MAGNUS THE RED
After a one-week break, we are finally back with our ninth Primarch.
We are halfway through the series now, the end is getting closer.
Before talking about my vision for the character, I wanted to add a small personal note.
I spent the last two weeks working on a very complex illustration for an editorial project. I am satisfied with the result, but it also left me feeling quite drained, so I felt the need to loosen up a little with this portrait.
I know this one is different from the others, a bit freer and less controlled, but I hope you will enjoy it all the same.
I think Magnus lends himself very well to this stranger, less orderly approach, considering his psychic nature.
I see Magnus, and his arrogance, as something deeply fascinating. His obsession with the Warp, and with the idea that he could understand and control it, separates him from humanity — even though, paradoxically, he is also one of the Primarchs who seems to care the most about human beings.
I decided not to portray him in a formal pose, but as if he had been caught in a moment of absence, while probing the Warp through his single eye. As if the faint flash of light used to capture him did not disturb him at all, because his mind was already somewhere else.
Magnus is deeply tragic to me. He perfectly embodies the archetype of the son who believes he can do better than his father, even to the point of breaking his rules.
And Leman Russ, the brother destined to punish that arrogance, feels like his exact opposite: instinctive, feral, earthly — a brutal contrast to Magnus’ intellectual and psychic nature.
I hope you enjoy my interpretation of Magnus.
Which Primarch would you like to see next?
Reply in the comments, and the most “voted” one will be the next portrait.
