Chronicles of Narnia (first WIP)

[leviathan]

OK, I just posted my first thread over in the 'finished' forum, but wanted to get some guidance on a piece I'm mid-stream in.

The scene is taken from 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' by C.S. Lewis, when Aslan the lion is slain by the white witch:

"The children did not see the actual moment of the killing. They couldn't bear to look and had covered their eyes."

I just wanted to capture the power in the moment that is never fully uncovered in the story. But I really need suggestions on how to guide the piece past the line art. I may or may not keep it black + white, and I'm open to comments on that as well. Crits, comments, everything.

Many thanks for the help.


--Leviathan

http://chris-echols.com/ca/la1.jpg
http://chris-echols.com/ca/la2.jpg
http://chris-echols.com/ca/lookaway.jpg

[sin]

how do you do that, it's awesome!

[daniela]

I know you want advice on how to go past the line art stage, but that's not my area of expertise. What I would like to comment on is while Aslan's face is very expressive, the White Witch looks like she is wearing a mask. To me, she isn't showing any emotion at all. In the story the White Witch is very wicked and cruel. I don't think that even she could resist showing some kind of emotion at the moment she kills Aslan. Setting that aside, I love this piece and can't wait to see the finished project. Keep up the good work!

[oglzogl]

Very nice!

I really like the lion.. although I would agree that the Witch could use more emotion on her face (delight in finally getting Aslan out of the way?). And maybe her eyes should be looking down at the lion?

As far as coloring goes.. that is a hard call. If this were something I were doing I might be inclinded to keep the picture flat. Fields of color with little to no blending. I would probably approach it like you would screenprint... or a lino print. That is to say flat. Hopefully you understand what I mean. Mike Mignola (http://www.hellboy.com/hbcomicsonline.html) is a master at achieving a nice effect even though he really doesn't use shading to get his depth. Just flat color.

I am sure you could be successful using another technique and try to get the form 3d.. but I just really like the line work ouve got going (especially in the lions face) and I think you could highlight those lines, and maybe add more cool lines and interesting shapes, with the hard edge of the color planes.