Heimdall blowing Gjallarhorn

 

This is the first piece of concept art I completed for my Future Norse Myths project. The aim of my project was to create artwork for 6 different scenes in the Ragnarok story from Norse Mythology in a future or sci fi setting.

This piece depicts the god Heimdall blowing the horn, Gjall. In Norse Mythology, the sound of the Gjallarhorn signals the onset of the events of Ragnarok in which almost all life in the nine worlds will perish.

When designing this piece, I wanted the character to have sci-fi looking armour but I dont think I achieved this in this particular artwork. The armour looks more like fantasy armour than sci-fi armour here and other than that there is nothing in this piece that even suggests a science fiction or future setting.

The mountains in the background get less and less saturated the further away they are as they should, but the shape of the mountains and and the light and dark areas are not defined properly. None of the shading is done consistently in the painting, this is probably down to me not having decided where the main light source in the scene is before applying a paint layer. This can be easily fixed in the future, however, with a little bit more planning before i begin painting.

I do not think the choice of colour palette was very good in this piece. The blue armour was meant to appear to be science fiction, but as mentioned earlier, I do not think i managed to achieve a science fiction feel in the painting.

What I did like about this painting, however is how the character is drawn. I think this is one of the best drawn characters in the entire project. The anatomy and proportions are good in this character, this was the result of good sketchwork and planning.

  

 

Loki Freed from Chains

 In the Ragnarok story, Loki breaks free form his shackles and rides north to fight Heimdall. To make this story fit a sci-fi/ future setting, I changed the shackles for a prison and had the character in this painting escaping from prison.

 

I think this piece has a very painterly style, perhaps more so than some of the other paintings in this project. I like this painting a lot, I think it tells a strong narrative and is easy to tell what is going on in this scene.

 

I attempted to paint this piece with little to no sketch work underneath, with the exception of the characters face I think this went quite well. I think the lighting on the scene and on the character is done quite well.

 

I used a gaussian blur effect on the fire in the background this creates the effect of the character being really sharp and in focus with the background being out of focus.

 

To improve this painting,  need to study some more anatomy and get the proportions of the body and face correct.

 

 

Thor vs. Jormungand

This is the third piece I completed for the Future Norse Myths project. In norse mythology Thor fights the Midgard Serpent, Jomungand during the events of Ragnarok. Thor slays the serpent and takes 9 steps before he falls to his death from venom.

I wanted to avoid taking the stories so literally from this point so instead of featuring an actual serpent to fight Thor, I used an image of a snake as a sigil for the character in the background. To represent the 9 steps Thor takes before his death, the character's bomb vest is set to detonate after 9 seconds.

The proportions of Thor's face is slightly off. The eys are too wide and the nose is too long. The facial proportions of the character in the background are better, although there are some problems with his feet and arms.

More anatomical studies are required.

Unlike the other paintings on this project this was the only one that I kept some of the line art. I really like the colour palette on Thor's face and hair in this painting, the saturated,  vibrant colours I think look good with the dark line art.

 

Aesir Arms Shipment

Freyr Vs. Surt

This piece is my personal favourite from all of the paintings I completed. I love the contrast between Freyr, the god of fertility and life, and Surt the fire god.  I wanted to continue using symbolism as much as possible instead of taking the stories literally.

I think the anatomy of the boar and the 2 faces is done really well and for the most part the brush strokes are done well. The face on the right does not look as good as the one on the left. I spent too much time on this piece, and it took away from time i could spend on the other pieces.

I like the small things in this piece that bring the painting to life, such as the distant trees, blades of grass and city skyline in the background.

 

Nastrond - The Shore of Corpses

Future Norse Myths Concept Art (Work in Progress)

Heimdall Blowing Gjall Horn

Loki Freed of Chains

Thor vs. Jormungandr

Freyr vs. Surt

V 2.0

Concept Art Thumbnails

Loki Freed From Chains

Aesir and Einherjer Arming Themselves

Surt vs. Freyr / Surt Burning the Nine Worlds

Space Cargo Ship Concepts

Armour Concepts

Sci Fi Armour Moodboard

Armour Concepts

Project Timetable and Artwork

Artwork:

After much consideration and research I have decided on these 6 scenes to base my artwork throughout the project.

Piece	Subject
1	Heimdall blowing the Gjall Horn
2	Aesir and Einherjer arming themselves
3	Thor Fighting Jormungand
4	Freyr fighting Surt/ Surt burning the nine worlds
5	Loki breaks free of chains
6	Nastrond, the shore of corpses

Project Timetable:

Date	Work
31st October 2012	Begin on-going research: sketches, planning for artwork, blog posts.
14th November 2012	Completed enough research to begin artwork, have all research on blog
28th November 2012	1st piece of Artwork Completed
12th December 2012	2nd piece of artwork completed
14th December – 9th January	Christmas Break
9th January 2013	Continue with Artwork and begin design book
23rd January	3rd Piece of Artwork Completed
6th February	4th Piece of Artwork Completed
20th February	5th Piece of Artwork Completed
6th March	6th Piece of Artwork Completed
6th March – 10th April	Make design book, finish any outstanding work: Blog, artwork.
10th April 2013	Print and hand in work.

Future Norse Myths - Concept Art Project

Project overview

Use a story from Norse Mythology and set them in a futuristic/sci-fi setting. I will choose just one story and create artwork based on that story. I will create 6 pieces of concept art based on key scenes in the story. I will show my personal improvement throughout the story. Any research and studies relating to the project will be posted on blog. . I will use different tutorials from “Digital Art Techniques”; this should help make my artwork more diverse

What story will I use?

I recently bought this book to help me choose a story for my artwork. I have decided on using the Ragnarok story for my artwork. Ragnarok is the apocalyptic final battle between the gods and the giants in which almost all life is destroyed. Ragnarok is a very intense story with lots of action. There are many scenes in this story that could be translated into artwork.

I will use 6 of these parts of the story:

1. Thor vs Jormungand
2. Odin vs Fenrir
3. Surt Burning everything
4. Freyr vs Surt
5. Loki vs Heimdall
6. Nastrond, the shore of corpses
7. Vile and Ve Chess board
8. Aesir and Einherjar arming themselves
9. Heimdall blowing the Gjall Horn
10. Odin riding Sleipnir
11. Skoll eating sun/ Hati eating moon
12. Eggther sitting on grave mound playing harp.
13. Loki breaks free from chains.

I need to weigh up the pros and cons of each part and decide on choosing the 6 parts that will tell the story of Ragnarok the best.