Warhammer Dwarf – Horn Hold Defender Process
With the release of Horn Hold Defender I wanted to take the time to walk folks through the process for this piece. This was a difficult piece. Warhammer Dwarves have odd anatomy, and it took me some time to wrap my head around it. There was a lot more back and fourth between me and the Art Director, Mike Linneman, than usual for me, and I thought it would be interesting to show you all how that works.
As always I start with a thumbnail. I don’t show this to the Art Director.
Then I move on to a sketch, which I submit for approval.
This time I got some revisions. Needed to elongate the torso. Warhammer Dwarves are almost all torso. Also he didn’t like the rounded end on the hammers. I was asked to square them off.
After making those changes I got approval to move forward. So I shot reference and did a finished drawing.
I’ve talked a lot about reference, and here I wanted to show the value of an angry face with a pot on his head. Silly photo of yours truly, but LOTS of information to work from. You can see the lighting on the face, and in the metal. This image made doing the drawing, and ultimately the painting much easier!
And with the drawing done it was time to move to paint.
I turned this in, and again got a few changes. It was suggested that the hammers needed more stuff on them. I was also asked to remove the arrow under the neck, and the arrow in the head, and make the wound on his arm less intense.
And so I did! I made all the changes digitally. I really liked the new stuff on the hammers, and thought the dwarf looked better without the arrow in his neck, so when my scheduled allowed I went back into the painting and painted in those changes. I loved the arm wound and the arrow to the head, so I left those in the final painting. Thanks to digital magic I had the painting I wanted and the client got what they wanted. Thanks to my Art Director, Mike, I got a stronger painting overall.
To see more of my work or to contact me for availability to help with your project please visit: www.samflegal.com
STAY STRANGE!
An Artist's Journey 