- PLEASE FULL VIEW! -

Description
Eric Northman, Sheriff of Area 5 - the Viking Vampire of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, played and portrayed in the hit HBO series True Blood by Alexander Skarsgård. A powerful influence in Louisiana, Eric delights in witty confrontations with Bill Compton usually centered around winning the affections of Sookie. He may be very much a no-nonsense character for the vast majority of the time, but it cannot be denied that he certainly has his hilarious moments every now and then.

As an avid fan of the books and the series, I felt compelled to pay some kind of tribute to my most beloved character! I find Eric unbelieveably attractive, as you can see for yourself I am sure, and mysterious. His complexity is what first drew me to him both on the series and in the books. There is a time when he is viewed as the classic 'Bad-Boy' but most certainly if the series stays true to the books, that should all change! There is a lot more depth that Eric Northman's character has to offer and I can only hope that the producers and Alex himself will succeed in bringing it all effectively to light!

Artist Critique
As a piece in itself I enjoyed painting this, and the final result is quite impressive - for me at least, it lets me see how much I have improved since I last attempted a portrait. I did mention I might use Fangtasia as a background, but I decided against it because when I attempted to incorporate him within it the picture did not seem to fit together. So instead I chose to stick with the portrait style seen in the reference picture. I was determined to make his hair as detailed as possible, although in truth I only am only satisfied with his left side! I will however say that I am very proud of the hair in it's entirety for at least attempting to make it look half as decent as it does in the reference.

The only things I would really like to bring up and pick about are the jacket, for I got lazy in the end and overlooked some detail and left out the zipper, and his necklace. I didn't like the one that was in the picture as such so I decided to give our Viking Vamp a protection talisman instead! I think it works just as well, to be honest. I also changed his eyes from green to blue, as is said they should be for the character. Not that I am insulting Alex, of course - for Alex has pretty eyes, as we all know and accept since it is simple, plain truth. His eyebrows and beardy bits were annoying me though, so I just gave up and left them as I had them pretty much to begin with. Other than that, I suppose I am willing to leave this as it is. It was far larger once upon a time and after I shrunk it and resized again I think some finer details were lost. But I hope it doesn't take too much away from the portrait! As for the border, just try to ignore it. I got lazy and could think of nothing else to do, heehee.

Reference Used - [link]

Tools Used
- Adobe Photoshop CS2
- Wacom Graphics Tablet
- 12+ Hours

Disclaimer
Eric Northman belongs to Charlaine Harris, and Alexander Skarsgård to himself - naturally.
All the art within is ©NeuralDefekt, and so belongs to Laura Brooks.

I request that you DO NOT redistribute/alter/use this image in any way without first consulting me for permission and consent; asking you to respect my work and my claim to it and all it's contents.