This is my second environment final piece, Unfortunately due to bad planning I was unable to spend as much time on this one as I would have liked, I feel that the light shining on the glen has a real nice effect, My character and the whole right side of the image need much more work doing on them.

This digital image by Raymond Swanland I believe was done using the golden ratio. The curve of the tail and shape of the head form a spiral that leads us to the focal point of the picture. The golden ratio is everywhere in the natural world.

I imagine that this Painting is using either iconic or cross composition techniques, as its pretty much symmetrical and has a leading line through the center of her body, and her arms cross to form a stopper.

One of my final environment pieces. I think the contrast of environments and colours works well, the lighting within the portal is blurry to represent some kind of magic field. I added some glowing Celtic Runes to the Stonehenge frame, I feel these added that extra touch to get across that this structure  is something of great power.

I used this in my final character piece I was just putting it up as I liked how it came out considering it was quite simple to do, just using the gradient tool and some new brushes it didn't take to long.

These are my four line, value and colour thumbnails, I like how the each is very different. I had the idea that the Stonehenge pillars were doorways to other Stonehenge dotted around the world. I liked the idea of being able to show two very different environments in one image using this doorway idea. As i did on my last thumbnail where i have the opening to a warm forest on top of a snowy mountain. The second thumbnail shows the burning man ritual which was a form of human sacrifice that the druids performed, often in order to make the woman more fertile. As there beliefs were heavily influenced by the link between life and death, so for a new life to be made one must be taken thus the sacrifice.

I started out having this (above) as the full image but after tuition decided to crop the piece in order to focus more in on the character. I then added the final lighting's and got this (below), I'm pretty happy with the result, however am curious how the other sketch would have turned out.

After a lecture on composition, I attempted to use the golden ratio for my final character piece. I did not
feel that it was working it out so changed my piece to a different viewpoint. I regret doing that, I think I should have stuck with this pose and just been zoomed in as to concentrate on the character. I feel this pose was more dramatic and thus more interesting.

Another Throne pose study, this time from a more interesting angle. I think the angle worked really well to show his "couldn't care less" attitude. I was thinking of having some of the heads he had collected (e.g. the Kings, Queens and executioners .) in the scene either on spears or around on the floor. The throne should be interesting to design, I think Im going to keep it quite simple as I want the main focus to be on the character.

I was wanted to depict my character lazily sitting in his new found throne. All arrogant and cocky. The kind of person who acts like they're to cool to be there. The middle one is my favourite.

Just doing an eye study in photoshop. Came out pretty well but pheraps a bit too manga like.

Finalisation of my characters facial features such as war paint and scars.

Hair study, I decided in the end that I didn't want my character to have hair. I preferred the bald monk look as my character is of druidic origin, and the baldness allows me to show war paint on his head.

This is my first attempt of doing a face on photoshop.

Character Sheet showing my war paint design for my Celtic Warrior.

Anatomical Character Sheet in pencil

I am happy with this build type for my character.

These are my colour studies for my Warrior Character. I have a rough war paint design to them to get the feel of what they would look like. Its thought Woad a cabbage type plant was used to make their warpaint. But now recently Woad is thought to be an unlikely source of the blue colouring as it is irritable. The accounts of Julius Caesar lead to belief of it being blue war paint, however they most likely used copper ore if anything which is a more blue/ green colour. There were also a few accounts of green war paint, as well as orange in areas of Belgium.
I prefer the red or brown cape and kilt than the blue ones, and a more gold/ bronze helm than silver or steel. Over all my favourite is the second one, in red with green war paint. I also like the black war paint but it doesn't relate to any historical evidence. The last yellow/ gold version was because I had the idea of my warrior being the living embodiment of Lugh the celtic sun god, who was the best warrior. That design was a bit to bright war paint wise though.

For this one I misinterpreted my silhouette and have drawn him facing away, now looking back on it I realize that it would look more natural for him to be facing forward, I had lots of trouble with the feet because of this. I like the idea of my character having a combination of weapons, and the bald look does interest me as its different to the usual long haired or spiked up looks. This particular warrior is to hulky in appearance for me, id prefer a more nimble but muscular character.

In terms of body build this is closer to what I have in mind. I have him wearing a wolf head and show him close to the floor as I imagine him stalking his victims like a tiger. I was trying to get away from the idea of my character wearing a kilt as it seems a common theme. I know that in some cases Celts were known to run into battle fully naked, instead of that I made this throw like thing. I'm not sure how I feel about it, might be to little.

Overall I'm very happy with this one, I experimented with different textures and brushes and found the effects worked really well. I think the helmet would be more ornate but I really like it, and feel that from far of it would have scared the Romans ,plus it could be seen as worship to the stag god Cernunnos of the forest.

This is exactly the body type I want my character to have. I like how the cape looks blowing in the wind but I don't know if i want to have one as I like the idea of being able to see most of the upper body, showing of ornate Celtic war paints. I think this armored type kilt is much more practical and looks a lot cooler, especially with the bulky belt.

These are the silhouettes that I chose to take on into my value studies.

Library Research & Reference Books

Harvard References

Christiane Eluere, 1993, The Celts - First Masters of Europe, London, Thames & Hudson

David James, 2003, draw your own CELTIC DESIGNS, Devon, David & Charles

T W Rolleston, 1993, THE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO CELTIC MYTHOLOGY, London, Studio Editions Ltd.

John Sharkey, 1975, CELTIC MYSTERIES - The Ancient Religion, London, Thames & Hudson

Light Study

This traditional styled digital painting, being set in a snowy environment is naturally full of light as very little light is being absorbed by the snow, its all bouncing of and being reflected. To me the soft pure white lighting suggests perhaps an overcast sky, there appears to be a parting in the treetops that allows the light from the source to directly radiate the upper half of the young girls body. Our attention is drawn there to the brightest point, and then on to her pre-Raphalite red hair which stands out as it is the strongest contrast in colour within the piece.

 This digital painting shows a clearing in a bamboo forest, the sunny day penetrates the forest canopy throwing shadows into form. The top of the picture is full of cool blue and green hues which contrasts softly with the warmer yellows of the bottom. I feel that the root in the foreground and the robot who is slouching and creating his own shadow, create almost a crescent shape of darker hues around the little girl standing in the spotlight/ clearing creating a contrast that brings her to are attention. 

I really liked the idea of my Celtic Warrior wearing animal pelts such as wolves bears and stags. The Celts were so close to nature, I imagine that in battle they were just as savage and primal as the animals fur they wore. A wolf head hood was a common theme in my silhouettes, as wolves to me symbolize fear which is what the Celts wanted. They were famous for being feared as they were so wild and unpredictable, I also really liked the idea of a stag horned helmet, used to seem bigger and intimidate the enemy. Towards the end of my 50 I started to consider using farming tools such as sickles instead of the typical warrior weapons.

We were given the task to draw 50 silhouettes, this helped us to produce varied and interesting poses for our character. Below are my 50. I choose to design the warrior character.

The British Iron Age lasted in theory from the first significant use of iron for tools and weapons in Britain to the Romanisation of the southern half of the island. I'm very happy to have Iron Age Britain as my time period, as very little is known about it. Its an age shrouded in mystery and myth, this gives me lots of room to let my imagination run wild.

Celtic Warrior Concepts that inspired me

BA1- Concept Visualisation

For our Project we must transpose Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Tinderbox” (1835) by changing the fairy tale in terms of time and place. I was given the time period; Iron Age Britain. This is my short synopsis of an Iron age "The Tinderbox". 

 Once upon a time in an age of iron a Warrior came marching down from the hills; returning from the wars he carried nothing but a pelt on his back and a spear in his hand. As he walked on, he met a very frightful-looking old witch beneath a large tree. The witch saw that he was a brave warrior returning home victorious and so offered him immeasurable riches. However to gain them the soldier must enter the tree from above, as deep down beneath the tree was a large hall built by the folk of old. Within the hall glowed three hundred unnatural lamps leading to three thick doors. Behind each waited vast wealth with only a wolf in-between. Once men these wolves; three brothers were enchanted long ago to guard the chests. The eldest guarding the chest of gold, and the youngest the chest of bronze. All the witch wanted in return was a tinderbox her grandmother had left inside, the warrior agreed to help as the witch had donned him with an apron enchanted to tame the three brothers within.

The warrior entered the bronze room first shooing the pup away and filling his pelt and apron with bronze. Within the second chamber was a large grey wolf which paced the room angrily unable to do anything as the soldier replaced all the bronze in his pelt with silver. However in the third chamber the soldiers greed was nearly equal to his fear as the golden chest sat in-between the front paws of an enormous wolf and beneath two large golden orbs. The shine of the chest was too much to ignore the Soldier entered the room and slowly emptied his pelt, and filled it with Golden coins. All the while the Wolf stared. The warrior left the chamber thinking of all he could buy with this gold, eager to spend it on every luxury. The tinderbox was just outside the third door left open on the floor, the warrior picked it up and all though it was only a simple box it seemed to radiate some type of power, magic to be sure. Once out the soldier asked the witch “What are you going to do with the tinder-box?” The witch refused to share her intentions, so saturated with greed was the warrior he lopped of her head in order to posses the tinderbox and whatever powers it possessed.

With so much money the warrior bought nothing but the best. He felt he deserved it, the best room, the best food, shoes, clothes, women. His wealth attracted people, leeches. One of whom mentioned the King’s beautiful daughter, the princess. The legend of her beauty was well known, and thus the soldier wanted her for his own. However she was imprisoned within a copper tower which only her dad entered. Before he knew it he was down to his last coin. Gone went all of his luxuries leaving him in the dark where he used the tinderbox.

No sooner had he struck the flint, than the door flew open and the wolf pup, whom he had seen while down in the tree, sat before him, and said, “What orders, master?”. He found If he struck the flint once, the pup who sat on the chest of copper money made his appearance; if twice, the wolf came from the chest of silver; and if three times, the dog who watched over the gold. The soldier soon retrieved his reputation. Wishing to see the princess the dog disappeared instantly, and before the warrior could even look round, he returned with her. She was lying on the silver wolfs back asleep, she looked so lovely, that he could not help kissing her. She believed that she had dreamt of a kiss that night, but the Queen had her doubts fearing the prophecy coming true.

The warrior longed very much to see the princess once more, so again the dog went into the night to fetch her but this time a guard followed the wolf back to the warriors house where he marked it with a cross to find in the morning. However the wolf noticed this and made crosses on all the doors in the town, so that the guard, King and Queen could not find the house. Cunningly the Queen attached a small bag of flour around the sleeping Princess, a small hole meant a trail of flour would be left as the Princess went along. Again the wolf came and carried the Princess to the soldier, who loved her very much. The wolf did not observe the flour trail left behind . In the morning the King and Queen found out where their daughter had been, and the warrior was taken and put in prison.

He was to be hung on the morrow as he had left the tinder-box at the inn. The warrior managed to get the attention of a passing peasant boy from his small cell window, and offered him four shillings if he were to fetch his tinder-box from his house as fast as possible. The peasant boy ran fast to fetch the tinder-box, and gave it to the warrior just in the nick of time. The noose was ready and the King, Queen and quite a crowd were waiting to see him drop. Just before placing the rope around his neck, he innocently asked for one last smoke, as a last request. The King could not refuse, so the soldier took his tinder-box, and struck fire, once, twice, thrice, and there in a moment stood all three wolves. “Help me now, that I may not be hanged,” cried the warrior. And thus the wolves fell upon the judges and councilors tearing of legs and arms and tossing them many feet high in the air. “I will not be touched,” declared the king. But the largest wolf snapped up him and the queen leaving naught but their feet. The towns people were afraid, and cried, “Good soldier, you shall be our King, and you shall marry the beautiful Princess.” So they placed the warrior upon the throne and the Princess came out of the copper castle, and became Queen, which was very pleasing to her. The wedding festivities lasted a whole week, and the wolves sat at the table as men of the royal guard.