Viking Metal Phase 2

Viking Metal Plase 2 from Nelson Givens on Vimeo.

I’m having issues embedding the actual video into the blog so until I sort it out theres is a direct link above.

This is a re-vamped version of my second panel.

Pile of Vikings

Out of the three songs I posted I’ve chosen Bathory-A Fine Day to Die as the musical foundation for my pieces.

I’m still tinkering with how I’m going to set up the last three but generally I was going to have the general color pallet become alot warmer while also trying to make things seem more chaotic.

What in the world is Viking Metal?

I wanted to start off this project by getting some visual references of viking art so I would have an idea of the visual elements I would be working with to make my final pieces feel…viking-y…

I listened to a few songs from Bathory, the band that’s supposedly responsible for unleashing the viking metal genre on the undeserving world and then listened to a few bands from the 90s and 00s to gauge how much things have shifted in the last twenty something years. The actual music seems to bounce between soft floaty folk tunes with light flutes and older string instruments and heavy loud growling death metal influences. The marrage of these elements forms something that sounds like it needs to be blaring in the basement of some thirty three year old when he plays DnD with his high school friends.

All 5 Extensions

Expressive

Black and White

Op Art

Cubism

Assemblage/Collage

The last time we saw our dear jester he was wasting away fr all the town to see. As each hot day turned to cold night his hatred for the one who wronged him bubbled and festered. Overwhelmed by his desire for revenge, he couldn’t help but dream about the horrors he would love to put his oppressor through. Some nights he dreamed of judging him for his crimes and sentencing him to be devoured and digested in a dark pit of squiggling worms. Other nights he would dream of the prince being torn to shreads by all sorts of bell jingling beasts and demonic manifestations of his rage. Sometimes he would dream of the simple pleasures of torturing the prince like he were a bird in a cage, or just ripping him limb from limb.

What he didn’t know was that even though the prince would never show it, he felt guilty about the way he had treated his once sane jester. Every night the Jester dreamed of torture and chaos, the Prince would share that dream and experience everything he was put through, down to the smallest tooth, and the slightest burn.

“Its WEDNESDAY ALREADY!?” Project 3 Extension Sketches

I was all giddy when I got the words DREAM and NIGHTMARE.

As our beloved jester wastes away in the town square for all the people to see, he can’t help but wonder and wish. In the dead of the night his imagination plays with him, teasing him with delightful images of the hellish nightmare he would love to doom the prince to.  To an extent his fantasy comes true as he realizes him and the prince are actually sharing dreams. This gives him even more inspiration for delicious revenge every time the spoiled boy shuts his eyes.

Laurent Blachier                 What I was shooting for with the op sketch                                      Juan Gris

Character Design Second Batch

Character Design: First 4 & Drafts for Second Batch of Redone Story

Character Design Panels (unfinished) & Story Revision

After being kicked out of the castle for failing to properly entertain the king and his guests, the lowly jester tried to make a few coins by performing on the street. Hes grown accustomed to his humble job of entertaining the common folk and no longer missed the world of class and catering. Now he’s a free man working by the sweat of his brow and the jingle of his bells.

But out of all these things what he value most is what isn’t there. He’s no longer at the mercy of the king’s spoiled son. No more shoving axes down his throat, no more juggling while his clothes are on fire, no more high-wire walks over the mote. His bliss is as strong and unstoppable as Achilles, with the prince being his heel.

One day during his usual opening juggling act, fate deals him a dirty hand in the form of his path crossing with that of his old enemy. The prince demands to be entertained for old time’s sake, but the Jester refuses, struggling to hold back his rage. When the prince threatens him with imprisonment he loses control and almost harms the prince before being captured by guards.

Character Design Part 1

A traveling  jester is juggling on a street corner for coins. A small object rolls under his foot causing him to loose balance and fall flat on his face. He turns around to face the culprit who turns out to be a little boy who has accidentally tripped the performer with a ball. The jester tries to frighten and threaten the boy only to find out that hes actually a young prince. By the time he realizes his mistake he is carted off by the royal guards and later executed.

The jester’s character has a more crazed almost murderous look to him.  Hes supposed to look like someone who doesn’t really want to attract children in the first place. He travels from town to town, proforming long enough to get a little change but not long enough to really get familiar with his surroundings.

The Prince is suppose to appear harmless and innocent and doesn’t actually mean to cause the jester any trouble.  Because of his family’s royal standing however, they can’t just allow such a terribly dressed entertainer to threaten their son.

D4M Project 2 Redone Part A and Part B