Anatomy of the
art:
The British Fantasy Society Calendar
the travels of lore and wonder
based on the story
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
All images, layouts and artwork are © Copyright 1997-2004
Russell Dickerson.
No images or text of any kind on this site may be used without express
written permission from artist Russell Dickerson.
What??!
I've seen this done in a number of other places, whether it's other artists, motorcycle manufacturers, even construction company websites. This page is set up to follow the creation of the travels of lore and wonder, a piece based on the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, for the British Fantasy Society's 2005 Calendar.
I've never done anything like this site before, but maybe it'll be an insight into how my particular type of art is created. If anything, maybe I'll learn something about my own particular methods.
At any rate, my idea is to take a snapshot and the end of each working day, where a working day might be 8 or 9 hours or it might be 30 minutes. They may even be a few days apart, that's why everything is a generic "Day X" and not a specific date. I'm sure most of it will be boring, and I sure hope it looks good at the end (for my sake at least).
Special thanks to Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane for their help with the project.
I spent a few weeks doing research and getting ideas for what I wanted to do. The part of the story I was asked to do pertains to Gawain's early travels, on the way to the Green Chapel and his time with the Green Knight. On the way, he battles many creatures, including wolves and dragons.
I liked the idea of the dragon, and in the story it mentioned that he met them at creeks and waters, which led me to the photography I've done in the past. These photos are a sample of some that gave me ideas for how it should look.
I also researched what knights of the time wore, animals that I wanted the dragon to look like, atmosphere of the story, etc.
Aside from numerous rough sketches for ideas, done in my actual sketchbook, here are the initial sketches inside the program. The program I use to create the art on the computer is Corel PhotoPaint (to the left), which does an excellent job. It offers an enormous number of brushes and styles, layers and filters and is overall the smoothest art program I've used.
Of course, I haven't used them all (though I have used Photoshop, and before anyone gets their knickers up I love it too and use it extensively in graphic design).
To the right, here's the initial Gawain sketch. He's changed position around 96 times by now, but (especially after input from Marie and Paul) he needs to be in action. He originally was to be holding his sword in both hands, waiting for attack. But while I was working that idea, this idea came up, where's he's tossing the shield and readying his sword. It seemed like a cool idea.
I will on occasion use a 3D program called Bryce to double check my perspective. I also use it, as in this case, to sort of play around with the ideas I'm having to see if they even would make sense in a more 'real world' situation.
In the image, if Gawain really is going to throw his shield off, then it can't really be in the path of the dragon's face. That would sort of kill any tension at all in the image. Playing with a 3D rough also gives me other ideas to pursue, such as this one where Gawain is higher in stature and bigger than the original sketch.
I think in a subtle way Gawain will now come across as being stronger and more heroic, though possibly more arrogant as well.
Here's the sketch based on the 3D work. It's still very rough (I hate to show this level, but hey here we are), but I've started to throw in the river banks, clouds, rocks in the river (Gawain is standing on a couple of those). In case you're wondering, the 'black spots' on the sketches are for each layer, it helps me grab each one so I don't grab the background layer. That way I can move the sketch's layer around easily if need be.
And so it actually begins, here's where the color starts to get added.
It's still rough, but the idea is coming together. The sketch is also
a little more detailed, and I've worked out his stance much better than
it had been.
The greenery to the right may not stay that way, but it does give me some idea on how to proceed. The shield stands out quite well on it, and I hope that Gawain will also stand out well.
Essentially, this is a 'color sketch', with some elements staying on through the final art.
I thought about it some, and even though I still plan on adding trees on the left the stones within the trees seemed to add a bit more mystery. That, and looking at the previous version it seemed too 'closed in'. I think that having trees on the left with finished stones, and grass and rock face (and moss) on the right might be a bit more open.
The sketch layer is just hidden here, and the water will be modified greatly once I get on that part. The secondary sketch layer, which really just shows the layout, is still there.
I really wanted to get the detail of the bushes, trees and moss in there, so I toyed around with the brush tools (which each of the 200 or so different brushes have 20 or 30 different, unique settings). The closeup shows the detail, and I think the greenery is coming along nicely.
The white background of Gawain sort of throws off the furthest right rock, like something's missing. In case it catches you off guard. I had to check the layer myself to make sure I didn't erase the wrong thing.
Ideas sometimes change as I'm working, as I find out how things 'really'
go together. This is a good case of that, where I've had to realize
certain realities of layout, color and in general the objects in the
picture.
Gawain releasing the shield adds a great touch to the piece. The shield
also gets right in the dragon's face, obviously a bad thing. That, and
the whole angle of it all started to drift on yesterday's and I didn't
see that until this one.
I do think however that the dragon does look pretty mean, which is what
I was hoping for. He's imposing, and hopefully once he's detailed it
will keep that in.
I liked the openness of Day 25's image. I also liked the 'closed in'
look of Day 23. I decided to try and hit the middle with a compromise.
Gawain is still surrounded by nature, but the fog and the distance to
the mountain range add a bit of mystery to it.
I also doesn't hurt that the white will really let Gawain and the dragon
both stand out (though of course Gawain doesn't quite yet).
The other thing I'm noticing is that, though it's correct, the dragon
seems to be missing an arm. It's the one that's being retracted as he
walks, which we wouldn't see anyway. But, it just seems to be missing.
Maybe I'll toy with that in the next one.
I wanted a very mean, evil dragon, and one that looked very pissed off.
I worked with it for a number of hours, and I think I'm finally (no,
FINALLY) getting what I want. I think he not only looks mean and pissed,
he also thinks he's going to win.
The dragon is, aside from some minor alterations here and there, complete.
I think his texture came out quite nicely, that's why I included the
closeup to the right.
Since the water's
not done yet, there's really only a hint that his left claw is partially
in the water. That's probably the next step, adding the water's detail.
I think the loose leaves falling around him work well, the idea is that
he's coming from around them so he's bound to knock a few off.
The next step was indeed water, though it hasn't been easy. I changed
the water a number of times, just because I wasn't happy with the result.
The water before this one looked 'painted', even more so then the rest
of the image.
It threw everything
off, and then on a whim I tried this layering effect. There is a water
layer on top of another layer of rock, much like the water actually
would be anyway. Then I changed the opacity/transparency in certain
spots, and voila: water and rocks underneath. It seems to have a nice
color to it as well, so that'll work.
The rock texture came out better than I expected too, it actually does
look sort of 'mossy'.
Now it's time for a coffee.
I like to call this one "Gawain in a dress". Ok, I don't LIKE
to call it that, but right now that's what it looks like."
I'm trying to avoid the typical "knight in shining armor",
and also the new found "real" King Arthur stuff. I hope I'm
in the middle somewhere.
I'm very close with Gawain now, and after much playing around with technique
I think I'm finally liking it. The goldish armor adds a decent touch
I think, and his 'throwing' hand turned out to be not so bad.
I had to adjust the shield in mid-air as well. With his final hand,
it looks more like a sweeping motion to toss the shield, which I'm fine
with.
It's pretty much done, I just need to clean up a few trouble spots.
There's a white background by Gawain's head, some issues in the water
and ground, etc.
I may yet change Gawain's head, but it's pretty close. There's just
something there I'm not sure is right. Otherwise, it's 99% complete
at this point.
As a side note, I thought I'd include what Gawain "really"
looks like to the right. Photopaint has the ability to work in layers,
something I take great advantage of. It allows me to work on a single
piece at a time, and I can alter that one part without affecting the
whole. At the point I was at to the right, I had already combined another
45 layers to create these.
And that's just Gawain, let alone the dragon and the rest of the image.
Gawain's head in the previous day's set (Day 30 1/2) was, well, wrong.
I like to call it "hobbit head", it's just way off on proportion
and sizing. It's also too flat, like the dragon flattened it for him.
This one (better seen without the Jpeg compression in the closeup on
the right) is much better, and in fact for me adds a bit of emotion
to Gawain that wasn't there before. Above all, confidence in a sly smile.
I also added the flares on his shoulders for effect, and annihilated
the old white sketch layer behind his head, which no doubt helped Mr.
Hobbit Head look even worse.
I think that's it. I may actually be done. I went through the image
with a fine tooth comb (at a higher resolution than is necessary really)
to make sure there were no leftover artifacts, missed erasures, etc.
I also added shadows and reflections, and some branches to the greenwork. I don't see anything else, but there's probably something somewhere.
Gawain on Day 31 was, well... ok he looked like death warmed over. Not
even warmed over, left on the table overnight. Marie and Paul had a
good point to give him some color, and I worked with it to do so. He
looks much better now, like he actually has a pulse.
I think we're done, aside from any last second changes. I also threw
in some closeups to see the detail I was looking for. The final art
is 12" x 12", at 400 dpi, and will print in the calendar at
around 13 cm square.
