The Black Magi

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[Image ID] Digital painting based on the character Judar from the manga 'Magi The Labyrinth of Magic'.

His hair is black and is short and spikey when viewed from the front but is very long at the back. It is tied in a long plait that hangs down on his left side. He is wearing a cropped, short-sleeved black tunic with gold brocade. His trousers are black, loose, and baggy with cuffs at the ankle. His shoes are also black. A burgundy, satin scarf with a golden tasselled edging wraps round is body like a snake, going round his shoulders, across his torso and then tied round his waist like an elegant belt. He is perched on a floating staff. His right leg is bent at the knee enabling him to rest his foot on the staff and his left hand is holding onto the staff. [description end]

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This piece developed from a pose practise session where I experimented with a different sketching style. In the past I usually started with a stick figure where the joints and limbs were placed very precisely. But when I sketched this I used a much rougher stick figure. It was focused on the ‘gesture’ or ‘flow’ of the pose rather than the exact position of each limb, as that had often led to poses looking stiff.

On top of the stick figure, I roughly sketched out the general shape and proportions of his body and then the shapes of his clothing, before going over the top with a more precise sketch.

Once onto the painting stage I used underpainting (adding loose light and shade beneath the sketch) as a base, rather than my usual flat colour. This really improved the experience of adding the details on top as it was already clear where the light and shade should be.

Most other major Magi characters had at least a couple of design changes through the series, even if only subtle ones, but Judar’s design remained the same. So, it seemed fitting to come up with an altered version of his usual design and I was also inspired by some of the fabric drapery I’ve seen in other fan designed outfits.

The ruhk (black bird like shapes) were done with a brush I made for FireAlpaca as it gave them a nicer look than drawing each one by hand. The glow around them was created with the airbrush on a new layer.

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Time taken: 4.5 hours
Program: FireAlpaca
Drawing Tablet: Gaomon M106K
Character: Judar from Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
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