Ang.Vol.Maris Head Progress

So this is how far I've gone with his head. I named him Angvolmaris (deriving from Anguis Volaticus Maris) and tried to give him a coral-like texture with sparkling bits.The stripes on his chin will mark the starting point of his blue-veiny stripes which will spread out on the rest of his body. Also his head ring will be bright blue and will stand out proudly, like a lion.

Skeletal Anatomy, Muscle Anatomy and Turnaround of Anguis Volaticus Maris

Phew..This took a while to do. After combining horse, dog and fish skeletons I finally have my creature's anatomy. It's weird how it's more satisfying seeing it inside out. I am not really pleased with the muscles and don't know if they even make any sense. We should probably ask a vet about that :P
And of course the turnarounds. I think the front view makes the creature look awkward. :S Hmm..

(oh, this is a temporary layout)

Colour Testing for Anguis Volaticus Maris (Flying Dragon of the Sea)

So here is Anguis Volaticus Maris (I am hoping the Latin I remember from school is correct). He will be coloured in and be packed with detail in this pose. For the mean time, since I am going to colour him in straight away instead of using greyscale, I am experimenting on colours that suit him. I am using different reference from shells and corals to fish and rocks.

Reference

Quick Cat Character Sketch

 

I must say I am much more confident in photoshop now :) I realised I haven't used my sketchbook for a while, even when it comes to really rough sketching. So Photoshop has become more of my idea generator now. Anyway, here is a fat cat slourping over something. It took me about 20-30 minutes to complete.

Photoshop 'Expressionistic' Practice

Not one of my best but it's good practice I guess. Following the advice from my lessons I tried to adapt them into Photoshop and made this colourful piece. It's a lot easier to pick the colours in Photoshop, which makes it quicker to finish. Oh and less messy let's not forget :P

Creature Ready for Colouring

 

Right, I think I am ready to draw my final creature in colour. I did a few changes by  adding webbing between the legs to enhance flying and a tail suitable to make it more aerodynamic. I think it looks more regal now. I can't wait to add detail and colour to it :D

And here is some detail on the feet and tail.

Also, working on the poses...

Drawing Lessos' Work Part 5

Last piece in colour. I wish I could afford more lessons :(  But I did learn a lot which is awesome :)

Progress At last! (Head ring and body)

It took a while to develop but I think I am finally getting there :)

So this is the head ring which emerged from my previous alchemy experiments. It's like a flower combined with fish fins and a butterfly or something. Hmm...not sure how this works.Oh well..atleast it looks cool.

And thisis a rough sketch of my creature on land and swimming.

I would appreciate you comments :)

Head Ring Shapes (In Alchemy)

I really like the effects of alchemy, especially the first on which looks like a butterfly. Next step isto choose a design and define it in Photoshop. Time to give this creature a bit of shape and stop playing around with it.

Research: Animals that regrow their bodyparts (Regeneration)

I remember seing this documentary once when I was younger that had to do with animals that could grow their limbs back, which I found fascinating. I emediatly thought of my creature as a transforming being that swims and generates limbs so it can fly and walk.

So here is a few animals that can grow whole body parts back and could use as reference for my creature.

Salamander

Lizard

Starfish

Crayfish

Worms

 

And an Awesome cllip I found. Exactly the way I want the legs to grow! :D

Advice from Concept Artist/Character Designer Brett Bean

In order to improve my painting and character designs I seeked for some advice from the professionals. So I e-mailed Brett Bean, an American character designer whose work I find really inspiring. So this is the advice he gave me and hoping to take with me :)

"Andriana,

I paint characters in a couple of ways.  One is to hand draw the contour lines and edges and then use it as the basis for the painting on a multiply layer.  Sometimes I'll cover the lines up with paint, sometimes they'll be hard line edges if the project dictates it.  I also just start painting sometimes in Photoshop.  And I've been known to start with a  black canvas and paint white silhouettes and color in from there.  Regardless of any method, silhouettes and the read of the character is the most important. I rarely work from grey scale with characters but will for environments.  not sure why, just something I started to do.  I am not a big custom brush user, too many artists use it as a crutch to define their design.  Design is all very much on purpose and I see far too many people allowing brushes to dictate their designs.  I use a few that remind me of pastels or other mediums but not much more than that.  Character should be developed like this (something I teach in my class):  Idea and silhouettes (lots of them) > tightened art of the best idea > color comp > finished design.  

 Finding your voice is hard to do because the world we live in now is go go go.  And it takes awhile to find out who you are and what you want to say.  Patience is the key.  Learn from others and just take all the nuggets of awesome you agree with and you start forming who you are.  A lot of artists emulate and just copy but if you want to define your own voice it will take time.  Anything is possible.  Be happy with how far you've come but not satisfied with where you're at.  Good luck, I hope this helps a little on your journey."

Cheers! "

Really good advice :D

This is Brett Bean's Blog if anyone is interested in his work. 

http://2dbean.blogspot.com/

Creature Body Designs (I am stuck. Suggestions please)

Yes  know it's been a while since I last posted something that had to do with my Summer Project as I was stuck for a while and didn't know how to move on. But I've been trying to be productive which I think it's the purpose of this project.

So, since I think I've got my head shape, I've been experimenting with body shapes based on different animals from horses and tigers, to flying fish and lion fish. I really don't know what's best. I want my creature to look graceful proud and not threatening. I am liking my first design and the pose of my 7th one. I really don't know. I would like some suggestions please :)

Drawing Lessons' Work Part 4

A piece in colour again.  :)

Lighting and Shading test on a Frigate bird Character

Using the tips I got from my painting lessons and Sam Nielon's Lighting exercise of a Frog as reference, I made this cute character and played around with him in lighting. I am really pleased with theresult and can't wait ot do more. Lighting really makes your work stand out a lot better. :D

This is my original bird without lighting and shading.

Lighting exercises from different directions.

....and Sam Nielson's picture I used as reference :).

And a friendly robot :P

Drawing Lessons' Work Part 3: Homer's Profile in Colour (triple colour)

Yep..Homer again using ochre, black and white. After completing this piece, my teacher and I analysed all the work I've been doing for less than 2 weeks and we pointed out my strengths and weaknesses in drawing.  Suprisingly, I was congratulated on getting to this stage in this short amount of time and was told I've been doing better with the colours (with a method of colouring I've never used before) and I was chuffed to hear that. I am hoping that with these lessons I will feel more confident in photoshop and get rid of this cut out style I've been using up till now in my concepts (which I hate!). Hopefully I will  start blending the background  with figures and focus on lighting and shading, resulting in a more expressionistc and 'free' style. I am also studying the rules of colours and how the complement eachother which I think will really help with my 'colour phobia' :P I might do some exprerimenting on that.

Hope all this pays off in the end  ^_^

Drawing Lessons' Work Part 2: Homer's Head and first piece with colour

Today was fun :) I got to use colour in a way I never used it before and the teacher said he was really pleased with my first attempt. More please..

Homer's head using pencil.

Using colour in greyscale (using black, white and blue) and in full colour.

Drawing Lessons' Work Part 1

After getting rid of my driving lessons I decided to make the most of this free time and be productive. I found out there was a small painting and drawing studio not too far away from where I live so I went there and asked to do the basics of drawing and painting for the rest of summer. So for a start I've been doing shading and lighting along with volume in drawing. What I am really looking forward to is to start using colour which I am finding a bit 'scary' to use. I am sure this will help me out with my future drawing n photoshop and certainly give me a boost to continue doing uni work for the rest of the month :)