Loki character illustration

[BWillard]

A character illustration of Loki, the Norse god of mischief.

I'll be working on a full body version sometime in the near future.

http://www.bartwillard.com/Images/Loki500.jpg

Hope you like!

-Bart

[dem0n]

I like the skin and the form of the face, but not the ornaments.
for example that gem looks like it's glued to his head, and the stuff above his eyes.. don't even know what they are.
It's a good start, but still could use some improvements before moving on.
(maybe add some viking style jewels and stuff)

[BWillard]

Actually, the jewel is supposed to look like it's stuck to the skin. And the round nodules above the eyes are bony growths, not decoration. I wanted to break away from tradtional viking adornment and make him more alien, more unearthly. I wanted more of a misfit look for him. I didn't want him too ornate... he did get kicked out of Valhalla for all the trouble he caused.

Thanks for the suggestions, maybe in the next version.

-Bart

[kyu]

great painting but i agree with demon, take off the gem. He will will look much more mischievous. :rendered:

[titmarlau]

Nice image.

The only reason "I" dislike the gem is that it stands out, your eyes are drawn to it before you look at anything else and you are constantly drawn to it when you are looking at other parts of Loki.

Perhaps it should be darker, perhaps a different colour like red or blue, have some ornamental features surrounding it too maybe to do with air and fire which he was realted to. Like the growths above his eyes the ornamental sections could come out of his head

The growths need to be more defined, its quite hard to tell they are protruding out of his skin.

As for ideas for the rest of the image, perhaps some animals which he could manifest himself as - horse falcon and fly.

Hope this helps in any way or it could just be useless

Again though good work, nice painting style and i very much like the skin affect and the teeth, well done man.

[BlueMech]

Nice rendition of Loki. I'd recomend somehow encorporating his famed red hair. Maybe make the gem red-orange.

[Erik]

Was it done in 3D ?

[dem0n]

Was it done in 3D ?
now that you mention it, it either is well done or it's an overpaint :)

[BWillard]

I forgot about the red hair... good suggestion! I'll refine using some of the suggestions and repost.

btw... it's not an overpaint. I use some 3D modeling to help for lighting reference.

Thanks

[young paddy1]

It's not anything against you but that is definitely 3d, the textures are stretching as they do in 3d, especially around the mouth, BTW I prefer the look of your original sketch for the area above the eyes.

[BWillard]

Here's the redo using the suggestions given. You guys were right... The jewel and the bumps above the eyes were all wrong.

http://www.bartwillard.com/Images/Loki2.jpg

I completely removed the jewel and the "bony nodules" and added some red hair and eyebrows.

To help clarify the 3D thing...

Yes, there is some 3D in this with a rudimentary bump map used to speed up the lighting but I never like the results of doing it just straight 3D. It comes out looking like a plastic toy. This has had some major digital painting done to it. The eye, wrinkles, skin tone, hair, etc. were all painted in Photoshop.

Thanks for the advice from everyone.

-Bart

[DarkMana]

looks a thousand times better the gem was a little too girly for my liking
haha no offence

DM

[BWillard]

No offense taken DM... when you're right you're right!

[dem0n]

see this is much better, n1

[SEVANS]

Just a quick comment about the 3d questions.

As a professional illustrator once told me, it doesn't matter how you get the end result, but just that you get a good end result.

I like the image and would use 3d more myself if I had the time (and dedication) to learn it. Use all the tools you need to get the job done.