Whisper of the Worm (Between Breaths) - 36x20” Mixed Media on Canvas
[Exotic Sniper Rifle // Sword Logic: XOL // Rare Sniper Rifle AACHEN-LR2]
>>> IO : VANGUARD PATROL//PUBLIC EVENT//TAKEN ANOMALY
“Old kings. Sharp swords. Epic songs. Take the throne.”
Feb 2020 - Print Version - 13x22” on heavy matte paper
May 2019 - Original Painting - 36x20” mixed media on canvas
Whisper of the Worm
Exotic Sniper Rifle - Power Weapon
36x20x1” Mixed Media on Hand-stretched Canvas
Acrylic, Citadel model kit paint, Daler Rowley FW ink, hand-mixed washes, very old watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, Montana Gold aerosol. Fredrix light-duty stretchers with medium weight canvas.
22x13” Digital Print on Epson Enhanced Matte Paper
Custom cut 22” paper, optimized margins. Photos captured with Canon EOS 50D, optimized in Adobe Photoshop CC. Printed on Epson Stylus Photo 2200 with archival ink.
Started in uh… well… August 2018? When did the Whisper mission drop? Around then. If you count the sketch as the start- which I do, generally. It sat very unfinished as a painting until around March/April, when I started putting things in motion for GuardianCon 2019.
Finished in April/May of 2019. Total work time is probably about 20 hours.
I don’t keep records, but my guess would be that a huge chunk of that was trying to get the watercolor/smoke effects juuuuuust right. I used lots and lots and lots of wash, lots of water, lots of drips. I wanted it to look natural and raw, to match the texture of the chitinous growths, and capture the rawness of the Worm Gods of Destiny.
Whisper of the Worm, Between Breaths, is number 6 in my series of Destiny arms and armor paintings/prints.
Like many of the Legendary and Exotic Weapons in Destiny 2, the model used is an ‘evolved’ version of a lower-tier weapon. The lore of this particular Exotic Sniper rifle actually indicates that it basically would be an Earthly weapon, corrupted* by… well. We know, now, more than ever (see: Shadowkeep and Gardener/Winnower lore entries). But I won’t just drop that info in a quick blog post about a painting. You should listen to the discussion Broman and Byf did, here.
Generally though, [MINOR SPOILER] the Whisper is based on a similar quest/gun from Destiny 1. Actually, two of them. But they were basically the same gun in Destiny 1- one came out before a major update, and then an updated version of it came out as well. The Black Hammer and then the Black Spindle actually both seem to be based on the same model. At the very least, they share some very distinct characteristics.
This particular evolved in-game model is based on the Aachen-LR2.
If it calls to us, the Taken energy hoarsely whispers, in a low and wicked, repeating drone:
”TAKE THE THRONE”
