Sketchbook: De Drud Druckt

Quick colour test sketch for a new art project...
... and to try out my new inks.

It's a really small sketch, which is why it is so rough. I'm really impressed with the colour intensity of these inks, though. Thus far, I've only tried out Rohrer & Klingner's Calligraphy Ink, but I also have a few other brands lying around that I've yet to open.

As for the title, a Drud or Drude is the German name for a witch/fairy type creature that likes to sit on people and beasts (either while walking or sleeping), thereby sucking the life energy from them.

Anyway, here's the sketch now...

De Drud Druckt. © Christian Schwager

Vnicorne (Unicorn)

Unicorns are one of those iconic breeds of fantasy creatures that I always wanted to add to my portfolio, but never got around to... until recently.
The Creature of the Week challenge #304 over on conceptart.org asked for "Twisted Fantasy Creatures: Equines". We were asked to portray an evil and sadistic version of one (or all) of the following: Unicorn, Pegasus & Hippocampus.

Obviously I went for the Unicorn, so here's what I came up with... followed by a short description of the concept.

The Vnicorne is the grim dark cousin of the Unicorn. It is of a cruel and twisted nature and hungers for blood and raw flesh. Eager to spread its corrupted seed, it proudly displays its masculinity and its impressive mane.

The Stygian Witches

... or The Graeae of the 41st Millennium.

Yesterday was Waitangi Day here in New Zealand and there's no better time than a mid-week holiday to get stuck into a painting. So I decided to use my "day off" to give a more recent sketch of mine some attention... the Stygian Witches, inspired by Warhammer 40K.

Originating in Greek mythology, the Graeae (translates to "grey ones", "old women", or "grey witches") seemed like a great set of (kind of creepy) characters to be placed in the grim darkness of my favourite science-fiction setting.

I got a little carried away with the details when I did the sketch, so it took me the better part of the day and evening to flesh it all out in colour using Photoshop.

The Grim Dark Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy myth is not really something I grew up with as a kid. So when the challenge came up on the Imagine FX forum, I wasn't quite sure where to take it.
All I knew was, that the whole idea fills me with unease - like all things to do with teeth - so I wanted to it to be quite creepy.

Being the Warhammer fan-boy I (still) am, I decided to go with something that would fit nicely into the grim dark future of the 41st millennium.