Art Archive Pencil art & character work - Inverted Sith (17 April 2006) *page 4*

A more complete version of Christopher Lee as Count Dooku, done in charcoal and pencil.

http://img226.imageshack.us/my.php?image=christopherleefinished2smaller.jpg

 

Wow! He is even scarier than in the movies!

 

You posted Count Dooku!!

This is just a gorgeous study of Christopher Lee--the eyes really grab you, right on first take. There's such a regal-ness to this portrait--we can just feel the bearing of this individual (and this is notwithstanding his character's "nastiness!"). The absolute depth that you achieve with these is stunning (and it's all the more impressive knowing that this was done with charcoal, which is almost impossible for me to work with...)--the skintones are so realistic, this looks like a softly-filtered black-and-white photograph (by Annie Liebovitz, no less...)... Just...gorgeous...

Wow...



FF

 

Thank you Chilla and FalconFan for taking a look at my Christopher Lee portrait. It's very much appreciated.

I love Annie Liebovitz's Star Wars portraits (especially from TPM) so i'm really touched by the comparison. I did want that sort of silvery photo quality to these so thank you for that.

 

I absolutely love your work! My favorite is the Count Dooku..wonderful!!! I'm literally waiting for fangs to pop out of his mouth. Its that intense!

Awesome

Excalibur14

 

Excalibur14 Thank you very much, that's very kind of you to say (and very much appreciated).

 

Fantastic work Paraquem. I love the contrast of black background with ur drawings. Thats how I do some of my charcoal pieces too.

def coming back soon.

Nefarious

 

'oly crow!

Wow. Just wow. Your skill with charcoal is wonderful. I can't beleive the amount of detail you got with it on the skin alone, nevermind the rest of the picture. The glare in the eyes really solidifies that he's real, and I like how you filled in the background to make him look as though he's 'peering through the shadows'. It works so well in this case. Absolutely stunning artwork as always.

- Suz ^_~

 

Nefarious_21

Thanks

Charcoal is a great medium isn't it (messy but enjoyable). Great for picking out the basic lights and darks before getting torn into the finer details. I'd like to see your own charcoal based pieces, I take it you use a putty rubbeer also?

[/b]Your_Worshipfulness

Thank you very much for your kind comments. I always liked the chiaroscuro effect (even before I knew what the effect was called) I think it works especially well for villains or those sort of in-between characters.

Stephen.

 

Another drawing of the Lance Henrikssen based character. Done originally in charcoal and pencil. It never sat right with me until I inverted it (for a laugh really). Doing that it felt better and gave more "nastiness" to the character (thought he looked more Nosferatu-ish this way).

http://img102.imageshack.us/my.php?image=invertedsith8xz.jpg

 

That's wonderful! Inverting the piece really makes him creepy. I always like it when something I try on a whim makes the piece stand on its own. I think Bob Ross used to call them happy accidents. (They were usually up ther ein the 'happy little clouds').

 

Woah, very nice! So realistic, and a lot of expression! Love these.

 

Yoiks!! **runs to hide** And I thought he was scary the first time I saw him! lol! This is really creepy paraquem--but in a very good way! It's like seeing a wraith or a ghost or some other type of shade--one with really evil eyes... **shudders** And I'm with Siths_Herald on the "happy accidents" thing--sometimes the things we do on a lark end up being some of the best, lol! This looks really cool!

FF

 

*crawls to FF in her hiding*
Wow, just look at the eyes.....deadly describes them probably best... *shakes at whole body*

Your thread has the scariest pics I've ever seen! Great job on this.

Keep up the (scary) good work!

 

Siths_Herald - Thanks. I agree, it's often worth taking a risk or seeing how far you can push an idea (great in the digital arena that you can pull it back to where it was of course).

Great to see you mention Bob Ross. I loved that guy, I was really gutted when I heard he had died. A really empowering fellow who had a real joie de vivre (his story about "squirelly-girly-brown" still wells me up).

ShrunkenJedi - Thank you, that's very kind. I think sometimes, even if the drawing is a bit off, expressiveness can save the day.

FalconFan - I'm really glad you found him creepy and scary (hope that comes across the right way). I thought he was starting to look like like the sculptures in the X-Files episode Grotesque and that was good enough for me. Those things give me the creeps. Doing this one gave me a few ideas for more menacing and horrific Sith so i think those will be my next efforts.

Chilla - Thank you very much. If these are scary then i'm getting something right, so I appreciate your comments. Thanks again.

 

Ahah! Horror movie-styled Sith... And I kind of understand why you inverted the last one: it is for the "milky eye" effect!

The abyssal black eyes can be really scary, but sometimes white globes without any depth in them can give you the creeps too. I noticed that when a friend of mine drew cartoon characters that weren't meant to be scary, but she had forgotten the pupils in their eyes which eventually turned her whole works into some goth/Nightmare Before Christmas art. Personally, I hate that.

BUT you achieve to create real fear from your portraits! In the movies we can't exactly be afraid of the Sith since they're actors in the end, even Maul isn't so scary despite the firey eyes. I guess apparence plays a little part for that effect on people. So with your art you give a new "face" to the Dark Side

Congrats!

 

Thanks Deanna.

You're right about the eyes. For me, that's really where the image often rests. If there really appears to be life behind them; emotion of some sort, then it helps sell the rest. I'd been toying with the idea of having eyes devoid of any detail (more like sharks eyes) for the Sith, but I thought it might be a bit much and not very interesting in the end.

I appreciate you saying that I managed to get real fear in these Sith portraits. All i've got to go on is what scares me I suppose, that's what i've tried to draw on. I still have some ideas to explore that fall within that bracket, like variations on a theme I guess. Hopefully they'll turn out decently.

Thanks again