King in the North : Reprise

And so came the time for me to finish the drawing inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire, "The King in the North!"

The sad part was that the sheet of bristol the drawing was originally on (drawing on the left) started falling apart after the first wash and lifting of whites. Yikes! So I had to transfer the drawing to some hot press illustration board I had. So begins the laborous process!

Since I lack both the epic light table I so desire, as well as that fancy stuff called transfer paper, I went the old, cheap faithful method I learned from Fred Nelson: graphite on the back, then trace over. The only thing is it was exceptionally light, and of course I needed to work on the line art again anyway, but now it REALLY needed more definition.

However, I must say I like how his expression and face came ut better this time. Watch the drawing appear out of thin air!

Tada! The finished line art in H pencil with shadows. Now for that sweet, sweet ink....

Blue wash in process... this was what the bristol just would not stand for...

Finished blue! But I wanted to add a touch more color; I do enjoy working in a limited palette but I wanted the light source to have a bit more feeling.

The finished product! I ended up going over some parts with a black carbon pencil to darken up, add more contrast and attention to the main points of interest. I plan on experimenting how different pencils, pastels, and charcoal hold up with ink wash. Time for further experimentation!

The King in the North ; Winter is Coming.