Fezzik and Inigo from the Princess Bride, A Warm-Up
Despite wanting to put pencil to paper, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve drawn anything. I’ts been on my mind, but life/work has been busier than usual lately, so I haven’t had much of a chance. In the interim, I was able to finish up a subscriber thank you post and one on website stats, but I was traveling and didn’t have any art supplies with me. I really felt like I was on a roll in March, so I was worried I might have lost some of that progress. I wanted to get a sort of “warm up” sketch going… but what to draw?
Lately, I’ve been seeing commercials/commentary about an Andre the Giant documentary. Growing up, I only knew a bit about his wrestling career. But, I was a huge fan of his character in the Princess Bride. I first saw Princess Bride as a kid, and have probably seen it about 500 times since. Anyway, this Andre the Giant documentary naturally got me thinking about the Princess Bride again. I watched a few YouTube interviews about Andre; many of the actors seemed to regard him as one of the kindest people they’d ever met. I also watched the movie again, and tried to read the book, which I couldn’t get into. The book was too different from the movie, which has that special brand of perfection shaped from childhood memories.
Well, what better subject for a sketch? My favorite characters in the movie were Fezzik and Inigo, two of the kidnappers and most memorable characters (impressive feat, considering the movie is pretty much all memorable characters). There are so many memorable lines, but I always got a kick out of Fezzik and Ingo rhyming on the boat:
I decided to go with something from that scene. I think it turned out decently, although it’s no masterpiece. Fezzik looks pretty much like Andre the Giant, and Inigo Montoya looks basically like Mandy Patinkin; not exact interpretations, but close enough to be recognizable. You’ll notice in this drawing, I actually made an attempt at some scenery! I was feeling bold as I got into it…but once I started coloring in the water, I panicked. It was sort of funny in hindsight. My brain was screaming, “OH NO, STOP, ABANDON SHIP, IT’S NOT WORKING OUT!” So yeah, I completely chickened out.
I actually remembered to take a bunch of progression photos as I went through this drawing. I think it might be a record number; I took pictures at eight different stages! So, this progression .gif (below) is probably one of the more effective ones. In the early sketches, you can see the outlines of Fezzik and Inigo; Ingo was a more confident and detailed outline, so I thought it would turn out the best. I felt like Fezzik was too simple at first, and didn’t know if he would work out. But, I think the final result ended up with Fezzik looking a bit better. Strange how it flipped (from my perspective, anyway)! Fezzik looks solid, but Inigo looks a little off.
That’s all for this sketch! Next on deck will be the “subscriber thanks giveaway” I mentioned a couple weeks ago. I’ve been procrastinating on that one for a couple reasons; first, I originally had it in mind as a thank you milestone at 300 subscribers, but I’m still not quite there (292 today). But second, the entry process isn’t as easy as I’d hoped. I’m going to use Gleam (probably) because it’s popular, but I wanted something that would automatically detect if you’re a subscriber…I haven’t found that functionality anywhere.
So, that will be coming soon – hope to see you then!
Note on the .gifs: I wish I could credit the originator(s), but I have no clue where I got them. Normally, I like to do that…but sometimes I just can’t remember. Sorry! I’ll just credit Rob Reiner and William Goldman I guess.
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Hi Jon, your artwork is pretty awesome. Love your style!
Thank you Viviane!
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The match was forgettable. I actually and excitedly went to see Dick the Bulldog Brower, and Mighty Igor.
We still have four of our children at home, so I’m used to noise too, I just can’t seem to perform detail work like drawing, painting, writing or even reading very well with a lot of noise. I mostly find the time to work at night or when everyone’s out of the house. I do have a roomy wooden workbench in the garage that I hand built, a nice easel, and a comfortable chair that allows me those quiet moments. But it is brutal hot in the summer, so that only works well in winter, autumn and spring.
Ha ha, yeah I’ll bet it is hard to focus with four children! It sounds like you have a pretty good setup for pleasant weather out there, though. What do you do when it gets hot? Do you move your art gear inside?
Wow, thanks for the memories of Andre The Giant. I actually went to see him wrestle as a kid in the late 1970s in a little arena in North Carolina. – Sometimes like you, I don’t draw or paint for weeks, maybe months at a time. I think about it, have visions in my head, but I’m the type that needs solitude when drawing/painting, and if I don’t have it for a couple of hours uninterrupted, I know my attempts will end in frustration. Great drawing by the way!
That’s awesome, how was the match? I only knew his wrestling career from when he was the “bad guy” against Hulk Hogan in the late 80s, but I think it would have been cool to see him then in a different role. From what I’ve read, he had some epic winning streak that lasted for years during his time as a good guy.
I always find it interesting how people set up their best artistic environments. I’m actually sort of the opposite when it comes to noise; I’m used to having my kids playing near me while I draw, sometimes right in my desk space. I’m actually shocked something hasn’t gotten food/water/stray marks on it yet! And when the kiddos are asleep, I even like to have background talk show noise (nothing political though, that’s too distracting). What sort of physical environment do you utilize when you paint?
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We just watched that movie with my oldest for the first time this past weekend! 🙂 I agree with the previous poster; I love progressions.
Thanks Jennifer, I’m glad you enjoyed the progression thing. So, how did your kiddo like the movie?
Mine are still toddlers, so they aren’t quite ready for that yet. But I’m excited to start sharing movies I love with them, when they’re ready to move on from Peppa Pig.
Never knew of that 🙂
“decently” is an understandment, I think, it turned out really well. Those progression photos are such a help for those who are just starting out. I know nothing of the effect of shadows etc. for example.
Haha, don’t panic – I think it added some dimension to it, that little background 🙂
That’s kind of you to say, thanks! And I’m glad some people like the progression photos. Sometimes stuff I think is cool isn’t all that interesting to everyone.
Sorry for the late response, family emergency, so I won’t be online for some time. 🙁 But yes, it’s an inspiration with those progression photos, it makes it a lot easier to see how it all comes together 🙂
Uh oh, I’m sorry to hear that Alunaria – I hope everything is okay
In the great words of Fezzik (a la Andre the Giant), “My way”s not very sportsmanlike.
Ha ha, you got to love Fezzik
“No more rhymes now…I mean it.”
“Anybody want a peanut?”
My dad and I watched that movie at least fifty times over the years. It’s so good.
It’s such a classic. I’ve got a handful of movies I watch pretty much any time I come across them, like Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, Caddyshack, the original Batman…Princess Bride is definitely one of those. It’s really one of the most quotable movies of all time, too.