This was originally posted on my now-defunct creative blog.
The Mighty Thor needs no introduction. This is roughly based on the Chris Hemsworth version from Avengers Assemble, but given more of a comic book feel. Upon seeing the Spider-Man canvas I made for my brother, one of my friends demanded one of his own. He wanted the entire Avengers team from the film, but given the short timescale I felt I could only really do one character to a level that I would consider finished. I picked Thor, as I felt the pose for him that I had sketched out in some initial composition thumbnails was very strong – Thor leaning back, struggling to control Mjolnir as it redirected the power of the lightning striking it from above.
As you can see from the work-in-progress images, the overall pose remained quite true to the original sketch. After I had roughly worked that out, I started, strangely, with the background. I wanted the power of Mjolnir to be central to the piece, energy radiating out from where the lightning strikes it. I ended up with a rather nice green explosion type look – which soon turned blue to match the eventual lightning that would be in the picture, and near the end it became quite subtle, reducing the opacity so you only notice it if you study the picture’s hidden depths. I roughly blocked in the characters basic colour scheme, making sure the pose looked genuine, before starting on the details. Overall, I found this part of the process went much quicker and smoother than the Spider-Man canvas. I think it was a combination of the facts that I roughly worked out the pose in ArtRage before I started the actual picture, and that my familiarity with the software has increased.
Knowing that people tend to first focus on faces in pictures, I decided that is where I would start adding detail first. I spent more time on the face for this reason as well. Even though I blurred the other parts of his body that were at the same depth, I purposefully didn’t blur his head and face as much, as I knew it’d be a focus area, and the more detail, the better. I am quite pleased with how it came out, as I’m still not happy with the level of my face drawing aptitude. The ear came out great thanks to a tutorial I remembered from ImagineFX, and getting the stubble just right was another challenge I think I succeeded in. Adding some warmth to the cheek and nose was another tip I picked up from ImagineFX – blood tends to gather in those areas, making them redder. His hair came out quite well, but I feel I could have made the dark areas darker. The arm holding the hammer was my next area of focus – I wanted it to be huge and looking very tensed. Knowing that the hammer itself would be covered in lightning, I chose to add detail to the handle instead.
The arm he is holding out behind him is really blurred to increase the sensation of depth. I’m very happy with how the hand came out, but then, drawing hands has never been a real problem area for me. His chest plate and vambraces were slowly added to over a period of time – I’d tend to do a little bit, focus somewhere else for a bit and then come back to them and build them up a little more. I didn’t follow the references 100%, but I don’t think the piece suffers for that. I like the depth added by the shadows on his trousers, it looks like a sheet of armour strapped to him rather than a rubber costume piece that follows his contours. The lightning was great fun to draw. Starting with straight, broad white lines, and adding several tendrils that branch off from the main stream and ensnare the hammer. I duplicated the lightning layer, blurring the one underneath to add a bit of glow, then added some subtle neon blue to the above layer to give a bit of flavour.
The cape came out really well. I kept the part nearest the front blur-free, and I love the rich colours it has – deep reds and oranges, I’m proud of it. It also looks like it is billowing behind him with the force of Mjolnir projecting the lightning. The background suggesting trees came quite late on when I decided that I didn’t want the burst of colour to be the background. I only suggested trees with broad strokes and subtle colour shades because I had already blurred parts of his body that were further back – if I had added fine details then it would’ve caused an incongruity. The leaves were the final touch, further reinforcing the depth of the image, and also suggesting the power of Mjolnir had unsettled the forest, causing leaves to detach themselves and get caught up in the energy waves. You may notice that by the end, I had reversed the image – This is because I only realised late on that Thor was holding the hammer with his left hand – Why would he be using his weak arm to hold such an attack? It just makes more sense in the final version. I purposefully didn’t add too many highlights due to the lightning to keep the look of an old comic book, and because, after a few trial layers, couldn’t get the balance right between the actual colour of Thor and his outfit and the light projected upon them.
Overall I am very pleased with it – it was a different experience than the Spider-Man one – more a refinement than an experiment. I hope my friend likes it – I’ll be sure to edit in a picture of him proudly holding it or something.
EDIT: And here it is, on his wall.
What are your thoughts on this piece? Do you like it? See where I could do better? Please feel free to drop me a line.
This was originally posted on my now-defunct creative blog.
