Death Dealer commission, part 10

Afterword

While I was working on the Death Dealer commission many people were reacting on the posted sketches. Some comments were positive and encouraging, other were critical about one or another aspect of the sketch and often very much attached to the personal taste of the commentator in question. Nevertheless, all of them were useful in one or another way and they contained an important lesson.

Thank you all for your comments!

While the work on this commission was going on, I decided not to react to the comments because:

Firstly, I did not know how this commission will turn out (the possibility of a failure was hanging above my head, and I think I was the only one who was absolutely not sure about the outcome of this commission. I think most of the people who left a comment where sure that the final result will be “fantastic”. I wish I had the same amount of optimism about my own work as they did).

Secondly, I was hoping that the posted sketches, and the final drawing, would give the best answer to most of the questions and comments.

All in all, this was a very useful experiment and a great experience. Apart from the insights that I have gained about the way others perceive us and our creations, as well as becoming more aware of my own faults, the most important conclusions of this commission were the following two things:

Am I satisfied with my own work? Did I achieve my own objectives?

And, is the client pleased with the results?

Well, having in mind that I was drawing somebody else’s character and have been “visiting” somebody else’s world, I must say that I am satisfied, although I realize that there are a few things that I could have done better.

As for the client ( in this case it is Gregg Spatz from the US, an art collector with great passion for art and a sophisticated taste), upon seeing the final drawing he wrote to me: “…the drawing is exactly what I had expected from you and maybe even more…”.

At the end I would like to point out an important thing. Because Death Dealer is  a famous Frazetta character, some people expected me to approach the drawing as Frazetta would do.  My Death Dealer drawing is in fact an homage to the Master, rather than a copy of his character. I am not (and don’t want to be) an epigone of another artist. I am an independent creator with his own vision, and his own abilities.

I think it is better to be a lesser-Meseldzija, that a lesser-Frazetta. One Frazetta in this world is more than enough. What we need ( generally speaking) are new visions, new approaches, new roads that will lead us to Rome, so to speak.

Have a great day!