jonmcnallyblog

Friends Discover Something Bad, 2006, graphite.

This is the third of four drawings I completed for the upcoming second edition of Uresia, a fantasy game setting created by S. John Ross.

I'm quite certain this one was the most difficult to complete, due mostly to the requisite figure interaction.

Studies for Friends Discover Something Bad, 2006, graphite.

In most cases I first worry over heads.

The basic design of the elf girl's head quickly materialized. I recall no additional drafts, only tweaks to the original drawing.

The fellow's head required more work. The scene description indicated a senior sorcerer, but a winning design wasn't immediately apparent to me.

For instance, the second head on the top row looks to me more like the Pardoner from The Cantebury Tales and less like a sorcerer. In my visual vocabulary, a sorcerer wears a high-collared cape and a wizard wears a pointy hat; that Pardoner-looking person's definitely a pointy-hat guy.

The final sorcerer design isn't particularly innovative, but it sufficiently serves the scene's requirements. Contrarily, I'm quite content with the elf design, especially her bug-themed costume.

Drafts of Friends Discover Something Bad, 2006, graphite.

I'd never suggest arranging heads then drafting bodies, but that's what I attempted for this drawing. As you'd expect, the technique was problematic, as evidenced in the second, awkward draft above.

Declaring this one finished was a relief. Whew!