"Odin and Fenris" by Joseph Coyle

One of my favorite mythologies is Norse, and some day I want to do a whole series of illustrations telling the various stories involved. This however is a rough sketch for a large peice I never finished, but I think it's good to have a record of the underlying pencil work. 

This is the final battle between the all-father Odin, lord of the gods, and the terrible wolf Fenris, which takes place at Ragnorok, the ending of the world. Fenris was the son of Loki (god of mischief) and was imprisoned by the gods to keep him under control, but when Ragnorok comes around he breaks free and consumes the mighty Odin. Here the two face each other at the end, Odin riding atop his eight legged horse Sleipnir. Alot of the creatures in Norse mythology are described as being incredibly large, and that's something i wanted to get across with this drawing by making Fenris genuinely massive, I also added some horns to emhpasize his monstrous nature. This is one of the few horses I've ever done, as I find them very difficult, particularly when in dynamic positions, it took me a very long time to get it right, especially with an additional four legs to tackle. 

This drawing is a few years old now and so looking back i can see a lot of problems with the drawing itself, but I still think it's one of the best, most dynamic compostions I've done.