Sek´guar, Deathkeeper

By Jesper Ejsing

Here is the process of a new Orc painting I did for Magic Commander series. He is called: Sek´guar, Deathkeeper. Which incidentally was also the name I wanted for myself growing up.



The portrait asked for a orc shaman with trinkets and amulets that involved death. All taking place in an icy environment. I do not think I could have gone any more literal than I did. When doing this assignment I was set on fulfilling the description and not try to muddy the portrait up, by adding all kinds of personal emotions and story lines.



Instead I really tried to capture interest in the facial area and in all the details. I often think that green Orcs tend to look a little comical. So i focused on making his skin texture rough and scared to go along with his gorilla like features.



The other thing I focused on was texture. The clark I builded up with a lot of brush shoveling around, dotting and stabbing into the area until random texture shoved some shapes I could use for wrinkles and holes and bumps.



I think I got lost in the details. The image should have been much more monochromatic. I thought of rendering every details instead of thinking of the shape of his body and silhouette as a whole.

Lessons to keep in mind: Think of the whole picture, simplify the colors and light used for better focus. Actually I think “focus” is the second most important thing in and illustration. It comes right after “story”, being the first. ( I deliberately avoided my own most important aspect of a painting, and kind of lost focus on the ”focus”)



You cannot paint without having your minds teeth fully sunked into the neck of it.