Bidja Gams

Digging through my archives today in search of my lost Nephilim sketches, I ran across a few old still life projects from my college years. Being the immense nerd that I was, I usually chose video game equipment as a subject when given the choice. Thought I might as well share them here.

This was the third project in my introductory oil painting class, and probably the one that turned out the best. The assignment was to endow an inanimate object with a sense of emotion through composition and color, and as luck would have it, I ended up picking "joy" from the hat. So I guess this one comes across a little too easily -- but just to prove that I could muster some subtlety, I tried to make the bottom contour of the controller suggest an upturned smile. So there.

Sorry for the low-quality picture. I never bothered to replace it with a better photo.

Here's a color pencil homework assignment from one of my winter terms. Those are my bedsheets there, hoisted over the back of my desk chair and swaddling my second-hand Gamecube. The controllers are looped around the back of the chair, crudely taped in place just off-frame.

I realize that there are some perspective and proportion mistakes in this one, but... man, I was in shape back then. I really need to work myself back up to that level of discipline.

The Demiurge

Long before Hephaestus became my pencil's constant companion, there was another iconic giant who had a way of cropping up in the margins of my homework: a brooding, stoic-faced golem with wings of shimmering steel. It was too long before I graduated him to the pages of a proper sketchbook.

Here he is amidst a menagerie of Lacrimaean characters and creatures. As you can see here, at this point he was simply named "Nod," but the reference was a little too baldfaced.

I spent a lot of time trying to decide what this his role might be in the setting. In the size-comparison sketch above, he is described as a member of a race called the Nephilim - once mighty creator-gods, but long since reduced to servility. But I ended up scrapping that idea and assigning the name "Nephilim" to a different race, one with a more obviously angelic bent. In the meantime, the Demiurge-to-be was reduced back to a single being.

Here's the first time I actually referred to him as the Demiurge, as well as the first time I began to show him in his more creative aspect. There's no size-comparison here, but one assumes he's now significantly larger than the incarnation in the last sketch.

And he became bigger yet.

This is the last project I drew for school. The photo doesn't really convey the size very well - the drawing measures almost four by two-and-a-half feet and is easily the biggest thing I've ever attempted. You can actually see the seam where I glued the sheets of charcoal paper together. Here's a somewhat enlarged view.

The drawing depicts the Demiurge in his full glory, shaping a primordial landmass into a living universe. The tiny female figure perched on the rightmost ridge is a Pashkarai, one of the elemental spirits of chaos soon to depart the world. And for those of you still wondering - yes, Shadow of the Colossus was definitely an influence on this drawing. And the flock of birds swirling around the large tree in the bottom left corner is a direct reference to Secret of Mana.

That's enough of the archives for now. Hopefully, the next update will cover something new.

Dark Deeds

The Crossing, rendered in charcoal and graphite. I can only vaguely remember the influences that led up to the drawing - a Gene Wolfe story, certainly, and perhaps one too many Japanese screen paintings. I also forced myself to use a more unusual perspective mostly as a personal challenge, but I think it strengthened the piece in the end.

I think the bleeding fellow on the ground is a self-portrait, if I remember correctly.

Chapel Inverse started with a pretty memorable dream I had back when I started school, then somehow got tangled with Okami in the intervening years. I don't think the reference really registered with the class, though.

Equivalent Exchange

In lieu of new stuff, here are a few more works from my school years.

A depiction of the Amphisbaena, one of the creation myths of this setting. I attempted to give it a proper coloring, but it wasn't going very well and I soon gave up. (This, of course, was long before I ubercharged my speedpainting skills with the Grudemath.)

The Benediction, in which a vindictive Lacrimaean highcaste commissions a plainclothes assassin to settle an old score. Ironically, the classmates who posed for these sinister characters were incredibly nice people.

In the Archives

Apologies for the lack of updates, but my new job has kept me pretty busy over the past month. Though I'm adjusting well to the work, it's taken a bit of a toll on the time and energy I usually reserve for art. So... progress on new things has been a bit slow lately. As in, you'll probably see Valve release Episode Three before I get around to doing more with that zombie monk.

That said, I'd still like to throw something up in the interminable span between New Stuff, so I'm forced to delve into the musty vault and post things from my school years. Be warned: stuff was a bit boring back then.

The fabled city of brass, Sansaret, which burns like a jewel in the setting sun. Or would, if I did any color back then.

A cloister from the city Lacrimae, rotting heir to a shattered empire. I was sort of going through a heavy Piranesi phase back then, but even so, architecture still daunts me.

A portrait of the Exarch, reigning despot of Lacrimae. Any similarities to Wolfe's Autarch or Gehn from Riven are, um, purely coincendental. Yes, that's it.

Also, I really sucked at paintovers back then.