Quite a while back my good friend Mordian7th, from his namesake blog Mordian the 7th, had asked if I would be able to illustrate a couple characters from said 7th Mordian Regiment of the Imperial Guard.
And yes, they are still and will ever still be the Imperial Guard to me. Moving on.
I have just gotten my new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil recently, and decided that his request would be the first done using these two tools and the app Procreate...
Wanna see how it turned out?
Now obviously the man has a serious love of the 7th Mordian Regiment and it's history. He's devoted a lot of time and effort in conversions, tracking down all the written lore on them, and really enjoys their story and history within the 40K Universe. The two characters he specifically asked for are Evin Eldro and the Ogryn Thargadd.
Evin Eldro is the Commander of the 7th Mordian Regiment, D Company, while Thargadd is the Sergeant of the Ogryn Mercenary unit known as Thargadd's Thumpers. Here's a shot of them both as imagined by Games Workshop from the way, way back machine.
Now I've never been a fan of the goofy way GW has always portrayed Ogryns, either then or now, and I certainly didn't want to replicate the extreme 80's vibe from the picture above either. After getting a little direction from Mordian, I went my own way and reimagined them according to how I thought they should look.
First up, a little compilation on my initial steps from rough pencils to refined pencils, then inking to color...
...and finally, the finished piece.
Considering this is the first piece I've done in Procreate with the Apple Pencil, I found a few things that didn't work out so hot, some that worked out just fine, and others that I'll try differently next time. It's all about growth as an illustrator and an artist, things I've neglected for far too long.
As a bonus, Procreate records each and every stroke that goes into each piece created in it. As such, I'm reviving my YouTube channel I started years ago and will be posting these time-lapse videos of my work there. Take a gander and give it a watch!
The more I do of these, the more I'll refine this process and keep this entertaining for all of us. Here's hoping you stick with me on this!
Tim
PS: I know, I misspelled Thargadd's name in the video. See? I told you I need to refine this process!