Satan I, Per Øyvind Haagensen (2D)

#1

Title: Satan I
Name: Per Øyvind Haagensen
Country: United Kingdom
Software: Photoshop

Hello everyone,
here’s my first take on a painting of the evil one himself: Satan, in all his unholy glory, or at least one side of it.
I wanted the painting to have energy and a sense of mystery to it, almost a religious feel, and some symbolism (which I won’t go into… I’ll leave that to your interpretation =).
Painted in Photoshop (with a wacom) over the period of a week. I sketched some very basic studies for the poses with pencil on paper which I scanned in, just to have something to start with (I find it easier to work from something other than a digital blank canvas). Mostly round brush and the chalk brush, but also some custom brushes for the smaller textures. Final image is about 7000 pixels in height.
Hope the image is to your liking =)
C&C + questions are very much welcome.

Per

#2

I love this image. THe foreground is great, but Im not so crazy about the background floating people on crosses.

#3

WOW!!! Great design!! I love a lot also your technique.

Good job! :thumbsup:

#4

hi there…this is really a cool concept:)…i like the design and the colorization…but may be u can make it better by enhanceing the appearance of the “devil” (detailed skin texture with a wild look perhaps.) … the "demonic " appeal of the character needs to be enhanced in my humble opinion…

over all good job :thumbsup:

#5

Very brutal! I think the foreground is amazingly executed, but I to think the ‘‘floating crucifixes’’ are a little too much. Maybe, a landscape or one big cross. Other than that it looks great. Keep it up!

#6

This is a stunner. Brilliant work, Per. A couple of mild crits and very personal opinions -I would agree that the crucfixes overwhelm the image a little. I would leave them out entirely, the ‘voodoo’ figure in the demon’s hand conveys everything you need to say from a religious symbolism point of view. I would also extend the composition downward, bringing the character’s full body into play. Look at ‘Fallen’ by John Kearney in the Choice Gallery - he really captured a sense of ‘demonic’ power - something you have captured aswell, but I think would be stronger if you could see the whole figure. Excellent, excellent work though.

#7

Quite amazing. The idea is scary, and the execution so well done that it almost looks like a photomanipulation.

#8

Wow this is so cinematic! Love the colors!

#9

i like the floating crosses my man … stunning image … you have amazing skills cant wait to see more from you … :bounce:

#10

Thanks to all for the comments so far. Exciting, especially as this is my first public display of a picture outside of the University I attend =)

I will try do justice to all of the comments

@zandernice

thanks for nice words =) I have to admit I did rush the background work abit, as I spent only hours on that rather than days, which it would have deserved. The initial background throughout the painting process was just a dark, almost black empty space. I was trying to go for something similar to those mysterious dark backgrounds that often appeared in paintings by Rembrandt and Caravaggio, and even the Goya painting depicting Saturn eating his own son. But I had a change of heart with the deadline approaching fast, just hours away. My bad hehe Since this was for a University project, where we have the opportunity to touch up finished projects before the final assessment, I might just do that with the background.

(PS: I like your “Seduction” piece… striking)

@Kalensir

cheers! :slight_smile:

@deepthi

thankies ! I think I know what you mean. I am a fan of really extravagant shapes and details for demons and such. I have a love for the designs of the summoned spirits (aeons and espers) by SquareEnix for their later Final Fantasy games, which I’d love to look more into. My initial concepts and final roughs (that I showed to my lecturers before I got approval for the idea) showed the devil with a more reptilian skin. But the more I researched what the history has to say about satan, and old depictions of him, I took more and more of those skin textures away, until it ended up like this, a more human skin. I think it is also more appropriate for him, to show his ties with the human form. The print resolution picture shows smaller cracks all over his skin to suggest his old old age, but it seems the bicubic interpolation during the resizing of the image softened and hid most of those (also small highlights etc).

@bradyscott

cheers! nice that you thought of brutal =) look at previous reply for the crosses. I see what you mean though

@PMD

thanks so much, Phil. It’s interesting what you’re saying about the composition. The Fallen, by Kearney, is a masterpiece of technical execution, I am totally enamoured by his skill. He has taken the bodybuilder devil to a height that you just can’t beat :slight_smile: I would love to do the rest of the figure, maybe for the full character design, but I chose this composition to give the figure in the hand more domination over the picturespace. Now I’m tempted to extend canvas and continue… if only I had the time! :wink:

@Kyena

many thanks! I admit I’m painfully meticulous with details, to the point of getting ill hehe I’m a big fan of the works of realism masters like van Eyck, and also of movie designs and posters, so I try to push for as much realism in my paintings as possible. (PS: love your cant stand the light painting…great! :slight_smile:

@LADmaticCA

thanks!

@thesquid

cheers, I’m glad to hear that :slight_smile: will definitely post more. Have lots of paintings gathering digital dust on my harddrive hehe

#11

Hi Oyvind, Fantastic. Great Lighting and colour. love to see more from you.

#12

the pain sensation is very well gotten, brillant work

#13

@Samuraikuroi
thanks for the compliments! I will try whip myself into posting some more pieces here asap for sure =)

@jamxp
cheerz! glad the image managed to convey that. Certainly an important part of the general idea

#14

Love the character, its torn flesh is great… not sure about the background, though…

#15

an EXCELLENT work !

very,very good !
gr8 conept , gr8 style and gr8 skill !
5 BIG stars ! ( for you, not for Satan…:twisted: )
Bravo !:applause:

#16

an EXCELLENT work !

gr8 concept,gr8 style and gr8 skill !
5 BIG stars ! ( for you , not for Satan…:twisted: )
Bravo !:applause:

#17

Nice work indeed - I like how you painted his torso and the head especially area around the horns. I am thinkining - Shouldn’t those people on crosses have heads heading down?
4s

#18

This is an incredible painting! It really jumped out at me when I was looking down the line of thumbnails for the gallery.
My only crit has to do with the lighting on satan. It looks a little off in places. For instance the right side of his head is pretty heavily shadowed, but the right pectoral right below it is very brightly lit. And I don’t think the right horn would occlude that much light.
Again though, this is a really awesome painting. Great work!:thumbsup:

#19

nice work, great idea tearing up the skin like that. no crits.

#20

Fantastic concept

I like it!