HOME | DD
Inkthinker — Portrait of an Unnamed Dwarf
Published: 2005-12-27 21:22:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 21189; Favourites: 391; Downloads: 2019
Redirect to original
Description
Ah, the joys of Deviation categorization... does this belong in Fantasy or Portraits? It's a portrait of a fantasy subject... oh, well, if someone wants it changed then we can change it, I ain't picky.ANYHOW, seeing as my computer is still the most expensive paperweight you ever did see, I had a little time in the evenings and I've been pushing myself along easy paths... if you leave me alone, I generally fall into a tendency to illustrate pulp-fantasy material like this fella here. I'm fairly pleased with this guy but he has a few imperfections... so I'm wobbling on whether or not to build this up further or let it alone and move on. It's not as though I get paid to draw this stuff...
Pencil, 14x15, Bristol. No digital tools whatsoever, but I did strip out the red pencil that I use to rough everything out, so don't think I did this without a LOT of underlying sketch work... it's just hidden away.
He's your archetypical Tolkienesque D&D dwarf, short and scarred and lookin' pissed-off even when he's just having a quiet smoke. There's not much depth to this portrait, but I took it as an exercise in hiding cute crap in the details. Expect a detail collection (much like I did with the Alleyway) to come along at some point. I'm not 100% pleased with the head on that weapon, but I done with it what I done with it, and it's pretty done. I think I probably should have done something more detailed in there, though, something in a frieze or bas-relief sculpture around the hammerhead. Dunno if I want to try erasing that pencil, though...
And of course, he needs a background. Just because they're a bitch doesn't mean you can call a shot finished without one.
My animation work is very focused right now, and it's about as far from this sort of thing as you might imagine. Given that it's consuming a good amount of my time and energy, I plan to be pretty self-indulgent with my personal work, so if you're not a fan of this sort of crap then I don't know what to tell ya... I'll try not to fall into a complete rut.
- MAJOR EDIT - 010206 -
As I'm inserting a whole background and whatnot for this fellow, I also added a bit more detail and decided to replace the previous version with the new one. Detail was added to the pickhammer head, for the most part, and little else on this version has changed. This version is a little less clean, if only because now is not a good time for me to clean it up, but it's also cropped somewhat closer to the character, resulting in a slightly larger version of the image overall, I think. I may replace this one final time with a cleaned version, but for now this is the only "character only" version of the image.
You can take a look at the preliminary background and get a little peek at how the process goes by checking out the WIP version of this in the Scraps. Let me know what you think of the updated version!
- EDIT 2 - 032706 -
FINALLY finished the BG on this, at least to an acceptable degree. Check out the complete piece at >> [link] << and see what you think.
Related content
Comments: 90
He's hot for a Dwarf!
P.S. His earrings = AWESOME
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I dunno what it is about me and dwarves, but I got a bad habit of poking their eyes out.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
I just think it is dwarves in general. ok work with me here. They are mostly black smiths right, and they're swinging their hammers and embers are flying, and every now and again, an ember--whoops goes in his eye, but he is a dwarf so he doesn't care he just finishes the piece, and well looses his eye cause of it.
Thank you all for your patience while I geek out a little on this.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Wow, impressive work man. As always. But this is really top notch. Loving the details, pose and expression
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Damnit this is just gorgeous. As minute a detail as it is, my favorite part of this is his earrings within plugs. Such a great design element.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hmm, red pencil work beneath huh. What type do you use for that? I've tried a couple and they're too heavy or leave behind too much residue. I've tried erasing after I get some more solid lines and it just causes suckage. Do you ever erase the red lines or is it that I'm using the wrong pencil for the job?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I just leave 'em for the most part. I use a kneaded eraser to lighten them, and a Magic Rub brand rubber eraser if I'm really trying to remove them, but for the most part they always leave a pink smear. But I kinda want them to remain, since they're the guide for all the clean lines anyhow.
The thing is, it doesn't matter in the end because I can completely remove the color red from every pixel in the scanned drawing, including any smudged residue. If any of it still shows after the color strip, it's certainly less than usual for a pencil drawing, and I can always go in with the tools and clean it up a bit more.
Of course the red pencil still remains in the original, but I rarely sell those anyhow. And I like to think that seeing that underlying layer adds a little insight into the process if anyone wants it that much.
At the moment I generally use the Ticonderoga brand of Red Checking pencil, which I believe you can get at any office supply store.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well now I guess I feel slightly more educated in the concept of the red pencil.
Course I can't take over the world with this concept but I do appreciate the insight 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Nice piece of work... Oh hail inkthinker
I especially love the textures you have through his skin, and atire. The worn out weapond, and clothe gives the impresion that hes a traveler, and it oviously outside a lot. The scars all over his body, indicate the hes a warrior or a worker. The patern in his things, give him a sence of culture, and emotional history and pourpose to his journey.
I love it. I hope you get a chance to color this.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oy! Less time spent kissin' mah butt and more time spent workin'!
G'wan!! whip-crackaaa!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes Master... I beg for your forgiveness...I shall keep working
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I just scanned through the comments quickly to see if anybody answered your question. I would put it in Fantasy because I get the impression that potraits are for drawings of real people (or pictures). As for a background let me suggest that you make your canvas a little bigger and move the dwarf more over to a corner to make a more interesting composition. Dwarfs usually are miners right? . . . Hopefully this would be considered and "Advanced Critique."
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Close enough to advanced for me.
He takes up nearly the entire board, so there's not a lot of moving around that I can do with him (I actually widened the digital canvas a little here to make it look less cramped) but the plan so far is to add some visual elements to the upper left and above him that would balance out his composition.
Funny thing, but being self-taught means that some of the most basic stuff (like good composition) ends up being some of my greatest weaknesses. It's sad how much time I spend now investing in the boring old basics that I really should have learned a long time ago.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yep I didn't really learn about composition until I was like a senior in High School. I still forget about design elements and composition all the time. I've gotten into the habit of doing digital art so I can fix stuff like that easier.
Have you considered maybe doing a second drawing just for the background and then adding it in photoshop? You have a tablet don't you? if not once you learn how to use them it's awesome! I'm pretty sure you've invested in one.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh yeah, years ago, though I don't use it often enough. I got a bit spoiled by the Cintiqs at work, which I also don't get to use often enough.
I've done backgrounds separately before, but for this guy I don't think it'd be necessary. He's meant to take up the majority of the frame, I just think I need to add a few elements that place the character in a setting.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I just don't know what to say when I see this kind of work. It's amazing. Really. 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
How is it that you make the lines so clean?!? I must know, I must!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
All ya gotta do is ask.
Check into other stuff in my Scraps, specifically the Alleyway drawing I did a few weeks ago, read the Comments and you can see more of the process. Basically the way I work now is that I draw everything very loose and rough in red pencil, and tighten it up as I go. When I'm fairly confident of the lines and everything, then I go in with regular pencil and draw the final image. No matter how messy or rough the red pencil is, I can easily strip it out in Photoshop, and the result is a nice, clean drawing. It's a trick I picked up from my animation work, but I'm finding that a lot of comics artists do the same thing.
We use red instead of the old, traditional blue pencil because the red is easier to see and (at least in my experience) easier to remove digitally.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
ahhh okay! Thanks! That will help a lot with what I'm doing. I'll try to use the red pencil too. I'll look in your scraps to see what you do in photo shop to make the red disappear.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Looks awesome bub... from a guy that loves fantasy and gaming all together... nice work with the characterization.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
dude, i think the reason i love your artwork so much, is that you DO do pulp-fantasy style dudes in the comic-illustration STYLE.........that's a rare combination, cause a lot of guys with your skill level in that style kinda just squander it on boring super heroes, which in my opinion, are just flat characters....
so keep it up!!!
your giant eyeball fight on pencil jack was great, more of that stuff please
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
damn!! thats so dope! the only thing i'd say is that his right (his right) hand seems a tad forced, but other than that is seriously bad ass! dopest thing ive seen in a wile
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I wouldn't be surprised... that right hand pained me to no end.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I really like all the little details, from the design of his pipe to the intricate little nude carvings on his hammer. Every little detail ads to his character.
By the way, this is definitely a fantasy category.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
The hammer haft was my favorite bit... I'm guessing he's a dirty-minded old dwarf with a penchant for tall women.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
great lines pal, looks really clean
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I think this looks absolutely great!!! If you dont mind I can give him a paintover 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I don't mind at all, just don't change the line art, and send me a Note when you post it. Have fun!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
its SANTA CLAUS!
umm nothing seems wrong here, and i guess this would actually probably go under cartoons and comics. but its doesnt matter, no one cares about that
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Hahaaa... Santa ain't takin no smack from you naughty kids no more...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Dunno....he's awfully cool! Don't you want to finish him just for yourself...?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
If I do it for anyone, I do it for me.
Yeah, I do want to take this farther, but I'm really hitting a wall with my skill level, reaching into areas that I'm not so confident in (lighting, espescially). But then again, that's how we get better, right? Gotta hack our way into unfamiliar territory...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Absolutely! I've been struggling with lighting myself, especially in colour, and finally got something to work for me. I may not get it right the next time, but I'll have a better chance at it since I've done it once before.
And I guess it's too easy for me to say 'do it for yourself' since my artwork is not my livelyhood. I guess what I meant was that you sometimes have to do one for your own edification....work out your skills in a different direction strictly for your own enjoyment. I end up doing a lot of stuff for other folks, lots of smexy girls for my guy friends, and had to go do something strictly for my own entertainment!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
HOLY - i like his view...great a wonderful work. thumbs up.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0