Ninefingers Sculpture II

September 1st, 2012

So I said to David Jennison, “ignore the comments, man, don’t listen to the jackals.  Half the time they all want different things and half the time they don’t know what they want.  That’s why they need us to tell them what they want.”  But being the giving kind of guy he is, he was good enough to incorporate some of your outraged bleatings when amending and painting his Ninefingers sculpture, not to mention making good use of his software’s de-Bean-ification tool.  The results:

Cool, huh?

Posted in artwork by Joe Abercrombie on September 1st, 2012.

74 comments so far

  • Joris M says:

    Incredibly cool, probably nothing like the Logen in my head, but just as good perhaps better.

  • Rich says:

    Brilliant. Actually pretty close to the Logen in my head and demonstrates, if it ever happened, why it would be so difficult to cast the role for a potential TV series. How would you ever find an actor who looked this bloody hard?

  • Sam says:

    I don’t bleat…I bemoan and wail. But it does look awesome with colour. I love the nose.

  • Sigve Berland says:

    Looks very good, Logen is my favorite character.

  • Dyrewul says:

    Well done, now let’s see the ‘hangman leer’and head tilt of the Bloody Nine!

  • Tim says:

    hair behind the ears?dont think logan would give a shit 😉 but the nose is fine 🙂

  • Shahriar says:

    That’s a bloody good job! I can easily believe that being Logen.

  • ColinJ says:

    Nice work. Now how does he look when the Bloody-Nine takes over?

    Pretty demonic, I’d imagine.

  • Mark Hirst says:

    That is pretty close to my imagination, wonderful work.

  • JDA says:

    Hmm. Looks like Vincent Reagan from 300. Could he be a Ninefingers actor? Interesting…

  • Manos says:

    That is *almost* exactly as I picture Logen. I always think of him with a perpetual half-smirk (he is, after all, still alive), but you have to be realistic.

  • AntMac says:

    Oh yes, that is wonderfully like the sort of thing.

    The sort of face that , trying to be friendly and smile at someone, as he did at times, is discouraged when the smilee flinches at the smile and edges closer to the door and freedom.
    The hair is very good too, never seen a comb and hacked off ragged with a knife.

    Much more like Logan than TBN too, because it looks like a face with a person behind it.

    Well done Mr Jennison.

  • Shorty says:

    One digital beating later and I see the scary dude I Met in the book. Incidentally, why don’t computer models ever have curly or wavy hair? Not a demand Mr Jennison, just a query 🙂

  • Jim says:

    Now that guy looks like he’s been in some fights. I’m sorry if I was bleating but I know first hand what a jaw and nose looks like after being broken .

  • Jim says:

    Now that guy looks like he’s been in some fights. I’m sorry if I was bleating but I know first hand what a jaw and nose looks like after being broken .

  • Shannan Catalano says:

    I enjoyed the last effort, until someone mentioned Sean Bean after which point I couldn’t get Sean Bean out of my head. This effort, however, is brilliant, simply brilliant. May I hold out hope to see the Dogman sometime soon?

  • Giasone says:

    This is really good. I am thinking more like Logen than Threetrees now. Please do more if you have the time, David. Your work is great and it’s always interesting to see depictions of characters by very competent artists, even if they don’t match one’s own images.

    Giasone il Sciacallo.

  • T.C says:

    I like it. A lot. Not a kick in the arse off the image in my head.

  • Adam A. says:

    “You one ugly mother…”

    Awesome work!

  • Anne S. says:

    As close to perfect as you can get. LOVE IT!

  • Hawkeye says:

    Yea, gotta say it’s real good now with the changes. Now if he could please go ahead and do the rest of the original Northmen. Dow, Tul, Threetrees, Dog, Weakest, etc….

  • Seth W. says:

    Wow, that looks great looks like a more rugged and battle worn image of the guy who played in the movie Solomon Kane. Nice job though.

  • Kris Daivs says:

    I have to say its not far off at all from the image in my head. It looks awesome! Oh, its time for another read through of those books I think.

  • Iangr says:

    Aah….there you are master Ninefingers!VERY cool indeed!

  • Scott says:

    Bloody brilliant. Better than I imagined.

  • Jakub dan Worst says:

    For me it’s absolutely perfect! Great job! I did have a slightly different picture of Logen in my mind, but I’m well aware it’s only there, in that vacuum between my ears, and have no difficulty enjoying other people’s visions 🙂

  • Madman42 says:

    Damn fine job! Couldn’t do a better job myself! I would love to see more! Glokta or Cosca? Or even Monza?

  • Dav says:

    Good god, he’s really very good at his job, isn’t he?

    Why can’t you be that good at YOUR job, Joe?! TELL US WHY!

    Anyway, if he’s willing to do other representations, I for one would love to see him do more. Shivers? Bayaz? Ferro? Any would be great, tbh.

  • David says:

    It’s damn fine work – no mistake. He looks mean and tough but perhaps not … brutal or fearsome.

  • JamesM says:

    Newsflash: whether it’s close to the Logen in YOUR head has absolutely nothing to do with how good or bad this is. It’s their interpretation. The key words being their, and interpretation. So much stupidity in that last blog.

  • Thorne says:

    There’s the beard….

  • Remi says:

    This looks sweet. I have this mental image of Logen looking like a messed up Ray Stevenson that nothing can replace, but this looks awesome.

  • Kevin R L-B says:

    Amazing. Jennison is one talented human being. Love the nose, the asymmetric eyes, and the notch in the ear. Phenomenal work. Thanks for spending the long hours to share that!

  • Dave B says:

    Ray Stevenson! Make it happen, Joe!

  • AntMac says:

    COME ON ! ! !!

    Ray is Black Dow, obviously.

  • ColinJ says:

    @Dave B: I thought exactly the same thing. Ugly Ray Stevenson up a bit and he’d be an awesome Logen.

    Now let’s see Jennison’s depiction of Monza. ;-P

  • Thaddeus says:

    That’s fantastically good.

    Must say that I also liked Sean Bean as Ninefingers, although that did strongly suggest Ninefingers would shortly end up dead.

  • Mark C says:

    That’s pretty darn awesome. In the last thread someone mentioned a higher forehead and if this was applied to this dude he would look eerily like the Logen in my head! Great work!

    Currently working through The First Law, re-read style, in anticipation of yer next one. Fabby.

  • KatG says:

    I’m confused — is this going to be an actual sculpture? Looks very neat. Close to the way I see Logan in my head but with a modder hairstyle. 🙂

  • ronald says:

    looks like the guy from red dead redemption

  • CJ says:

    Are there other readers who don’t really picture what the characters look like? I have a vague concept, but I’m always more tuned to their personality. I mean this is a great sculpture – very cool – but it would have to get completely unlike any barbarian before I’d think “hey… hang on”. Whereas if someone had Ninefingers *doing* something a little out of character, that would really jar. I’m fairly sure this is to do with Joe’s style – big on character, lower on “he had long black hair” etc

  • Shawn Smith says:

    Awesome …pretty close to my Logan.

  • PeterBeck says:

    Wow. Really amazing looking, and I am sheepish to say, but this looks closer to my impression of Logan than the prior one. HOWEVER (made big in case if I should defend myself), I didn’t dislike the prior one. Sure, it looked like Sean “dead before the credits” Bean, but that’s understandable given his visibility these days, and I just so happen to like The Beanster, so that was a plus. But the new one is “bon”.

    I didn’t stick around in the comments long enough the last time, did it turn out this was the same guy that did the Black Dow bust? That one made my jaw drop when it turned up on the GIS for First Law fanart.

    Now if only these could be used to build developer interest in a First Law game…

  • Spot says:

    It almost looks like one of my Skyrim characters named Logen, only he has a bigger beard.

  • Giasone says:

    Yes JamesM, there is a difference between whether an illustration is good or bad and whether it matches what anyone else imagines a character to be like – although there is a line to be drawn in terms of accuracy when the author has provided descriptive detail. But there’s also a difference between commenting that one person’s image of a character is different to another’s, and saying that one of those images is bad.

  • That looks almost exactly how I imagined Logan’s face. O.O That’s eerie.

    This jackal says, “Mission Accomplished”

  • Joe Abercrombie says:

    CJ,
    I’m mostly the same, I don’t necessarily have a really defined image of what characters look like. Maybe that’s why I’m always interested to see what other people think they might look like.

    KatG,
    Sculpture in the sense of virtual 3d model, rather than stone bust to sit on your gatepost. Though that would be kind of cool…

  • thorne says:

    Joe,

    Completely off topic but do you reckon you’ll be touring for Red Country?

    And if so, will you be heading north of the wall? Hadrian’s that is!

  • Nickg says:

    Awesome

  • Dominic says:

    holy crap, that’s one hard looking mother fraker. that’s pretty perfect, i would love to see what he looks like when he’s smiling and trying to build up team bonds.

    it such a shame how little fan art there is for this series, i carve it D:

  • Joe Abercrombie says:

    Thorne,
    Will be touring. Should have details soon. Not sure whether we’ll make it to Scotland or not. Would like to, but it’s in the hands of my publicist…

  • Adam A. says:

    @AntMac – no, Johnny Harris is Black Dow.

  • thorne says:

    Excellent,

    I’ll take that as a ‘See you in November’ then.

    It would be great to see you amidst the Northiest North men again.

    But if you don’t make it I don’t blame you…

  • Savvy S says:

    Very Good.

    I would like to see him make more sculptures. Mainly of Jezal, Glokta, and Black Dow.

  • Rick says:

    That is pretty cool! I’d love to see him do more characters too – Shivers being my personal favorite at the mo…

  • David J. says:

    Glad everyone is digging this. I don’t sculpt by committee per-say, but you guys commented on some things that I had suspected to be lacking. Hearing fans point them out made me realize that I needed to push it a bit more. Thanks for all of your feedback.

    No, I am not the same guy that did the Black Dow sculpt, which was awesome.

    As for me, I don’t always have a firm image of characters in my head either. I listened to the books instead of read them and Stephen Pacey, who in mho is possibly the most talented narrator working in audio books, blew me away.

    There were certain characters that did resonate visually with me partially because they were so well written but also because of how well performed they were. Logen was one of them.

    I definitely plan to sculpt more from First Law- Glokta, Bayaz, Fenris (that one would be a dream to bring to life)
    And definitely some bloody Flatheads!

    Out of curiosity, Joe, did Pacey audition? Did you listen to part of a performance and approve? Or did the publisher go ahead and select him?

  • Joe Abercrombie says:

    David J,
    Near universal approval this time around. You don’t see that too often around these parts. Excellent work. Love to see anything else you fancy doing, but up to you, of course.

    The first audiobook recorded was Best Served Cold, which was done by Tantor Media in the US, and they hired Michael Page to narrate, but for the First Law, Orion, my UK publisher, decided to do it themselves. They have a person called Pandora whose job it is to co-ordinate the making of audiobooks, so clearly she has a very in depth knowledge of the UK’s actors and narrators. She’d used Pacey before and suggested him as a good fit with the First Law. If I remember correctly I listened to a bit of something else he’d recorded and said, yeah, for sure. I then went along to a bit of the recording, expecting it to be kind of cringey, and thought he was fantastic. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone be negative about his reading which, again, virtually unheard of.

  • AntMac says:

    DavidJ, thank you for sharing your work with us. It is uncanny good, quite like a magic trick.

    I read your post there and went “Yeah yeah, Fenris … oh, he means Ferro, good good, I would like to see that too I . . .

    THE SHENKA ! ! ! ! ”

    I heartily endorse you making one of these of a bloody flathead. That is an insanely good idea.

  • Micah Martin says:

    Wow! This is tremendously good.

  • country rip says:

    I’m seeing John Marston’s older , meaner brother . Or John Marston in 15 years. Or John Marston’s Dad. Or maybe I need to play something other than Red Dead.

  • Hawkeye says:

    No Ant, he means Fenris the feared. Which I would love! Great job David J!

  • Giasone says:

    DavidJ – good to hear you plan to do more. Don’t be put off by the responses from making it public – it’s testimony to the quality of your work that people respond with their opinions about whether your image matches theirs, because if your work wasn’t great then most of us would just pass over it in polite silence. Most people only feel inspired to say whether or not an illustration works for them when they actually find the artist’s work good enough to arouse their interest.
    But also, getting negative reactions is just something that one laughs about. I know, because I paint and the last time I won a prize in a show I overheard someone looking at my painting say “Oh don’t tell me that won”. Sometimes negative reactions are better than no reaction.

  • AntMac says:

    Aha. Opps.I think Fenris would be good too. Thanks for catching that Hawkeye.

  • ColinJ says:

    The Feared?

    Oh, boy, I’d love to see that.

  • Gary says:

    Wow! Brilliant model! Slightly crooked nose adds icing to the awesome cake.

  • Michael says:

    Put a black cowboy hat on him, a couple of facial ‘appendages’, and I see a hint of Lemmy.

  • Nick Sharps says:

    Damn. That is just freaking fantastic! Phenomenal work!

  • Coyle says:

    Absolutely fantastic, keep up the good work

  • Karban Doombringer says:

    cute sculpt not as savaged as i had imagined.

  • Ferdinand Kittlaus says:

    do you think you’ll make it to LA, if you were to tour?!

  • Cthulhu Dog says:

    Outstanding work. The eyes remind me a little of Graham McTavish, who I think would also make a great Ninefingers on screen, or maybe would have a few years ago.

  • Andrew says:

    THIS is Logan Ninefingers as I imagined him. My praise, of course, had nothing to do with feelings of guilt caused by Joe’s pointing out that we were being jackals.

  • Eric says:

    Absolutely amazing! I seriously cannot wait for more. The detail is incredible. Personally, I would love to see one done of the BAMF that is Caul Shivers.

  • Matt says:

    Hey David J,

    This is fantastic, i love it !
    i just finihsed listening to the audiobook of The Heroes, which is my favorite novel of all time and the audio book on audible certainly didnt dissapoint. I loved the part where people were screaming “The Bloody Nine!” just to put fear into the enemy lines! I reckon your sculpture is SPOT on mate, and are you going to be producing these ? (probably in conjunction with the brilliant mr Abercrombie) You should run a kick starter for it and let everyone know!

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