I used to really like Warhammer 40k when I was a kid. I started drawing by copying art from their books (as well as video game covers). I posted some of my copies online and I remember getting absolutely torn apart in the comments.

They called me a hack, that I had no talent or originality, that I was just copying other people’s art, and that basically I should just go kill myself. It was my first encounter with internet hostility and I stopped drawing for quite some time because I felt so bad – which of course delayed my development, because in reality, ALL artists get better by copying and making bad art.

I was looking through my old sketchbook and all those vitriolic comments came back to me. I understand my work was lacking in many ways. I shouldn’t have posted copies online when I was a kid. But there are constructive, supportive ways of saying that. There’s this modern undercurrent of idle armchair criticism – like a Hater’s Ball zeitgeist. It’s really easy to criticize and it gives power to the one laying judgment. But it’s a coverup for an inability to actually create anything yourself. I respect Uwe Boll more than Roger Ebert, because at least Uwe Boll tried.

“You don’t see courage because you are nothing.”

Uwe Boll

That being said, in an effort to get revenge on the haters of Christmas past, I decided to do a redesign of the classic Space Marine. Yes, Warhammer is hokey, cartoonish, and nerdy. But that’s part of what makes it fun.

My process was to create a design that felt more modern with more believable proportions, while still staying true to the stylized original. Even looking at the animation, you can see it starts out “bad” and slowly becomes better with every pass. It’s not perfect, but it was fun, and that’s the point.

Working professionally, it’s hard to find work. It’s hard to keep clients happy. It’s hard to make creative decisions you don’t want to make for the commercial viability of the product. It’s easier when you’re a big-name artist, but the process of fighting your way up the food chain can quickly become not fun. You lose sight of why you even wanted to make art in the first place: it’s because you spent your life getting bullied and making art was one of the only things that made you feel better.

You can see the final image on Deviantart.

Thumbnails

I begin the design process with a general idea of the character’s direction – in this case, the aesthetic of a masquerade ball combined with a mercenary/warrior role. This is more of a personal exercise, so keeping only a vague direction gives me room to explore. If this was for a client or a bigger project, the character specs might be more specific and I’d adjust the process accordingly.

The thumbnails are meant mostly to find some silhouettes that create interesting negative space and define shape and proportion to help the character materialize in space. I try to keep things loose, not focusing too much on anatomy or details at this stage.

Iteration 1

From here, I pick some thumbnails to develop into rough comps. Things are still not really detailed, but there’s enough indication to be able to show these to a client or an art director to help guide the direction of the process.

Iteration 2 – Variations

Once we’ve decided on a comp, I’ll create some variations to give the client some more options. This is a continual process of exploring different ideas while narrowing them down to funnel the process to a final destination. In this case, the variations are fairly big in their differences – a patchwork mercenary, a Mesoamerican inspired tribal warrior, and a more classical knight type character. However, we should be able to develop significant variations in a design even if there are a lot more restrictions.

Final

This is just a matter of rendering, detailing, indicating light and materials, as well as correcting any anatomical or proportional issues. This can be the most time consuming part of the process, but it’s also the point where the least amount of changes can occur in the design. This is why it’s important to explore different directions earlier on, so you don’t get stuck having to make huge changes at this stage which can significantly delay completion.

You can see the full painting on Deviantart.

Context

Before working on a painting, I like thinking about the context of what it is I’m actually trying to explore and communicate. Yes, I want to create a nice looking image, but if that’s my only goal, it limits the painting’s potential.

For a short art history lesson, it’s worth taking a look at the work of French sculptor Antoine Barye (Click the image or use the arrows).

As apparent, his subject matter was mostly animals in varying acts of violence. Today, it might seem to us like a bunch of badass macho sculptures, and we might appreciate Barye’s work the same way we appreciate a Frazetta painting. And to a degree, this is valid. But if you actually examine the context of his work, you’d discover that Barye grew up during the Napoleonic Wars, a series of conflicts that had an unprecedented scale of violence for its time. If you had grown up in this period, it would’ve been like growing up during a World War. So yes, it’s sculpture about animals, but it’s also reflection of the spirit of the time.

With my own work, I’ve always been interested in the idea that western architecture is meant to symbolize order and harmony – and yet the ancient Greeks, who originated those architectural styles, were a militant, violent culture as well. Beyond that, I think of the burning of the Library of Alexandria, and the Bonfire of the Vanities; all represent a contrast between order and chaos, and that’s something worth exploring in a modern, 21st century context.

You can be forgiven if you think all of this sounds pretentious, but when you’re thinking about these sorts of things, it can really help elevate your work. Fantasy knights with cool armor can only be drawn so many times, and there’s always somebody else who can draw them better than you. You have to find ways to make your work unique and relevant.

Thumbnails

With my initial thumbnail, my goal is to capture the essence of the idea. My first thumbnails are usually pretty crude and simple, but that helps me figure out the most important elements that I want to communicate.

I then expand the thumbnail into a larger composition. I’ve been continually developing my thumbnailing process; in the future, I want to be even clearer and more graphic with my thumbnails. I watched Eytan Zana’s Gumroad tutorial on graphic compositions and that’s something I want to integrate more into my process.

Rough Sketch

Once I had an overall vision for the painting, I drew a rough sketch over it to get a better idea of the placement of the elements and gestures of the characters. Establishing a perspective grid at this point helps to make sure any future drawing conforms at least roughly to a realistic representation of space. It doesn’t have to be perfect since this isn’t scientific illustration – it just needs to be believable.

Block-in

At this point, I block in color and value. This is what I use to build the rest of the painting on top of. Essentially it’s a color comp in the painting itself.

Character sketches

Refining the drawings of the characters was important at this point since they’re such a central focus of the composition. I could have done this earlier, but I just wanted to get a better idea of how the environment and value structure would develop (since I didn’t do a color comp for this).

Finalization

After that, it’s just a matter of detailing and continual refinement – a time consuming process, but most of the actual work of composing the image was done prior to this stage. It’s mostly painted, with a few photographic elements thrown in to speed up the process. It’s challenging to keep in mind all of the theory discussed prior while noodling away painting armor rivets, but it’s a process I’m continually evolving.

Check it out on Deviantart.