Something draws me to the contrast between pretty and repulsive. That’s what initially caught my eye with Lena Richard’s concept piece (lenarichards.artstation.com); the woman was beautiful enough to capture your attention, but what she was doing was so gross you couldn’t look away. As a student, I was searching for a concept that would give the most intrigue.
This piece starts with the sculpt. I look at classical beauty Emilia Clarke, whose features would work well contrasted with the scars. When considering the robe, jewellery and props, I want to go for the essence of a mysterious sorceress, whose intentions are unknown. I want her to have hand-carved wooden props, real gold jewellery and a beautifully embroidered fabric to all tell a story.
I also want to show her skin being pale and discoloured, as if she resides deep in a cave, and the viewer has just stumbled upon her. I study cave-dwelling animals and albino humans. Albino skin has the lack of red that I need, but the patchiness and translucency of salamander skin was necessary for the creepiness.
How I create…
A CUSTOM PATTERNED FABRIC
1 Finding the perfect fabric
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Jan Wessbecher
Dominic Carter talks to the visual artist about creating his own comic and why sketchbooks are great for creative experiments
Kyounghwan Kim
The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly
Slawek Fedorczuk
Dominic Carter talks to the concept artist about what keeps him motivated and the advantages of using physical sketchbooks.
Raquel M. Varela
Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"
Estrela Lourenço
Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.
Daria Widermanska
Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.
Allen Douglas
Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.
Thaddeus Robeck
Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow
First Impressions
The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world
