The Great God Pan
This is a facial illustration of the Great God Pan as imagined based on Arthur Machen's classic horror novella "The Great God Pan" which takes the mythological God and makes him into something far more terrifying and cosmic. I incorporated this illustration into a cover for an upcoming anthology being put out by Gehenna and Hinnom Books and edited by C.P. Dunphey.
It begins with a rough sketch. I want symmetry with this piece, so I decide which half of the face from the sketch that I like...
...and I go over it with cleaner lines in Sketchbook, using their symmetry feature to cut down on the amount of work. For the horns, I use a pair of real horns that I collected as a reference.
I add tones/shadows. I want the eyes to be dark and black, given Machen's description in the original novella.
I add flat colors...
Then bring it into GIMP where I start tweaking with effects and overlays.
Finally, I incorporate the image as a layer in a much larger piece - a book cover for an epic collection of horror tales by Arthur Machen!