The Hall Of Giants - Troll Documentary.

I was recently contacted by Michael Falcone, a documentary film maker concerning his film The Hall of Giants. It's about the legendary Fremont Troll Sculpture in Seattle. He wanted to use my Troll Image in his film as an example of what trolls can, and of course "do" look like. I was happy to let him use my pic and took this old image back into Photoshop and spruced it up a little.

Here's a link to a trailer on Vimeo for his film. The password is Troll - http://vimeo.com/29587103
It looks like fun.

Travel safely and peace be with you.

Cheers.

More Troll Business

I want to take a moment and clarify a few of the facts concerning that recent troll business we've all heard about. I realize that many of you have been receiving inaccurate information concerning this unfortunate scenario and I would like to set the record straight. Misinformation in situations like this can only lead to further misunderstanding, name calling and muckraking.

Firstly and most importantly, there were no fatalities, nor were there any injuries. All sorts of things can go wrong during a storm and when trolls are involved the accidents can pile up quickly, but lets take a look at what really happened.

As we all know, the troll in question moved into the area last winter and by all accounts was very well behaved. He kept to himself and was very neat and tidy. The local residents, recognizing that a peaceful and in some cases even helpful creature was in their midst, welcomed him into the area with open arms. Some were even leaving food out for him. Everyone agreed that having a troll nearby kept wolves and unfriendly strangers away. Everybody was getting along fine until last spring on the night of the big storm. According to Emily and Rupert Sandstone, the owners at Easterbrook cottage who lost a stairwell and guest bedroom that night - "It wasn't his fault at all. He just got turned around in the storm, that's all. It was dark, rainy and windy, lightning too. He backed into our guest bedroom and knocked down a wall. He didn't mean to. Scared Penrose Cranston half to death but she walked away without a scratch. Startled her though which led to all that screaming and yelling. That's what set him off. He went crashing down the lane, over the bridge and fell into the creek. We haven't seen him since."

It's at this point that we need to pay attention to the facts. All of our eye witnesses agree. This was not an attack or an offensive gesture. Nobody was hurt. No one's compost heap was disturbed and all the out-houses are still in tact. There have been a lot of wild rumours flying around the area lately, but as far as we can tell, none of them are true.

All agree that this little community is not the same without him and he is missed. The Sandstones are already rebuilding their guest quarters and harbour no ill feelings. Everyone is anxious for things to get back to normal. Peace offerings of wool blankets and baked goods have been left out for him but so far remain untouched. With any luck he will soon be back, his protecting presence casting a warm and secure glow over this little area and everyone in it.

Wolves have been heard howling in the woods again and dark strangers have been recently observed on several local roads.

I hope this clears things up.

More soon. Peace be with you.

The Sleeping Troll

Well, I was finally able to scrape a few minutes together over the Christmas break and actually make a picture for myself. It has been quite a while since I've had the chance to do this and I really wanted to make the most of this little opportunity. There had been a story circulating around the taverns and roadhouses outside Gwelf for a few years now concerning a company of armoured knights engaged in a pitched battle with a band of brigand trolls on the old bridge at Albion. I thought this would make a terrific subject for my next piece and wanted to be sure to do it justice.

There were still a few details I wanted to clarify so I decided to conduct a little investigation and see what I could find out. I wanted my depiction of these historic events to be as accurate as possible and so I decided to interview the eye witnesses and see if I could track down anyone who was actually in the battle. After conducting a number of covert interviews and eves dropping on several very secretive conversations the truth began to appear. As it turns out, the company of armoured knights became a handful of terrified farmers and the band of brigand trolls became one peaceful and snoozy troll asleep under a bridge with a large jug of vintage pear cider. After a brief verbal exchange the troll agreed to vacate the vicinity by the end of the day. Everyone went home satisfied. Lamps were lit and dramatic war stories were told by the fire side. I much prefer this version of the story and that is what I've depicted.

More soon.

Peace be with you.

Willow Cottage

This is a typical example of the kind of witch dwelling found in the Hill Country just north of Gwelf. This area is very remote and unforgiving. Much caution and care need to be taken if you should ever happen to find yourself traveling in this dangerous region. Although the dark and unholy occupant of this cottage has not yet been observed, the troll (below) has been reported in the area several times and is believed to be defending her property.

More soon - peace be with you.

Troll

This guy came up in a recent doodle session. I was thinking about trolls and hobbits and how cool the new Hobbit movie could be. So here's a troll for you in hopeful anticipation of the new Hobbit Movie. We only have a year and a half to wait. I hope I can hang on.

More soon.

Peace be with you.

Rusty

This piece is going back a few years. I came across it the other day while searching through some old files. I don't really do this kind of aggressive imagery much anymore but I still kind of like this one. The old metal and rusty armoured surfaces were quite fun to render. I sold him shortly after I painted him and then forgot all about him until just the other day - so I thought I would share him here.

Recent Pencil Activity - Trolls

The last post of the year. Some recent prep work for projects coming up in the new year. Trolls and Giants and Witches - fun !
Happy New Year :)

larry

Boreal Ogre

This is a quick watercolour sketch from a few years back - imagining what a nasty old ogre from the Northern Wilderness might look like.

Sketchbook - Old Trolls

Finally finished the book project I've been on since January - hoping I might have time for a personal piece before the next one gets going - until then, some more morning pages.

Grandmother Troll and Pixie Waifs

More messing around. These were both morning warm up pages. One from yesterday and one from today. I'm finally coming into the home stretch of the book project I've been on since January.
In another couple of days I'll wrap it up - whew !

Sketchbook - Giants and Ogres

More goofing around - how many ways can I stretch and squash a head and come up with new characters, postures, anatomy - the endless possibilities are of course endlessly fascinating and bring me back to the drawing board every day.

Sketchbook - Ogres

Some recent doodle activity. I'm on a new project at the moment and am doing a lot of drawing but I decided I wouldn't post too much of it out of respect for the publishers who generally like to keep their projects off the radar until they're ready to release them. The work here is just a little left over, yet unrelated activity at the end of a long day.

Sketchbook - Giants and Trolls 2

Still messing with ideas for the giant or troll trundling through a landscape. I want to paint something big and round and heavy moving through the mist. Maybe with a nymph or faerie of some kind riding on his back or shoulder. Still thinking .....

A Bit More Sketchbook

Some more pencil work.

More Sketchbook

Just generating ideas and trying to stay loose - drawing, drawing, drawing ......

More Pencil Work - Goblins

This project is going to be a lot of fun - will need to do more drawing for sure.

Pencil Work - Goblins

Some more doodles and roughs for a new project. This is of course my favourite part of any project - the thinking and dreaming part.

Watercolour - Proximity

I'm not sure why these two are together. Is she his prisoner or is he her body guard?

Maybe they're just waiting.

Watercolour with gouache and graphite.