Sunday, March 6, 2011

Jack the Giant Killer - Cormoran Character Sheet - Pencils

Yet again, it's been a while since my last post. One of the reasons for this is a little side-project I started before Christmas...making a MicroModel replica of the "Rocket" as a Christmas present for my Dad. More info on this at the bottom of this post!

I've got the pencils and inks for my Cormoran character sheet finished. I'm posting the pencils now while I make a start on the colouring. This will be the same approach as the character sheet for Jack - a mix of black-and-white and coloured styles.


Cormoran - character sheet - pencilled

This was really meant to be just a character sheet, that is, something that shows the character in various poses, with ideas on attire, colouring, etc. However, I couldn't resist drawing out my vision of how Jack tricks Cormoran into falling into his man-made pit. I see this as a main, coloured illustration because it is a key plot point, where Jack bags his first Giant!

Where I end up going with that particular image in the final book is uncertain. It's just an experiment in getting the feel of how Jack betters the giant. I feel the angle is not quite right. Really, I think Jack needs to be shown at a higher angle than the giant, to enforce the idea that Jack has got the better of the lumbering beast! The way to achieve this is to draw "behind" Jack (as if you're looking over his shoulder), having Jack look down into the pit.

Small note on the castle in the background. This is actually a copy of the building that stands on St Michaels Mount today (where Cormoran supposedly lived). However, the story does specify that he lived in a cave, so I may drop the castle from the final image...or at least go with a very basic type of castle-like building. Artistic license, don't you know :)

The animals drawing is another key point from the story that shows how Cormoran is always stealing animals from the village on the mainland. The drawing attempts to show scale...how big Cormoran is compared to the cows, sheep and pigs that he steals.

Right...little bit on that MicroModel. Over a period of a couple of months (I think!) I put together a MicroModel version of the "Rocket". I have the original cards from the 1940s, but rather than using the original templates, I made photcopies onto good quality card and made the engine from that. The display case was purchased from Model Display Cases, and they kindly put my photos of the engine and display case on their Facebook page:


I've also put some photos on my Flickr page:

Rocket - 01

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