Been Sick

...real sick. Hope to post an update soon.

Conan Montage pt.6

The little drawings in the poster are simple by themselves but collectively should add up to a neat poster, I hope. I'm taking liberties mixing quotes with visual elements, and at first they might not make sense together. The finished product should bring it all home.

The Tree of Woe

Wheel of Pain Necklace

Studies for Conan as King. 

Too many details in the first one but my wife digs it. ;)

The layout of the second one is shamelessly ripped off from Patricia Smith.

Conan Montage pt. 5

The shape of the Doom symbol should be easy to correct now, and there's a lot more ink down. The Wheel of Pain necklace is now on the left. Look closely at the rod of the right-hand tapestry and you can see the animal faces from the wheel. I might not incorporate the anvil idea.

Kein Witz

Practicing some loose blackletter before bed. Very loose...

Dymaxion Map/Merlin's Dragon

"Shall I tell you what's out there? The Dragon. A beast of such power that if you were to see it whole and complete in a single glance it would burn you to cinders. It is everywhere. It is everything. Its scales glisten in the bark of trees. Its roar is heard in the wind. And its forked tongue strikes like...like lightning. Yes, that's it."

"I once stood exposed to the Dragon's Breath so that a man could lie one night with a woman. It took me nine moons to recover."

It is impossible to render a map of our world (or any round object) onto a two-dimensional surface without some amount of distortion. Depending on which projection you use, distance and area will be elongated at the poles or in other places. I'm fond of the Dymaxion projection because it not only minimizes distortion and keeps all land masses uncut, it also shows the world as a basically connected, almost single shape. As a plus it suggests the shape of a dragon in flight, breathing out a plume of smoke or mist!

Interesting to think of the movie Excalibur when viewing this map. The Dragon's breath is presented as something that can freeze people or can create a bridge over waters. In the map, the "dragon's breath" is frozen Antarctica.

Conan Montage Pt.4

Thinking about the shape of the Doom symbol. The one in this poster is not like the red and black symbol shown during the credits. But contrary to memory, there is no single standard; there are many variant symbols in the movie.

A - Battle standard. There is a variant of this one with bells and hair (scalps?).

B - Thulsa Doom wears a snake amulet on an elaborate chain; the amulet looks very similar to the one worn by the princess, but they are different.

C - The symbol above Doom's nook in the Mountain of Power.

D - Rexor's leather armor worn during the raid has a double snake motif sewn onto it.

E - Rexor wears an amulet unlike Doom's other priests during the Tower of Set scene. In later scenes, he wears the other kind (H - presumably because this one got caught in his hair/face during the action?)

F - The symbol on Rexor's headpiece is the same shape as Doom's.

G - Guards at the Mountain of Power have a unique symbol on their breastplates and shields.

H - Priests and servants of Doom wear an amulet like this one.

I - The jade amulet found in the Tower of Set.

J - The princess wears a unique amulet.

A - Symbol shown when the credits roll. This exact symbol is never seen in the movie.

B - Thulsa Doom's shield. Close to A but not exact.

C - Shields and tridents of Doom's guards bear different snake symbols.

D-H - Production drawings.

If you watch closely, there are many more variations in the movie. But most of them have either the shape of a W (or lower-case Omega) or an O. I might adjust the poster to better imitate shield B or D.

Conan Montage pt. 3

Made a severe calligraphy mistake tonight that will have to be completely pasted over. Also discovered that this knockoff artboard is much weaker than bristol board and can only take about one harsh erasing before it falls apart. But still I am excited and hate to stop to go to bed.

Lizard on a stick. FRESH.