Dungeons and Dragons: Decrepit Tomb

Scroll down to see the process.

Two sides of a coin.

Wizards seethe with effortless power, the calm before their own storm; often wrapped in a frail exterior, they are exemplars of "more than meets the eye." Elves are the perfect counterpart; stoic and taciturn, centuries of skill and ferocity encased behind a furtive demeanor until they need it most. They are the exacting icy cynicism to a wizard's chaotic aloof curiosity; a part of a larger whole where a wizard is the embodiment of singularity. Yet a coin needs both sides to be complete, sharing at its core the understanding, experience, and skill that can only be known through many lifetimes set end to end.

I wanted to capture this here by showing a High Elf, perhaps from a royal family who had set out to reclaim a lost relic or save her kingdom from evil. In doing so she meets a powerful warlock of the lightning aspect, channeling the elements to his will through ancient spell tomes, potions, and crystalline magics. Together they combine control and chaos to create a formidable cocktail against the evil forces threatening to corrupt their world. All they need now is to run into a couple more intrepid souls; a ranger, barbarian, paladin, dwarf, or priest perhaps? There are likely many who seek a similar goal and they need but cross paths on their journeys.

-Sam Bogits

Process

Here I started as I often do: with a series of a dozen or so simple gesture drawings using pencil and paper. I then created more interesting camera angles and fleshed out proportions for the four I liked the most. Lastly I experimented with the shape arrangement of a simple five value scale to further visualize the final and use as a guide stone for value control throughout the process.

This is the entire process of the painting from start to end, I ended up combining sketches one and four before I started. I rendered the scene first with a soft ambient light from the top right, which allowed me to then dim the entire thing and add in the purple lighting from the wizard's hands in a controlled manner. I finished off with some last details and small elements to delineate the characters' respective backgrounds and hint at their personal stories.

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