field of corpses

Tears · Post by **Tears** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:54 am

For the comic I'm trying to draw at the moment I kind of need to draw lots and lots of corpses...
...the scene is basically a flashback (but a deliberately mythologised one) to a battle where thousands of people went off to war and about a dozen came home again... i'm drawing the battlefield just after the battle ended, with night falling...
... I don't want to have lots of explicit gore (the emotional impact I'm looking for here is more intense sorrow and grief and less horror and 'ick'), I just need to give the impression that a lot of people died out there today...
... couple of other things may be relevent... battle was fought with melee weapons, swords, axes, maces, stuff like that no projectile weaponry, no explosives (there are reasons)... the image i have is sufficiently mythologised that it already contains rivers of blood...

Any suggestions?

Bad JuJu · Post by **Bad JuJu** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 2:31 am

It's horribly cliche and really, really over-used, but have you considered a silhouette?

There's a certain emotion, a certain je ne sais pas, that the silhouette of someone standing atop a sea of corpses, swords and halberds and spears and flags sticking up all around them can give (at least, it can for me). Not to be poetic, but for me, it just seems to work so well, heaps of bodies, so much order and so much chaos in what's going on, simplicity and complexities in shapes, lighting that can be subtle or bearing.

Powerful imagery. I'm sure however you decide to do it, it'l convey what you're hoping to express.

Levi-chan · Post by **Levi-chan** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 2:38 am

Aye with Juju. Aye.

Nutcracker · Post by **Nutcracker** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 4:25 am

If you don't want to draw too many bodies, fill the place with signs of massive destruction. Sorched ground, weapons, some smoke, camp remains... And add some fog. Fog is always good for death:] Blood is not necessary if you create a graveyard atmosphere.

Tears · Post by **Tears** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 9:23 am

I went with the silhouettes thing... I think it worked ok... it's up now if you want a look... thanks for the help everyone.

Ian Moulding · Post by **Ian Moulding** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 12:22 pm

I don't recommend this - I really don't recommend this - but if you want the grisly details, just do an image search for knife wounds, blunt trauma, farm accidents, etc. The medical photos are unpleasant.

Jesusabdullah · Post by **Jesusabdullah** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:38 pm

Look up Civil War pictures maybe? There were some really really nasty battles in the Civil War.

Wait... you're done. Oh well.

Warofwinds · Post by **Warofwinds** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:02 am

This is the only comic where I attempted that (last panel). I used silhouettes, and left the rest up to the imagination.