George and the Dragon, By Two Pairs of Hands

Hear ye: Muhju and the painter Jesperish have released George and the Dragon. The saint has sat for rather a lot of painters already, but there is unfinished business. In this telling, the dragon bears two burdens: the old financial order, with crypto as the blade of escape, and the private monster each of us must face within himself. A considerable assignment for one beast.

Jesperish began with a loose sketch: a coiled body, a red throat, a white figure caught at its centre. Muhju built from that shape, modelling the knight, armour, sword and dragon in ZBrush before assembling and lighting the scene in Cinema 4D. Then came months of corrections. Jesperish drew over the model; Muhju rebuilt against the drawing; Jesperish drew again. Even a dragon, it seems, must endure revisions.

The finished model was rendered at twelve thousand pixels on its long edge, then returned to Jesperish. He painted across the entire surface, working the light, weather, corroded scales, rotting wood and sky behind the citadel. Repainting and regrading followed. The geometry supplied the structure; the painting supplied what meets the eye.

The full process booklet can now be read on the site, from the first sketch to the finished painting. Follow Read the process below to inspect the exchanges, revisions and details that brought this particular contest to its conclusion.