Darthing the Maul

At dinner the other night I was talking with Chuck and we were discussing the "woodcut" stuff I'd done on here. I said something like, "Darth Maul would make a cool woodcut." And so here he is.

First up is the reference photo I used. Click on him to go to Sideshow Collectibles to see where I grabbed this from.

Next up is the pencil drawing I did of him. Not a lot of detail, but I wanted a good, firm foundation for my woodcut. For those wondering, the grid is a (very) useful tool for drawing. I draw a grid on my drawing paper, usually not so dark, but I had no intention of erasing it, and then I use a clear "plastic" sheet (acetate)with a grid on it that I put over the reference photo. I need the grid because my spatial drawing ain't so strong, so without the grid I end up with drawings that are enlongated or shortened in places that shouldn't be. Next I scanned him into my computer and copied him into Corel Painter X as the "foundation" for my woodcut.

You'll notice that there's not nearly the detail on my pencil drawing as there is on the finished woodcut farther below. I grabbed another reference to get the details of the face. This picture I put to the side of the woodcut picture I was making in Painter X so that as I colored and woodcutted, I could refer to it quite easily. I don't remember where I grabbed this pic from, but I'm assuming from the look of it that it's also a Sideshow Collectible, but I can't swear to it.

And lastly, we have the woodcut itself. Click on the pic to see it bigger. Originally I planned to woodcut a "medium" shot of Mr. Maul, as shown in my pencil drawing. I worked on his face first and really liked how it turned out and decided "screw the rest of it." And stopped right here.