Each day we shovel fuel! Each day we work in silence!

Kobold Quarterly #11 is out! Pick it up, it's excellent!

And now that it's hit the streets, I can share a brief look at how my illustration got from concept to finish. The first concept was "dwarf working at a forge". It's an iconic fantasy image, so I thought I would start with exactly what had been seen before- a dwarf working at an anvil and then come up with another part of the process that maybe we don't see as often: using the tongs to heat the spearhead he's working on.

My client chose the second one (with good reason) and from there I took reference photos and prepared the full sketch on tracing paper so I could give him another look:

Everything was cool, especially the braid in his beard to hold it back (I think it's called a "dwarven hair net" now) but taking layout into consideration, my client suggested it would be easier to set text against a black background. So, I lost the brick wall part of the hearth on the right side before proceeding to the final.

After transferring the piece to watercolor paper and getting in there with a Rapidograph pen and just a few ink washes, here's the result. The ultimate goal that we had in mind was greater contrast from previous work I had done so that it would show up better on the page and I think we accomplished it. And once again: researching reference and shooting it yourself really pays off, in my opinion. I couldn't have made up that lighting myself.

Moving on to the second piece, my client wanted a dwarf on a journey or migration, carrying some great burden (dwarves love work like Homer Simpson loves donuts).

This one went through a few changes in the thumbnail stage before we got to the sketch. At first I thought dwarves = subterranean, so I put him in a hallway. But my client pointed out that the text put them on an overland journey, so I tried to reposition him outside, going up a path. From there, he thought maybe it would be better to wrap text around it, so I erased most of the background in Photoshop but left the rocks in the front. That was the winner. The sketch stage is where I get more use out of Photoshop and digital tools: it's handy for bouncing ideas around and doing quick editing. I want to integrate it more into the final product, eventually, but for right now I mostly use it for tinkering to iron out the concept.

Reference photos in hand, I put together the sketch. This one was a bit more difficult, since he's somewhat in perspective but also doesn't adhere to normal human proportions. We took a lot of shots for this one and I ultimately mixed and matched where I could until it felt about right.

And here he is finished. Again, I went for contrast as much as I could and tried to use the black to lend more weight to that big statue on his back, trying to make that visual weight indicate actual weight if that makes sense. Still working out the balance between hatching with the pen and solid areas of tone with the washes. I like the results and I think I'm getting somewhere with it.

I remember in art school that sometimes fellow students wouldn't listen to teachers' critiques either because of disagreement or some sense that they felt the ultimate decision was really theirs or just plain stubbornness. While I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing sometimes (it's good to stand by your own judgement), as an illustrator that has to work with a client your ultimate goal is to make sure they're happy and want to work with you again while producing something that you can use to promote yourself in the future.

From the experience I've had making these dwarves for Kobold Quarterly I've realized just how important it is to be mindful of your client's input; after all, they have a clearer idea of the finished product than you may have and they know what is going to suit their needs best. In this case, I really feel like that back and forth interaction and revision was a big benefit to the finished pieces: the finished illustrations seem much stronger to me than the initial sketches and I'm glad they came together this way.