Friday, November 20, 2015

Castle Greyhawk: Dragons and Dweomers

Welcome back friends of Greyhawk! I'm seriously slipping in my duties to promote the third chapter of our ongoing Castle Greyhawk graphic novel. Check out pages thirty and thirty-one plus follow some eloquent extras by the bardic Scott Casper. On our site you can also check the archives and follow the entire Castle Greyhawk story from the very beginning.

Artist's Commentary: There has been a ton of great art work in these last two pages that I don't know where to start except panel one page 30. Drawing a dragon taking flight is a challenge on many levels from draconic anatomy to scale of composition. When Scott has me drawing a dragon it's a huge deal, but the same dragon from three different angles on one page is madness! 

The panel of Murlynd rubbing wool with a glass rod (old school components) is also among my favorites in this entire chapter. There is something about his expression and the magic lettering that feels like I'm channeling Dave Trampier. The lightning bolt itself (and sound effect) was fun for me since I've always been a super fan of the Mighty Thor (nearly 500 issues). Lastly, the dragon descending to the cave floor was the hardest of the page. I went over it a few times before I was content. Then the next page happened....

I must admit, I love drawing this rendition of Tenser. I've done it so many times I can now freehand him without needing much reference. That's huge when it comes to comics. What I also like about Tenser is he keeps looking rougher each room they come to. the other guys have scuffed armor at worst, but the wizard is clearly the one taking the most hit point damage so far. That is until the dragon gets close...

Three more dragon angles, and now some up close scale issues. How big are white dragons? I'm not sure, I do know they aren't as big as red dragons but this isn't exactly a baby dragon either. Terik and Serten take some hits and Tenser gets to look dramatic with his wand for the first time. But what does it do? Tune in next time!

3 comments:

Scott said...

I didn't say anything privately about it, but yes, I think you're spot-on, scale-wise.

K-POW!

grodog said...

Very nice work, as always Mike and Scott! =)

I was curios about the magic words, whether I should be able to decipher them?---they almost look like if you turn the panel as you read that they might form letters.....

Allan.

Mike Bridges said...

Um, er, don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain.