Thursday, July 09, 2009

Agnar the Viking

This is a Photoshop painting i did for the upcoming "The Mighty Nomad" gallery in September, where I'll be showing together with some great artists and friends. I'm really looking forward to that.

Being a direct descendant of the Vikings, I thought I'd do a Viking piece in honor of my somewhat violent ancestors:) I'm a native of the Danish city Århus, which together with Ribe is the oldest city in Scandinavia and the oldest Viking city in the world. It was founded by the Vikings in the mid 700's, though without knowing exactly who was the chief of the settlers. I think it was this dude and his name is Agnar, the true founder of Aros (the original form of Århus). Randver Radbardsson was the King of Denmark during the settlement of Aros and the main square of Downtown Århus has been the center of the city for over 1200 years.

Side facts: As some might know, the vikings did not wear horned helmets and they were as excellent tradesmen and explorers as they were warriors. A Vik is a creek or small river, so it was called "To go Viking" when the warriors went raiding.
Also, the Danish flag "Dannebrog" (Danish Cloth) is the oldest state flag in the world still in use, dating back to the 13th Century. Therefor the flag you can see in the background of my painting is not the Dannebrog, but instead the flag used prior to it, called the "Raven Banner". It is depicting a raven which is a symbol of Odin and his all seeing ravens.


21 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

hey I stumbled across your blog by accident and am glad that I did, you have some really REALLY amazing environments great job man!

10:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love your Artwork.
Nice Character Designs.

Dalton

8:02 PM  
Blogger Alfonso de la Torre said...

your work is so cool man! I'm really inspired!
thanks!

9:58 PM  
Blogger g1toons said...

while blog surfing i found this blog, man love your work, i will return again to see more of you great work, your profile pic is funny with the lil character

1:04 PM  
Blogger Gulzar said...

wow! I loved the history behind it...so enriching...
Cool! artwork too mate!
I want to see some more amazing stuffs from you!

All the best man!

9:06 PM  
Blogger Tooninator said...

damn cool!!

11:55 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Love the dramatic story moment!

2:30 PM  
Blogger TH3DEN said...

Sweet. Almost the same name as mine, i just have to take my "R" out. :D This is great Hans, love the mood! :)

4:44 AM  
Blogger Ken Chandler said...

Fabulous stuff Hans. I love the atmospherics in this and your Samurai pics. Marvelous stuff.

9:00 AM  
Blogger Marcelo Vignali said...

Very Nice!

5:56 PM  
Blogger Travis Lee Koller said...

Nice work man. Great shapes. Thanks for the comment.
t

2:03 PM  
Blogger Eduardo Monteiro said...

Bom trabalho!
Nice artwork!

7:07 PM  
Blogger Marco Bucci said...

awesome man! great composition.

11:09 PM  
Anonymous Web Design said...

I liked your blog its very good keep it up and nice work!

11:26 AM  
Blogger Ryan Smith said...

Awesome!

9:13 PM  
Blogger jason hazelroth said...

I love your stylization

10:00 PM  
Blogger Francisco Martins said...

Really amazing! I totally love this! You rock man!

Francisco Martins

7:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love it! More of this please!! I enjoyed the story too.

5:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sikke et talent du har! Lækre tegninger hele vejen igennem. Hilsen en gammel tøs fra Åbyhøj :o)

5:24 PM  
Blogger Roberto Freire / Robolus said...

Veeeery nice! I really like this one, great Mood!

3:41 AM  
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1:20 AM  

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