June 2020 - Portraits from beyond - WIPs

*more sad noises*
It seems like the world never stops with the dreadful stuff these days.
Like Charlotte said, I hope the painting keeps you going through it all.


I did have a vague idea for this challenge as soon as I saw it but when I sat down to sketch it out, it seemed very much like a previous challenge pic of mine so... I shall forget that and think some more.

I tried posting a couple of WIPs yesterday and for some reason (probably me not thinking straight), I was having issues so I got annoyed and deleted my post. Here's another go at it--this time after getting some sleep and while drinking a cup of French Roast coffee.

I am outright stealing one of the topic examples. After reading the brief all I could think about was what Genghis Khan would look like in Guardians of the Galaxy. So that's what I'm going with. Not sure what I'm doing with the background yet--but I want half of him to be in warm light and the other in cool light.

Impressive start there. I love the shift in hue across the shading of the face, you always do that very well in your pics. Makes it look really solid and three dimensional like a piece of sculpture.

I agree with Val, it's an impressive start.

Out of curiosity I googled what is known about Genghis Khan's looks and apparently it's not very much at all. One account (that might or might not be accurate as it was written after his death) states that he had red hair, and green eyes! Kind of cool, if true - it's not exactly what one would expect! (I also found out he is estimated to be responsible for some 40 million deaths, corresponding to 11 % of the world population when he lived, and that he's a direct ancestor of about 1 in every 200 men - although that last bit is something I have heard before. I guess that's what having 500 concubines and decimating the remaining world population gets you...)

I was planning for WIP 3 to be a finished line drawing but since it seems the last bits are taking days rather than hours I can't be bothered waiting... So, almost done lines. I need to fix the hand holding the crossbow (pink line is there to remind me) and there are some bits on the crossbow that needs adjusting as well. (And maybe I shouldn't have used the paint symmetry tool for it, but it was just the easiest way of getting identical bits on both sides to actually look identical...)

Let me know if there are any other glaring errors that need fixin'.



EDIT: I think I'm now happy with the lines (at least until I see them posted here...)



EDIT 2 - I still need to adjust the place where the crossbow butts against her waist, and hey Banj, didn't see you there! Will take a looksie on the thumb too!

Maybe add a small bit of her thumb on the hand holding the crossbow, I think you could probably see it from that angle.

Hopefully better. I'll let it rest for a bit before starting on colours, in case I find myself unhappy with something else.

I looked for descriptions too. Khan did not allow any likenesses of himself to be made while he was alive, so most of the info is sketchy and second hand. In the end I just went with the ethnic features typical for his region of the world. And yes, the guy was like a nuke on horseback.

"nuke on horseback" sounds so very apt, somehow...

My current state of affairs.... Flat colours. Probably mostly final? Although of course they'll still look different after light, shadow and reflections are added... I also raised the hanging gardens as one would have bumped ones head into them before... But I think they need a total redraw and... respace...

Looking great, a nice clean base to start adding those light effects to.
As far as the gardens, I though they were huge floating structures in the background. No danger of bumping your head that way. Might also give you the opportunity to do some massive steam punk engines to keep them up there. Maybe these are the new floating gardens of Babylon? If you want them hanging then maybe some giant rusty hooks and chains? I dunno just spit balling.