafnir the dragon.  Sigurd has killed the dragon and removed the dragons heart to consume. (Though I suppose that the heart would be a lot bigger?) Anyway, pretty explanatory.

And this one is of a viking ship just about to be attacked by a dragon. The leader is yelling a warning to the others.

 If I had to pick favorites I'd have to say I like 1,2, and 5 best. But I would have fun will all of them! What does everyone think?

Lis's Viking Thumbs

So I think I have a pretty clear idea of where I'm going with this, I just need help deciding on the composition that works best... It's kind of a wrap-around book cover size (but it doesn't necessarily have to be composed like a book cover)... but I don't know if I want the goddess turning her face toward the ship, or away from them with her eyes turned toward the ship, or if I want her flipped in the other direction! :P

Anyway, Rán is a Norse sea goddess and she likes to drown sailors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rán), so I have a viking ship in stormy seas struggling to stay upright and get to shore (or just away!), and Rán is rising from the sea. I'm pretty exciting about painting this!!!!

I envision Rán to have multiple 'tiers' - her bottom half is foamy with waves and water splashing (water spout-like), and she still has some hair dragging in the sea, but in the middle her body becomes less water and more of just a transparent-ish being, and at top i want the rest of her hair to be flying around and kind of blending in with the clouds. In the foreground the ship/sea will be the darkest with bolder outlines, and there should be a nice atmospheric gradient to the distance. I also want there to be lights visible on the shore from torches/huts. Oh... and she'll be wearing some clothes... though one boob might be hanging out.... goddess style.

New RWP Project: Vikings!

 Vikings from the movie How to Train Your Dragon.

The RWPers have been busy little bees recently, but at long last we will be doing a project that all five of us will participate in. With the Spectrum 19 deadline coming up in January, the time is ripe for some kick-ass new paintings.  The theme is, you guessed it, Vikings!

Viking: The term Viking (from Old Norse víkingr) is customarily used to refer to the Norse (Scandinavian) explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.

Thanks Wikipedia! 

This theme can be twisted and turned any old way you please. Just have some Viking in there.

Deadlines:
Thumbnails - December 2nd
Sketches - December 16th
Final Painting - January 16th (extra time allotted because we expect these to be extra awesome)

Have at it!

New Art from Lis: Marguerite

Always fun to see how sketches turn into final paintings and what changes. Look back a few posts and you'll see my initial sketch for Marguerite. I finished it during a mentorship I'm doing with Rebecca Guay, along with another piece - Night Song.



Go check out Night Song, from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Nightingale," over on my blog!

Craig's New Unicorn Horn

I was experimenting with better lighting to photograph my art - and it helps a lot! Here is a new picture of my Unicorn. I tweaked the horn and seriously hope it looks centered at last. I also toned down its color and texture. I think it blends in much better now, more ivory than gold.

Becca's Recent Work

Hey guys! I've recently been working on a couple of children's book dummies, and while I can't share most of it here, I can show you this exploratory piece that I did a little while ago, and the the new process I've been working on of late - I've set aside the watercolors for a bit, and am trying something new (and fun!). You can read more about the process and what I've been up to on my blog Something Artsy. I'll post a new project for RWP soon too!

New portfolio piece for Lis

Hey all! It's been quiet around here /: Well we aren't working on any group projects, but we can still post sketches for our own ideas! This is portfolio piece idea I had.. kind of a book cover for young adult or early reader. The first one was my initial sketch, but then I made the foreground bigger and made the background smaller so I think I like the second one best. I'll need to get photo reference for the girls body, I think the arms around the pig are a little off. Please let me know what you think!