Jörmungandr and Thor's Battle of Ragnarök
digital drawing of 4,000 by 2,000 pixels.
September, 2021.
My depiction of Jörmungandr, Loki's child, and Thor's, Norse God, Battle of Ragnarök, the end of the world. Digital piece created on the application Procreate throughout September of 2021 on an Apple brand tablet. Inspiration for this drawing came from both carved artifacts and from modern day digital art of large monsters.
Inspiration and Reasoning I found inspiration in both old English carvings and new, digital art creations. I looked through many depictions of Jörmungandr to try and settle on a more common depiction of the Sea Serpent while adding some of my own ideas and details. Sadly, this idea was proven difficult with the older depictions of him varying and the newer ones changing vastly and now more so resembling dragons or separate media sharing the Jörmungandr title.
I wanted to especially look at the stone carved artifact found on Gosforth Stone, England. this piece tells the story of Thor and the giant Hymir when they went fishing, caught, and almost captured Jörmungandr using an Ox head as bait. Thor's plans were ruined however when, out of fear, Hymir cut the fishing lines setting Jörmungandr free. |
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Planning
planning
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Process
Using the mobile device application Procreate, I started but drawing large, sketched basic outline of the land, water, sky and serpent in the paces i would like them while adjusting as needed to fit a somewhat symmetrical piece. I continued the process by adding sketched details i would adjust and clean up latter, like the lightning, storm clouds, and details on Jörmungandr. I added waves into the water and began sketching out the shading of what areas the lightning would be brightening or not. In my interpretation of Thor and Jörmungandr battle of Ragnarök, i wanted to have the sky filled with lighting caused by Thor and his hammer, Mjöllnir, this lightning would connect to Thor's glowing hammer as well as fill the sky for the basic light of the drawing.
I added a Norse Rune,ᛡ, which represents the unavailability of fate as well as the Sea Serpent to his forehead. I added a shading over the entire piece in black to make it darker with the lighting and glowing eyes above it to really make it stand out above all of the rest of the piece. |
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To print out this drawing, i needed to edit the image inside of Adobe photo shop computer application, both to lighten the image, and to correct the sizing to ensure the graphics come out well. This proved
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Reflection & comparison
Compare
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Contrast
with the added fines, rune, and details like the glowing eyes, there is a difference from the depicted large snake commonly carved as simply a large snake. My art was purposefully less detailed than the digital inspiration to keep a chaotic and looser style. |
ACT questions
1) Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Taking direct inspiration from any and all depictions of Jörmungandr i could find to then add my own details and ideas behind it.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Many webpages disagree with Norse stories and origins due to the little resources unaffected or distorted by Christian historians, like Snorey.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Regardless of the Christianization and destroyed history, there really inst enough information that is untainted for history proposes, even with the information we have the depictions and stories vary.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I tried focusing my research around early depictions of Jörmungandr, reading up on many stories about his to try and find texts describing how he appears.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I enjoyed reading my research in part because of the knowledge i gained on the Norse rune ᛡ and the continuation of how the Norse viewed fate and destiny and how it cannot be changed.
Taking direct inspiration from any and all depictions of Jörmungandr i could find to then add my own details and ideas behind it.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Many webpages disagree with Norse stories and origins due to the little resources unaffected or distorted by Christian historians, like Snorey.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Regardless of the Christianization and destroyed history, there really inst enough information that is untainted for history proposes, even with the information we have the depictions and stories vary.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I tried focusing my research around early depictions of Jörmungandr, reading up on many stories about his to try and find texts describing how he appears.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I enjoyed reading my research in part because of the knowledge i gained on the Norse rune ᛡ and the continuation of how the Norse viewed fate and destiny and how it cannot be changed.
bibliography
themythstery. (2021, April 10). instagram. Retrieved September 13, 2021, from https://www.instagram.com/p/CNeyo_VJ3Hu/?utm_medium=copy_link
Visual Art Encyclopedia . (2019, May 7). Thor goes fishing for the great Monster (Jörmungandr) on The GOSFORTH Stone, ENGLAND, c.950 - Viking art. www.wikiart.org. Retrieved September 13, 2021, from https://www.wikiart.org/en/viking-art/thor-goes-fishing-for-the-great-monster-jormungandr-on-the-gosforth-stone-england-950.
themythstery. (2021, April 10). instagram. Retrieved September 13, 2021, from https://www.instagram.com/p/CNeyo_VJ3Hu/?utm_medium=copy_link
Visual Art Encyclopedia . (2019, May 7). Thor goes fishing for the great Monster (Jörmungandr) on The GOSFORTH Stone, ENGLAND, c.950 - Viking art. www.wikiart.org. Retrieved September 13, 2021, from https://www.wikiart.org/en/viking-art/thor-goes-fishing-for-the-great-monster-jormungandr-on-the-gosforth-stone-england-950.