Outsider: Astrid Vârcolac Concept Sketch
I had so many different ways I wanted to draw this one! The Vârcolac skin was not something I had originally planned for when I was writing Outsider. It started out as just a simple wolf skin with nothing particularly special about it.
I used (**): Pro-markers, Mechanical Pencil, Paper Blender, Water Colours, 0.1 Black Pen and a White Ink Pen
But about half way through the book, right before they meet the Leshy, this image of Halvard spotting a wolf in the distance came out of nowhere, and at that point I decided the wolf skin was going to become a lot more than just a wolf skin.
As usual I did all my sketch work on tracing paper and then, once I was happy with the pose, transfered it onto the card. While I was going over the transfered sketch, I made sure I had my sketchook with the notes and ilustrations for Astrid’s outfit next to me, so I wouldn’t make any mistakes about her clothes or the colour.
Before I started painting with water colour I used a few pro markers over the sketch
For me Astrid’s clothes were very important. As someone who occasionally wears corsets I can tell you the full torso corsets, while your posture might be perfect wearing them, they will not let you jump around or be particularly flexible.
Being in the kind of environment Astrid is in, her clothes needed to be very practical, and be layered in such a way that the undergarments could be worn alone in hot weather, and the over garments were more suited to colder climates. Layering clothes as much as possible so she doesn’t need to carry heaps of clothing around with her.
I really wanted to avoid having anything remotely constrictive about her clothing
I have several sketches of how her clothes are layered in my sketchbook. I’ll show you them properly at some point, but for this book (and probably the next) it’s only really her winter clothes and her wolf skin you get to see.
So, that’s the final drawing of Asitrd’s Vârcolac wolf skin. I’m not going to go more into it case you haven’t read the book. Those of you who have read it know what I’m talking about so let’s not spoil it for everyone else! ;)
