Week 2

So this week I was wishy washy and doodled around without making much progress, either. I didn't even get started with the thumbnails until Sunday, and by then I was already feeling like I was running out of time. I had picked Suchomimus (reptile), lantern bug (insect/fish), 7 (1-10 pressure) and dishwashing, as that is not a chore I enjoy and I would NOOOOT want to have to do it for a living. Especially silverware. I hate washing silverware by hand. >.> Pots I can deal with.

Ahem. I also wished I had worded the challenge a little differently. While its true that someone might come to you and say "I need a character based on this and this and this," chances are they are not going to be as specific as that if it's concept work. The categories that you chose in the beginning of this challenge were not really meant to be hard and fast, but a jumping off point, which one's muse might take in which ever direction one wanted. But! Oh well. I stuck to the letter, and at least I got some discipline out of it? ;)

So I doodled several designs, and I thought the guy in the lower left was interesting and different; he started out with a suchomimus face, too, but then I didn't really have any bug influence (and it's the face on lantern bugs that is so ZOMG), so I gave him the bug face instead and named him Bob, because I imagined that he bobbed when he walked. I also wanted to color him, because lantern bugs are also brightly colored and I wanted to integrate that -- that's hard to draw in black and white! But ... as I was inking him, I grew less happy with him. The coloring went "meh..." and eventually I just got tired of looking at him and the way he was going. I had doodled another body type on that thumbnail page that I was more drawn to ....

He reminded me then (and still does) far too much of the WoW tauren, but he was much more satisfying to draw. I named him Bernie. Just because. I <3 him.

Really, though, I think my dissatisfaction with the more unusual design of Bob was that he was less easy to identify with; it didn't help him that I gave him a buggy mouth, so his expressions would have been difficult to make evident. I still like the idea, but I think he is more suited for random-alien-in-the-background than character with whom I could possibly do more (which, again, was not the point of this challenge, but I like to get to know my critters and draw them more than once. And who knows.... maybe they WILL show up again, mwahaha!). I found myself wondering about the rest of the race, while I was drawing him, and wondering why he was a dishwasher, and restraining myself from writing a big block of text detailing more things about them. Didn't do any of those things with Bob.

Sorry, Bob.

Week 02

So... I'm just very frustrated this week, seeing as nothing I do seems to come out right. I'm way behind on school for this week, so I didn't have a lot of time to devote to art challenge, but hey I got it done at least!

The animals I picked was a blue-tailed skink and a damselfly. I'm not really sure how much either of those came out in my designs... My concept sketches I didn't bother really focusing on his job, just more looks, getting decent proportions, and an appealing design.

The job I picked was a call center, either doing collections calls or telemarketing. I rather liked the idea of him having more than 4 arms (plus legs) so that he could hold multiple phones at once, so I ended up going with my first design on the top. Even went with roughly the same pose. However, my guy actually enjoys his job!

Like I said, I'm not really happy with it. The scanner ate it and spit out something not very good looking, so I tried to add a little bit of VERY simple shading just to show the limbs in the back and what was behind stuff, but I don't think that came out very well either. Oh well, here it is:

Week 2 Art Challenge: Character Design

This week's challenge is about character design. I can't wax quite as eloquently about it as Kymba did about the concept of silhouettes, but I can tell you that it's going to be an important thing for all of us to be able to pull off. Sometimes they are easy, coming to you and demanding to be drawn or written and not leaving you alone until you commit them to paper or pixel, but other times they are more shy or stubborn, or we just plain can't get the creative juices flowing when someone else asks us for a certain type or character.

This week, I want us to drift a little away from our normal character types. Pick your favorite reptile. Pick a fish or an insect. And think of a number between one and ten -- you got it? Write it down, no changing your mind! Now think of your least favorite job, something you hate doing, or something you would hate to have to do.

The number is the relative atmospheric pressure at which your character lives, with "normal" in this case being five -- if you picked less than five, your character lives in a low pressure environment; if greater than five, s/he lives somewhere with greater pressure. Draw some characteristics from the animals you chose. The job you hate? That's his/her job!

Draw at least three quick concepts, then take your favorite and develop it into a fuller drawing with turnarounds and some facial (or whatever!) expressions.

Sorry, no sample from me. That's your job!

This challenge is due on Wednesday, August 10.