Harpying on

This is the sketch of a series of three creature designs from Beagle's classic fantasy novel, The Last Unicorn, that I plan to do. I will be painting the Harpy Kelaino ( or Celaeno, as it is written in the book), the Red Bull and the Unicorn herself.

The harpy has references of a Andean Condor (the head crest mostly) and for some reason I wanted a long neck and tail. Those feet/talons gave me trouble to work out, but I think their OK now... I think...

Kelaino is also known as "She Who is Dark" which makes her sound the most sinister of her sisters: Aello ("The Wind-Footed One"),Okypete ("She Who Is Swift in Flight"),Okythoe ("The Swift Footed") and Mapsaura ("A Blast of Wind"). So I'll probably have a dark colouration for her feathers/skin and place her in a gloomy setting.

ArtRange Experiment

I finally received my new graphics tablet (a Wacom Bamboo Fun). I didn't realise that ArtRange.2 came free with it as well. Brilliant! I have seen it reviewed and worked with in the magazine ImagineFX and thought it would be a good software to have. I love how it replicates traditional media, the paints blending into each other automatically as if painting in oils and how it reacts to the canvas texture beneath. Above is my quick little doodle, just to get to grips with its features.

Phantom and Christine: Part 1 ( O.G Problems)

O' Erik! The trouble you've been causing me. I couldn't work out how to make his reaching out pose work...or if it would anyway. So, quick thumbnails on the photocopied drawing of Christine was in order. I'm beginning to rethink the reaching out, seeing as this is the moment when the closeness between Christine and the Phantom has been lost. Instead the third thumbnail is making more sense, a repellent distance.

Panda Leopard: Part 5 (Mountains)

At first the background was too green/grey, so with a sponge I did a gradient of lighter blue towards the centre. I then began to block out the mountains. They gave me a bit of pain, for I wasn't sure what palette to use. That'll teach me for not having some reference in front of me *slaps wrist*. I was also figuring out the perspective and how faded into the background will the further mountains be?

These are the mountains after "snow" has been added to them. Looking at photo's I image the snow would reflect the colour of the sky, so I used a bright blue instead of white. Also needed some places where there is shadow and the rock is showing through. However, I'm not happy with the contrast. There is too much and it'll distract from the focal point of the ibex and panda-leopard. Looking at the mountain at the far left, I decide that's the type of unfocused contrast I want for the rest.

Out comes that sponge again. This time I wet it and gradually wash it with light blue. It removes distracting contrast and detail while pushing them into the background more.

However, I will look at some more mountain photo's for reference to see how to better the background. Perhaps clouds circling around the peaks or fog in their gullies?

Phantom and Christine Facial Designs

Seeing as I have no time to set up my easel and paints, yet having the art itch, I decided to start on the drawing I plan to do after the Panda Leopard. Its going to be digital and a scene from Phantom of the Opera, one of my favourite books and movie (the one based off the musical).
I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with the Webber version or the original Leroux's book version... ...Nah! I'll go with the original description, he needs some love and I've hardly seen any fan art of him. I must say I do like the 'skull' face version better. Don't get me wrong, if I had to choose I wouldn't be kicking the half-face one out of bed, yet, as a character, he isn't as interesting. Also, he never seemed that tragic, and the deformation wasn't that bad, not bad enough to be monstrous. I suppose the make-up would have been too much for the musical/theatre stage.




The scene I plan is the moment when Christine has just taken off his mask...yep, that iconic over-done scene (ha!), so she's been designed too. The first is a bit too childlike for my taste, I know she's supposed to be innocent but I still don't want her looking like a 12 year old. The second was the exact opposite, too mature and a little cold. That design would have suited Charlotta rather than Christine. The last is a better version of the first, widening the eyes and giving her a forehead.
As for the Phantom (or Erik as he's more commonly referred to in the book) was pretty much the same. I start by drawing a basic skull outline and then deciding how to exaggerate it. For some reason the second head looks more Voldemort than Opera Ghost. In the end I loved the forth one, after some thinking ( I liked the second for a while, despite the Voldemort alarm beeping in my head). His long face makes him look more miserable (just like that saying "Why the long face?") and not too obviously skull-like.

Panda Leopard: Part 4 (Preparing for Paint)

*sigh* Sometimes I hate living in my small flat, there is hardly any room to do traditional art, and this is only A3 size! I'm literally crammed in my living room between a cupboard and a small table that has to have the lamp and phone thrown off it for any room. Its terrible to work in. I was only able to do a basic background before my concentration was broken by someone trying to sell electricity door-to-door. I have so little time its frustrating, especially as I'm starting a job this week.

Ranting much? Anyway, at least I know the masking fluid works. Wasn't sure how it worked as there was NO instructions on the bottle (thank God for the Internet). Such a nerving moment when I went over the figures in paint.

Quick Bunny Sketch

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Captain Wolfsbane

With no graphics tablet (it died on me a few days ago) and very little energy to do any quality sketches because of a lack of sleep, I decided to do some quick sketches, most of them pretty much just stick men. I decided to spend some more time on a random rough sketch from a previous sketch book. Random number generator gave me Page:35 which turned out to be the page were I quickly drew some characters inspired by Watership Down back in March. I chose Captain Wolfbane for this sketch. He looks a bit Efrafan I have to admit...

This was done with a thin Sapian colour pen. I like the texture on the body but wish I'd done the background less chaotic and distracting.

Panda Leopard: Part 3 (Sketch)

Ironic timing. My graphics tablet has died on me so its lucky I was planning to do this traditionally or I would be twiddling my thumbs until a new one was delivered, getting my art fix with little sketches.

Oh well, This is the sketch on the canvas paper. Of course it's going to be covered in paint so I didn't go into detail. Thanks for a taxidermy for their brilliant antelope/deer poses! It really helped with getting that Ibex pinned.
I am wondering if I did the figures too big (note, I cropped the canvas to show the main figures, the total thing is more than double in length with a mountain landscape,) for in the thumbnails they were smaller so the Panda-Leopard fitted completely in.

Joker-Bat

This is basically quick experimenting with shading using greens, with all brushes set to 100% opacity (only the layers can have their transparency reduced, yet I only did that for the veins in the wings.)

I was watching some of "The Batman" episodes and up popped the one with a Joker-Bane (Season 3 Episode 6). Basically Joker had stolen the chemical thing that makes Bane a walking mountain of muscle. He looks pretty gross, admittedly, but it got me thinking "Why wouldn't he steal something like that?" and "If he could steal that what else could he steal to make himself more kick-ass!?" I was thinking if Joker stole Dr. Langstrom's serum for turning into Man-Bat then he'd have lots of advantages over Batbreath! Plus he'd look awesome!

I don't know why I based him off a Silver Haired Bat, they just looked a bit chipper to me. Yet, moths being the Silver's main food source, it seems to only guy in Gotham to worry about Joker-Bat would be Killer Moth.