How to paint a golden dragon (1995 vs 2019)
Added 2019-03-27 12:06:25 +0000 UTCYou're in for a treat. Or maybe lasting damage. Proceed with caution.
I love seeing how artists solve the "golden" problem, particularly with a disgusting creature like Glaurung. I decided to go the well-trodden path of greenish/ochre/brown with a few golden highlights, which is faithful to his name without being overly golden.
I didn't always have such qualms about being overly golden.
As many of you know (though I'm getting more and more reluctant to share images of it - and it's getting worse, I have to say!), in 1995 when I was in my second semester of studying English and Latin at Cologne University, I spent most of the semester drawing and painting a 52-page Silmarillion comic from Maedhros' point of view. It was basically a doujinshi, ten years before I learned the term. I drew the comic over a matter of three months (and somehow still managed to pass all of my exams, don't ask me how). I learned more about watercolour in those three months than I had learned in years before or afterwards, but well, the comic is kind of hard on the eyes now.
In 1995, I was incredibly proud of the Glaurung page.
That droopy look as he flees is still rather endearing.
It's fun to try and reconstruct how I went about creature design back in those days.
Me: I'll draw a terrifying dragon!!!1
Also me: It's not terrifying. At all.
Also me: Moar spikes! Everywhere! On his nose!
Still me: Not terrifying.
Yet again me: Shut up.
Comments
The comic, or what I've seen of it, isn't hard on the eyes - it's just your art then, and not what it's since become. Without it, you wouldn't be here. It's not super duper selling-to-companies material, but it's not too far from it, and it sure is webcomic-worthy. I like them both.
Ell
2019-04-15 16:24:08 +0000 UTCInterestingly, the learning curve was steep from page one to, say, 25, and then it rapidly went downhill. Not with the watercolour technique, but with the quality of the drawings. It was the first time that I noticed how short my attention span is for larger coherent projects. Ultimately, it was what convinced me I wasn't comic artist material.
Jenny Dolfen
2019-03-31 08:58:33 +0000 UTCI love the dedication you had in making a 52 page comic! I feel like the learning curve involved would help you learn a lot about the medium and it would be interesting to see how far you developed from page 1 to page 52 :)
Evelyn Maire
2019-03-31 08:48:02 +0000 UTCYes, I do - I even bound it back in the day. With duct tape. XD I'll see if I can show a few more pages!
Jenny Dolfen
2019-03-28 15:19:38 +0000 UTCMaybe a few snippets that don't expose me for too much of a pervy fangirl XD
Jenny Dolfen
2019-03-28 15:18:48 +0000 UTCMaybe selected pages. It's not the art that's cringeworthy - it's the fact that I don't like to be reminded what an incredible fangirl I was, haha. (Any excuse for Maedhros to take his shirt off.)
Jenny Dolfen
2019-03-28 15:18:01 +0000 UTCI just can't stop looking at this! I try to scroll away, but then I just look at it more.
Plantzawa
2019-03-28 14:28:45 +0000 UTCI agree with the others, btw, I'd love to read that comic... maybe a .pdf version can be a future perk at some point? ;)
Lyra
2019-03-28 10:27:52 +0000 UTC2019 Glaurung is impressive, but 1995 looks so nice! And when he is humbled, he looks really down... I feel like he needs some petting. His expression is wonderful. 😻 Now, like Pauline, I’d also love to read that doujinshi... do you still have all of it? 😃
Laura Michel
2019-03-28 04:00:29 +0000 UTCI'd love to read that comics tho
Litsen
2019-03-27 18:57:55 +0000 UTCA 52 page Silmarillion comic? Wow, that's really impressive! I really like how you coloured Glaurung :)
Sophie JC
2019-03-27 18:00:30 +0000 UTCWell, I’d read that comic without any hesitation...
Liv Klein
2019-03-27 17:59:48 +0000 UTCYou're right - he looks like straight out of "Gargoyles" or the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon!
Jenny Dolfen
2019-03-27 16:16:11 +0000 UTC'95 Glaurung reminds me intensely of a dragon from a cartoon or something from my childhood and I can't quite place it. He looks like one of those dragons in kids' stories where the brave children go ask him for help on their quest, and instead of eating them he gives aid in exchange for a story or a favor or what have you. Cunning, but rather kind as dragons go.
Rachel Mumme
2019-03-27 15:33:19 +0000 UTCI think it helps to remember that at 20+ years, most people manage to do fine with a lot less sleep than at 35+... so attending lectures, drawing a comic AND cramming for exams at the same time is still possible. You were super productive, though! And I have to say that while I like your current style a lot more, that comic page isn't <i>bad</i> by any account. It's the 90s! Everything HAS to be glaringly colourful! And the dynamics are already spectacular. Personally, I'd be happy to pull off that Glaurung page today. >_> Concerning the interior dragon monologue: When I was working on my Eärendil vs. Ancalagon painting, I wrote the following blog post: 'when designing dragons, there's a fine fine line between "terrifying" and "ridiculous". <i>[from the diary of Melkor, 223 F.A.]</i>' precisely because of the temptation of putting spikes EVERYWHERE! So nice to know that I wasn't alone in that. XD
Lyra
2019-03-27 13:18:05 +0000 UTC
