And now comes the scene which I have imagined time and again since I read the first read The Hobbit so many years ago. Smaug. Smaug the Golden. Smaug the Magnificent.
For the back cover of the book I got the chance to illustrate Bilbo's conversation with this last dragon.
My goal was to follow Tolkien's original painting as a guide (as far as overall dragon design and color work).
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| Tolkien's original illustration. |
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From there I arranged my figures and figured, since there wouldn't be too much room on the back cover, that I would vignette the image somewhat, keep the edges in shadow to help out the designer.
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| The thumbnail. |
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| The finished drawing. |
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| The watercolor. |
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| Working in the final, digital color. |
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| The finished piece. |
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| Smaug, detail. |
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I hope you've enjoyed Hobbit week!
If you'd like to catch up on all the posts, you can find the collection below:
7 comments:
oh, stop making things that I want prints off!
Please provide me with a 1440x900 wallpaper of this, kthx =D
Man that is amazingly great. Seriously beautiful, and I think it is too cool that you tried to stay so true to the original.
I just wanted to comment on your pencils, they always look so creamy. Do you mind my asking what you use? Do you smudge in photoshop at all?
Ah! Very nice, the way you did the dragon made me think of the animated hobbit movie from the 80’s… (your style is very different from it though).
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_09-1_TXF3BQ/TJgXLcWlCaI/AAAAAAAAAMc/BqxA_bu8VMQ/s1600/large_smaug_dragon_from_thehobbit_animated-r7nn9rsi.jpg (that is a link to a picture).
I'm so glad I discovered your awesome blog & shop today (found you through twitter) :) I love your style! Can't wait til my husband gets home so I can show him your great Hobbit illustrations. He's going to love them.
I love your research and illustrations on The Hobbit. Very inspiring ! ^O^
Your line (style? I don't know how to say it in english ^^') is sooo smooth, it's a pleasure to look at :D.
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