Sunday, March 05, 2006

Moonglade Of Dark Forest studies















A bunch of random sketches and more finished drawings within the world of Moonglade. You can find some other Moonglade drawings, from older posts, which have been updated with thumbnails and early sketches HERE and HERE.
Here's an excerpt from part of the story of Moonglade; just a quick bit.


Cold and merciless, the wind tore at Moonglade’s face, the frozen twilight air heavy in his lungs. He pressed up against the trunk of the tree and drew his cloak tightly around his body. The tree's roots encircled him, cradled him and he thought of Oshintina and the life he had left behind. The world seemed a barren place, long left abandoned. “Where was she now?”, he thought. Now when almost everything was lost.

In the distance he could make out the forms of figures; shadowy and misty, they called to him. His mind hazy with the spell of the petals, he clambered to arise from his safe spot in the enclosure of the tree. Was it his friends asking him to join them? He wondered briefly if he should have taken the stem of the plant as well, but the energy he could gain from it was more than enough reason to justify its injestion. Soon, when it’s initial effects had worn off, he would be able to go many hours without having to rest, sleep or eat. The times ahead called for precautions and this was the only one he knew.

The forms were getting closer and he could begin to make out more definition. These were not his friends...the voices were the same but the faces were different. The heads had gray masses where the features should be and though they spoke, there were no mouths. There were three of the creatures, and all seemed to radiate a cold, dull light. It’s bluish tint cast an eerie glow on Moonglade. Clouds of fog rolled in from the forest on both sides, moving hypnotically around the shadowy figures, entrancing Moonglade, making him dizzy. What was it they wanted?

He shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts...the largest shape before him suddenly began to move forward, as if on an invisible cushion of air, gliding along, stopping only feet from the frozen Moonglade.

Frozen...with cold and with fear, unable to move; unable to speak.

A slender, delicate hand with long, snakelike fingers came forth from the middle being and in a tone not unlike that of his missing friend, Galsant, it told him:

“You are the one that the Ukrites fear, but your path lies a different way. Do not walk these woods once the sun retreats into the Western Hemisphere. You will find only death here.“

4 comments:

Glenn Byrne said...

i specially like the evil iron giant viking on top....
is this your writing as well Justin? i prefer the
energy of the looser sketches...i feel like the
fully inked ones tighten up a bit...just a mid crit,
the imagination was working definitely
putting in overtime on this stuff!

The Keeper's Notes said...

Frogdaddy, I can always count on you for some wise and witty words! I gotta say I agree with you on all counts...specially the tightening up of some of the more finished pieces...something I'm always trying to improve upon! I always appreciate the comments. And yeh, the writing's mine. Even though this is intended as a comic book, I wrote it as if it were from a novel.

JLL

Lou said...

I like the color piece. Looks like a painting. Bro, you got the goods. I'm impressed that this stuff is outta your head. Now imagine if you used reference (which I'm sure you do) more often when you have a image in your head and cross-reference it to go with your idea. Which would be more for proportions, some composition etc. i know I'm rambling on..but your shit is good my man!

The Keeper's Notes said...

Lou -

Thanks for the comments..I appreciate when I hear some constructive comments...yeh, I do feel when I use reference (which is rarely it seems) that my stuff is better in terms of proportion, for sure (like the Jenny Gunn drawing)...I used to use photo reference all the time in my college days when I was painting alot...ie the Mike Tyson piece and other paintings/drawings where I took the reference.

JLL