“A fusion of our typical idea of Death, the Grim Reaper and Anubis” is the next item in my to-do list.
I don’t know when I’ll have the chance to work on it since there is an awesome freelance assignment I’m about to start. But a bit of research and some sketches are as good a way as any to spend a cold Sunday on this wind-swept island (\complaining about the weather).
The description fits that of the classic Lich, so that’s where I started my research from.

I discovered that pretty much every folklore has its own version of this powerful undead.
Where zombies, ghouls and wraiths tend to be mindless, savage creatures with little left of what made them alive, a Lich is always an individual who was already powerful during his life, who eventually managed to retain his powers and wits through some kind of dark magic.

Back when I used to play Dungeons & Dragons the Lich was the encounter that scared me the most. Not only because of his dreadfully high stats, but rather for the idea of this timeless creature animated by its own dark magic, forever basking in its own power surrounded by horrors it created itself.
You’re always an intruder in a Lich’s lair, like a scared mouse in an old, grumpy cat’s house.

One thing I always found a bit off-putting of the fantasy tradition concerning Liches is the fact that they always seem to like adorning themselves with tacky death metal paraphernalia.
Ok, they’re dead, (undead actually), and used to messing around with necromancy during life. But really, do they have to wear rings with skulls and stuff like that?

They already have an ugly face, and bones and sinews clearly visible under their mummified skin, aren’t other skulls hanging from their belt a bit redundant?
I’ll try and stay away at least from this kind of iconography.
I figure a Lich wouldn’t care about his appearance, so I’m ok for his clothes to be the run down version of the precious garments they must have worn in their former life.
No other frills though, why would he care?
However, in some lores a Lich wears a phylactery, an item of his choosing which he imbued with his power to achieve immortality.

In the following sketches I just focused on the armature of the drawing. That is, the bunch of main lines upon which the drawing will be built. I went for the stick figure bottom left because I liked how the lines forming his garments end up framing his head, and the lines of his arms lead to it.
The other drawings seemed a bit too hunched to me, and conveyed less the idea of a powerful guy. At least less than a bottom-up POV.
Ok, I know these scribbles aren’t pretty and might make sense only to me, but what the hell.

by Paolo Puggioni

2 Responses

1. Sam says:

   April 16, 2012 at 16:50

   Hey Paolo… gorgeous thumbnails… I adore the swooshy shape approach you’ve taken here, the end sketch at the bottom is lovely for it. Also like your approach to the idea in general. I’ve never understood why demons and undead would live in such dreary surroundings in the traditional fantasy mindset… so nice to see a different approach all round!

   Reply
   • Paolo Puggioni says:

     April 16, 2012 at 19:26

     Thanks Sam!
     And you’re right, if I were an all-powerful Lich I’d live the coolest possible mansion, one of those where you clap your hands to switch the lights on.

     Reply