Troll Witch in Red

troll_witch_red Troll Witch has been a character I've drawn on and off for a while. She started as a piece for my portfolio and slowly started to develop into a character in a story I'm working on.

Troll Witch is a master of herbal arts and a friend of many. She lives in a house made of trees and river stones. Most of the season she wanders the woods collecting plants and herbs for her potions. Meeting lots of creatures along the way and helping out when she can. During the colder months, she stays at her home taking in visitors out of the freezing cold. She once had a whole party of gnomes, three dwarves, and a minotaur in her house at once, feeling more like a tavern then anything else. But once the snow melts, she leaves again to replenish her supply.

Monster Monday- February 17, 2014

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Spent Saturday night sitting in my favorite chair sketching and this troll appeared on the paper. He isn't for any project I'm working on but more as a relaxing drawing because is a contained idea so I don't have to think of how it will 'fit' in a world I'm building. But this troll is not for nothing, he may appear in my sketchbook I'm producing for convention season. The book is 32 pages, magazine size and going to be professionally printed. I've created about 22 pages so far and am liking the way the book is turning out. If there are any left over books from conventions in April, I'll have them available online for purchase.

Portfolio

Troll

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A few days ago I was struggling with ideas for new illustrations. I couldn't come up with a good composition for a piece and had to take a break. I pulled out some toned paper and just started drawing. I haven't drawn a troll in a while, not even in my sketchbook. I let my hand guide the drawing instead of over thinking of what I was doing. Over thinking tends to be a killer and creates doubt before pencil even hits paper. This drawing really helped crush the art block I was having. And now I have 4 illustrations in the works all at different stages.

Sketch Book

I am a illustrator who has always drawn. I've been keeping a sketchbook since I was about 10 years old and can't imagine the thousands of pages I have filled. Lately I have been working in a new sketch book book, a brown toned hardcover book produced by Strathmore. I've been searching for months for a hard cover sketch book that is not white paper, I need something with a binding so I am not tempted to rip out a drawing and forget a failure. It's important to keep all the drawings to show the progression to a liked drawing. The nice thing about sketchbooks is its an exploration and doesn't have to be 'finished' like an illustration. It's about problem solving and not creating perfect images. So I've decided to share some pages of my sketchbook in hope to get others to fill some sketchbooks of there own.

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Incase anyone was wondering I draw with a simple pen and use a white gel pen for the white ink.