Ofur and Bimbur

 

 

"The council all knew of Ofur Asni - the monstrous eight-legged mule, rumored to be birthed by Sleipnir's Second Cousin, Heipnir."

-Drew Cochran

More of my illustrations for MUSPELHELL. Firstly we have Ofur, or as I call it: "An awesome opportunity to draw an 8-legged donkey!". I adorned it with some apparel that would fit the aesthetic of the dwarven characters and would be necessary to help haul the mighty iron door. 

And for Bimbur the goal was to make him more adorable than metal. So I had a few different ideas before I decided on this one (as you can see at the end of this post). The symbol on his clothes are the "safe travel bind rune".

Both Ofur and Bimbur are very important characters in the game, and I'm glad I got to work with them.

About the process:

 

 The illustrations inside the zine are all in Black and White, so these artworks were painted in monochromatic B&W as well. However 5 different paints were used. I used: watercolour black, watercolour oxide black, gouache black, watercolour chinese white and gouache white. Different textures and effects required different pigments.

Watercolour black: for the main heavy work of shading;
Watercolour black oxyde: Also known as "mars black", it has pigment that is heavier and granulates more, I used for the leather effect in the saddle.
Gouache black: Used for an effective deep black on the leather straps.
Watercolour chinese white: Used for soft highlights.
Gouache White: Used for opaque deep highlights.

Also here are the earlier concepts for Bimbur's attire: