The Battle of Angels and Speed

The artwork depicts the battle outside of Antioch, with the Turks being led by Kur Bugha and Bohemond leading the crusaders. This battle piqued my interest because of how strange and unique it was. First, the crusaders found the alleged Holy Lance, then they charged the Turks who outnumbered them greatly. The Turks then fled, most likely not from fear but from sabotage. Would the Turks have fled if they didn't discover the Holy Lance? Most likely. I like the idea of people charged with energy, and it's a fun challenge to try to depict it. It was also interesting to me that the crusaders saw saints and angels charging in battle with them. I thought it would be fun to draw angels, but if I did I would have had to draw on the crusader side. I believe that it's more interesting when art has a bias towards someone. I drew the Turks in a way that depicts them losing. For example, in the center a Kur Bugha is cowered behind his shield while a crusader swings at him. In the drawing, he is encompassed by three crusaders, so I wanted to isolate him from the rest to represent him losing. I would have liked to draw more people to represent the chaos of war, but I ran out of time. I drew one angel in the battle field holding a spear, potentially the Holy Lance because of the glow. Additionally, I drew 2 angels on the mountain top, they were approaching a lone horse that ran off. I feel as though there should have been more combat between two individuals closer rather than in the distance, especially because I am lacking the army amount. I didn’t draw anyone getting stabbed, but I did draw action. I tried to make the fabric move and the horse's manes move from the motion. I also tried to give the characters action poses, something in the middle of an attack so the viewer knows what will happen next. I wanted to draw the Crusaders and Turks as historically accurate as possible, but they wore dull clothing besides the red cross. So, I made the horses red so your eyes would naturally see the crusaders. I also made the flag of the Seljuk turks and the Crusaders to give more insight into what battle this was, and who was fighting in it. For my creative process, I would draw the sketch then color it in.

For the style, I tried to make it look hand drawn even though it's digital art. Some lines aren't perfect, and the colors aren't blended, but that's what gives the art its specific look. I chose this look by looking at different art styles until I found one I was comfortable trying and that looked pretty.