Topic – Revisiting very old artwork for inspiration. From traditional sketch to digital and personal reflections.

While the date the traditional sketch was produced is unknown because I didn’t document. I estimate that it was created more then a decade ago where I was relatively new to drawing characters. I wanted to create a fantasy character who embodied evil – having his face concealed would achieve that purpose in producing a menacing hidden aura appropriate for an antagonist. Star War’s character Darth Vader is a classic example of this trope except I wanted to produce a medieval equivalent.

To tell you the truth I just buried the initial drawing somewhere and lost it until I revisited it much later in my life. I did however pick up the digital pen and began relying on old fuzzy memory of what the character might have looked like. I eventually found the original as I was sorting out my belongings and missed a few details out but thats something I can always revisit by redrawing several studies of the character. I confess I made some attempts in Midjourney to create a character-of-likeness but I went with my own interpretation in the end.

I confess to being a fan of the dark fantasy manga Berserk (Kentaro Miura) and witnessing panel-after-panel of sword swinging I wanted to study the techniques used and apply it in my own unique way. I admit that that the brushes included with the application Clip Studio Paint might unsettle those with a nervous disposition. In my defense, I want to be true to my vision for this character and I know that there is an audience who would appreciate the rawness of applying techniques to evoke a sense of dread and power in the reader. Being dark of mind doesn’t mean you yourself are dark of heart however. There is always going to be people who’d prefer to draw skulls and spiders then rainbows and flowers and vice versa. That being said a combination of the two is not out of the question.

Regarding other design decisions, I felt the sword would have more body if drawn more thickly and more uniform. I have a backstory for this character prepared in advance but for now I won’t spoil anything for the prospective reader (you?). Thank you for reading this far in what is my first offical blog post on this site!.