A new cover! What's with Jarael?... Who cares. It's all about the Gryph. Every artist who draws the Grygh seems to have their own take on his look and some of those takes are very different from others. I can't say why other artists draw him the way they do, but I can say why I draw him the way I do.
My take on Gryph's look has changed over time. When I first started working on the series I didn't actually know what Gryph was. I thought that he was an original species created by JJM and Brian (the creators of Kotor). I didn't know he was a species featured in the Star Wars films that I could easily reference. Nobody told me. So my original take on him was based solely on Brian's version of him. He seemed to me to have a kind of ape-ish snout so that's the structure I went with. I made the style choice to draw him with squinty eyes and a frown almost all the time. It wasn't till the end of my first issue that I figured out what he actually was. So from that point on I started subtly changing his look little by little. When I made the jump from issue 10 to 13 I made the biggest change to his look and, in my mind, the final change. It was hard reconciling how I made him look in issue 7 and how that alien species really looks. My version had squinty close set eyes and that species has bulbous wide set eyes. My version has a frown the other has a kind of permanent smile. My version had a narrow head with a longish snout the other a rounder head. I played with a lot of different variations before finding one I liked.
To me the version of Gryph on this cover is the same one I've been doing since issue 13. If it looks different on this cover it's because I colored it myself. Coloring him myself gave me the opportunity to show exactly how I picture him. The differences are in the separation of the hair color from the skin tone and the eyes are shaded to look more bulbous... That's pretty much it.
My take on Gryph's look has changed over time. When I first started working on the series I didn't actually know what Gryph was. I thought that he was an original species created by JJM and Brian (the creators of Kotor). I didn't know he was a species featured in the Star Wars films that I could easily reference. Nobody told me. So my original take on him was based solely on Brian's version of him. He seemed to me to have a kind of ape-ish snout so that's the structure I went with. I made the style choice to draw him with squinty eyes and a frown almost all the time. It wasn't till the end of my first issue that I figured out what he actually was. So from that point on I started subtly changing his look little by little. When I made the jump from issue 10 to 13 I made the biggest change to his look and, in my mind, the final change. It was hard reconciling how I made him look in issue 7 and how that alien species really looks. My version had squinty close set eyes and that species has bulbous wide set eyes. My version has a frown the other has a kind of permanent smile. My version had a narrow head with a longish snout the other a rounder head. I played with a lot of different variations before finding one I liked.
To me the version of Gryph on this cover is the same one I've been doing since issue 13. If it looks different on this cover it's because I colored it myself. Coloring him myself gave me the opportunity to show exactly how I picture him. The differences are in the separation of the hair color from the skin tone and the eyes are shaded to look more bulbous... That's pretty much it.
it will be the dirst time ill be holding a star wars comic and thinking ... hey, i know the guy who did this.ccol. :D
ReplyDeleteThat . . . looks . . . AWESOME! Gah, but it's so many issues away, and I want it in my hands right now. Drat. Ah well, at least it'll be something awesome to look forward to! Great work, mate!
ReplyDeleteLooks Great Dustin!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous cover!
ReplyDeleteIt's always all about the Gryph. Gryph's the man.
I have all of the kotor books that you worked on and I must say that your changes with Gryph have been pretty subtle, so good job. But now I am a little curious about Jarael? She is such an interesting character and yet there are so many unanswered questions about her, Oh well at least she's back, hope you follow suite. I have to admit as much as Darkhorse has been pushing vector you would think that they would've gotten a better artist to do the first issue(I'm referring to the inside, Travis Charest is very cool). I think that Hepburn has a good sense of layout, but I find his work rather sloppy, over-stylized, and it lacks all those little details that I've come to love. Bottom line, I miss your work.
ReplyDeleteWhy wait till issue 29? I've also done the covers for 26-28. I think Kotor 26 will be out March 19. It's my first "painted" cover.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sir.
ReplyDeleteWith something like Vector DH's first priority is getting the books out on time. I would have loved to have drawn the Kotor issues of Vector but I'm just not quick enough. Hepburn was already working on Vector when I was still drawing "Knights of Suffering" Though, if I had to pick ether drawing "Knights of Suffering" or the first chapter of "Vector" I would have picked KoS. I got to draw the death of Raana and Zayne's first light saber battle. Can't beat that. Also, just because I'm not doing the Kotor chapter of Vector doesn't mean that I'm not doing anything for Vector. There are the covers and I'm also doing the... Oh, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to talk about that yet... Soon.
ReplyDelete