Rough sketches and What could have been... (Part 1)

I think I should return to this blog. Perhaps it will inspire me to look at past work and improve upon my current work. In the process of cleaning my computer of access files I've decided to start a thing called "Rough sketches and What could have been..." How many parts will depend on my continued effort to post on here and how many things I'm willing to then throw away from my HD. For (Part 1) I'm showing a Warcraft card that I did back in 2010. I think its called Hammer of Justice.

This was my first sketch for the card back when the description said the guy was to be holding a sword along with the hammer. I guess my focus was a little too much on the sword so they told me to ditch it.

This was my second rough sketch for this card and I still kinda like it. I wanted to imply powerful motion with minimalist action. To me him standing like a pillar about to smite the hell out of something in the foreground makes him look more powerful and nearly god like then some big over the top Jack Kirby like ballet swing. This of course wasn't approved.

So I then went the opposite direction and stretched the figure to be really actiony. But I made him a little too thin and off model so they asked me to buff him up in the true Warcraft style. I dunno, I like the intensity of this figure more then the final product.

This is the end result. There are a tone of things that bug me on this but... whatever. You should always move forward. (Part 2) coming soon