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Demigod of deserts, he moves in a whirlwind of sand and fire. Arising from the netherworld, he measures life in his hourglass, returning men to the dust from which they came with power from his crystal staff.
Ron Sandersron@sanders-studios.comwww.sanders-studios.comhttps://www.facebook.com/ronsanders.artNo Twitter (sorry)
After trying out a half dozen or more ideas, I decided to work on "Sands of Time" as my first-time ArtWar entry. Here is today's study of my character.
Here are the original sketches for this idea.
Pretty cool character! I love the concept. It sort of a reaper of the desert, but instead of reaping souls he decays people. I like that
Thanks! Not much costuming here to research on him, so I'll be working into the final composition pretty quickly. But I will have to design the soldiers he's dissolving - probably some middle eastern influences from past centuries.
I've been gathering reference material for the soldiers who are being turned to dust. I wanted something archaic and am liking the general feel of the Assyrian army of old, with possible touches of Babylonian and/or Persian influence.
In the process of costume research, I also began thinking about ways to add some bling to the main character through some ancient Egyptian references.
I was working with an egyptian theme recently and did a bunch of jewelry finding as well. If you are looking for some of the most iconic examples that will read well in the mind be sure to look up ptolemaic period jewelry.
http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/17679/unknown-maker-collection-of-ptolemaic-jewelry-16-greek-225-175-bc/ here are some cool examples if you are still messing around with ideas.
Really like the guy so far, very much like something out of diablo from the caldeum desert area. Looking forward to seeing more.
@PeterH Thank you for the link. I'll check it out.
I've been working on some composition studies. My desire is to show enough of the front of the main character to portray his appearance and details. Yet I want movement in space/depth. I need to show the soldiers being turned to dust, yet maintain some sense of the size difference - the larger size and power of the demigod compared to the men.
I played with some color and pose adjustments to that last compositional study, but I'm still not entirely satisfied. Any feedback is welcome. In the meantime, I'll keep experimenting with it.
Obviously, the big problem currently is that there is a big hole of nothingness in the middle of the composition....
I went back to my sketches and then took some snapshots of a Body Kun mannequin for further inspiration. I came up with an angle that better fits my original vision of size and depth and puts the focus on the power being wielded.
Next came the line drawing for the details...
And finally a value study. I'll put in more details, such as the cloth wraps on the body, when I go to color. I think I'll be using the general color scheme of my previous study.
After a little tweaking of the main figure's arms, redesigning the sky and adding some color, here is where things stand. Now to get into the real painting part.
Progress on the final render. More work to do on the soldiers, sand and swirl.
Almost done. I'll have to finish up the decay and make final adjustments after Christmas.
Well, here are the finals for my design - Contact Sheet and Final Illustration.And I guess we're supposed to post personal info when we submit the final:Ron Sandersron@sanders-studios.comwww.sanders-studios.comhttps://www.facebook.com/ronsanders.artNo Twitter (sorry)
Post your concept sheet and final illustration in your first original post.
