the viking book

The Daily VikingThe Daily Viking

A collection of sketches by Peter Bangs

This collection of sketches was created for Harry’s first birthday. One sketch was made each day (although I missed a couple of days in the end) during the thirty

days prior to his birthday on 16 October 2009.

Each day from 16 September until 16 October

I attempted to post a Daily Viking on line on my website with the intention of gathering them together in this

little book for him (to have when he's older).

Why Vikings? Well firstly because the family name, Bangs, is believed to have Norse origins and may even be

related to the famous Bang and Olufsen and secondly because they've been a part of my life, in a smallish way,

seemingly forever. From the saga of Noggin the Nog to the Mighty Thor with Kevin Crossley Hollands Norse

Myths, a visit to Jorvik and a fancy dress appearance as a Viking in between. Vikings have always been there on

the periphery.

So now I'm bringing them front and centre.

The first daily Viking, inspired partly by my

dad and partly by watching Noggin the

Nog. My Dad, Harry’s Grandad, was a fan of

Smallfilms output since the days of The Pogles.

I think he would have approved.

Drawn in black and sepia

Kuretake Zig sketching pens on the back of an envelope while on the

school run.

This one's based on a photo of my dad trying on a genuine re-

production Viking helmet in the excellent Jorvik Museum in

York. With his longish silver hair and full moustache I always thought my old man would

make a great elder Viking states-man, or an aging gunslinger in

the Wild West.

Not too sure about this one. Although the helmet and cloak clasp are based on authentic Viking designs, the axe makes

him look more like a Tolkien dwarf. I liked the quality of the drawing more than the

quality of the subject.

Day 4 and we have my interpretation of

Woden, one eyed King of the Norse

Gods. He's usually shown as a massive

and imposing figure but I always imagined him being more slen-

der and a little sly based on the stories

told about him, hence my skinny ver-

sion. The brown smudge is baby food

and demonstrates the foolishness of drawing

at the dinner table while feeding an

eleven month old.

A man and his hoe. A simple remembrance

that not all Vikings were

marauding berserkers, many were

farmers and tradesmen.

Viking 6, Pentel Sepia Brush pen, Zig Sepia

sketching pen and Windsor and Newton

watercolours

A woman, apparently there were women, women Vikings. Who knew huh?

Amazing what you can come up with after a little research. Thank God for Dorling Kindersley Eye Witness books. They are

the best. I found out why Viking 3 looked wrong thanks to Eye Witness. It was the

axe. A proper Viking axe looks completely different. As will be seen with the next

Viking.

following three days of family illness I got to upload 3 days worth of

Vikings. Unfortunately on Wednesday I was busy upchucking

while trying top look after Harry, so I was in no condition to put up this

scrawl.

This one done while recovering from the horrible 24 hour virus that wrecked me on Wednesday. Thursday

my wife came down with a completely separate virus that she did not catch from me, so she and Harry took

every spare moment that I wasn't spending feeling pathetic and sorry for myself.

This one was for Friday. Molly was off ill with yet

another anonymous virus that had nothing

to do with me, and wanted someone to play

Zoo Tycoon with her most of the day and

make her Maltesers Hot Chocolate. A father’s

work is never done. She loves Lego so this one

was my initial design for a Lego Viking.

This was done on my new tablet and based on a photo found on

line. The subject of the photo was a Viking

re-enactment group and this guy was

meant to be the cook. I dropped the photo

into a layer on Photo-shop and reduced the

opacity to 50%. I then loosely sketched the rough outlines and turned off the layer and completed the

sketch.

Drawn and coloured on Photoshop and then filters applied to try and give a lino-

cut look to it. Not at all successful but not a bad picture all the same.

This one was very loosely based on a photo from a Viking Festival somewhere. Sketched hard in an HB pencil with the paper whitened in places in Photoshop.

I called this one "bring me something nice back from

your pillaging."It was worked up from an

unfinished sketch of a couple I saw in the street

somewhere a couple of years ago. They weren’t

dressed quite like this of course

This one's called "new chain-mail" and was based on a

very stiff looking guy I saw waiting for his wife outside a

shop while on holiday.

This one's a favourite, "Olaf builds a sandcastle"

Karen's favourite of the recent batch. "The long walk home"

This one didn't really work. It was meant to be a youngster, scared on his first time in battle.

Never really cared for Hagar but he's probably the world's most famous Viking I felt he ought to make an appearance.

I think this guy is a Bard, he has that haughty "I've played Shakespeare at Stratford" sort of look about him that I

imagine bards would have.

This guy it was the padded leather

overshirt, a common piece of

protective clothing, that I was interested

in. I’d seen it in several photos and

historical illustrations.

I think this one was just deadline-itis.

Old Viking woman, scribbled hastily and inspired by Baba Yaga while checking out Russian Vikings. The sketch on the left was the original and the one on

the right was an attempt to make it look like a woodcut but I think looks more like a linoprint.

A sketch on my non-wacom tablet, just trying to see what it could do.

Inspired after reading about finding animal skeletons at burial sites.

A short love story

Russian Viking version

one

Russian Viking Version 2.

This version was much better than the

previous, also inspired by a photo

in the Dorling Kindersley

Viking Book.

The boy in question, Harry, on his first birthday, looking brooding and Scandanavian