Pen vs. Pencil

I am still struggling with using a pen without the security a pencil and an eraser provide.

So I did I life drawing session using a soft 4B pencil and a B mechanical pencil in order to see if I have learned to be less scribble-y  and if I have improved.

   

  

Here we speed-drew the model fighting a male mannequin with a stick. Felt like something out of a Lady Gaga Video...... 

Overall I can't really say if there is much improvement myself, but it seems that  there is stronger indication of a light source in the line-work.

Creature Update

I fixed up the anatomy a little bit - The legs and the hips are stronger now.

A sketch of the final presentation of the cave dragon:

After my initial feedback, I touched up on the creature a bit. I tried to fix some anatomical mistakes like giving some weight to the body so that it doesn't look so much like a snake. And I added the legs to look like they aid in the supporting of the creature's weight. The wings are also bigger, in order to look like the creature is bigger and heavier. There was some confusion about the position of the camera - weather it was very small on the floor or if its vertical - I changed the canvas to portrait, and I tried to emphasise that it is climbing on the rocks by fixing the perspective. 

Gang Members

I started looking into what the population of the city would be. From my sketches it seemed that I am leaning towards a more desert-y look, which should be reflected in clothing. So I went for loose and light trousers and skirts.  I started of with the look of the novels that would live above the city, hoping that the complexity of the rich outfits would help me stumble across something more distinctive that I could explore and simplify for the  poor population living below. 

On the series of  images below I explored different clothing variations - all in pairs - a male and female version, all  of which influenced by different fashion  movements. On most there is evident metal work that is supposed to reflect  the emphasis on metallurgy in their society.

In this series of images I picked out a specific look that is explored in different social circles - nobles, rogues and gang members below. The gang members are using old digging and mining tools as weapons, and often have climbing ropes they would use to climb the stilts of the city and steal and provoke the rich.

During my tutorial I realized there is no real coherency with my advanced metal-stilt-supported-city and any of my population concepts. So I have to indicate the industry in my environment concepts in the slums by perhaps adding abandoned factories and assembly points. As for the character designs I want to combine the external metal corsets of one concept, with the Victorian craftsmanship of the stilts and the desert baggy look on most of the concepts. 

A City on Stilts:

Our new brief is to create a city lifted up on stilts. The rich would live above and the poor below. In this case my architectural education forced me to consider some structural stilts that would actually hold the weight of a city. So I originally looked into oil-rig platforms and three-dimentional truss structures. Then i made a series of fast sketches and settled upon an idea:

I took the 3rd sketch and defined it in Photoshop. It is quite industrial looking, suggesting the idea of noise, dirt and smoke. That sketch lead me to the potential idea of a metallurgy city, which would justify the excessive use of meal in a dislocated location.

I was really struggling with drawing environments, especially when they are non-organic, so I found this artist that works in a really brainstorm-y way.  He splits his canvas in 4, and he works on 4 different options communication a different mood or look. He works on them on equal intervals of time and could easily flip between  thus keeping the design flow going. I quite enjoyed this method, definitely works for me.

The upper left image is more 'Lawrence of Arabia'-ish. The 2nd is influenced by the Eiffel tower and it is situated in the midst of an iron mine. The 3rd image is exploring the idea that the stilts from below would be quite intimidating and church-like symbolising the oppression from the rich. And the last  is the original speed-paintng but with smoke, suggesting that the industry is ongoing.  

This image investigates how the slums would interact with the stilts. Maybe people below would try to climb them? 

Life Drawing: No Scribbling!

I noticed that my life drawings are too undefined and scribbly, not really indicating a light-source properly. These are good examples of what I mean.

So I was advised to use more permanent tools in order to be more decisive more decisive in my lines.  On the series of images below I am starting to ease in using ball-pens and different markers.

A 50-minute drawing:

Pen drawing of a very interesting dirt and moss sculpture:

Some more life drawing - I'm starting to get used to not having the security of a pencil and eraser:

 

20 minute ball-pen life drawing:

Here I found the pose a bit too challenging to use just a pen so I sketched it out  with a pencil and then inked it:

Initial Creature Design

I started a deep cave dragon design inspired by deep underwater fishes and cave animals. A particular inspiration for the direction of the creature is the Barrel Fish (a video if which can be seen below). This would add an instantly differentiation feel to the design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zoygy-8PTtU

The structure of the creature and the way it would function are explored in a series of rough sketches below:

The dragon would have the eyes of a Barrel Eyes fish, the teeth of a Frilled Shark (in the middle) and the lack of the front feet like on a classic dragon is substituted by tiny T-rex arms and  big finger-claws like on a sloth, spider-monkey or a fruit bat. This way the creature would be able to walk on its hind legs with the support of its wings, and it would be able to climb and hang vary well in the caves that it would be native to. Potentially it can have florescent colouring.

(Reference Images)

 

( Inspiration)