Terror Bird of Paradise: Part 2 (Thumbnails for Final Outcome)

Thumbnails just to start thinking what the Final outcome would look like. I am very drawn to the second-top with a panoramic landscape behind. However, I wanted to show a predatory side to this bird as was described in my made-up brief.

"Requirements of the Brief:
* The Bird must keep a carnivorous profile, ie eyes of a hunting bird and beak to match. I might help to consider what it may hunt

(as you can see I was thinking of island creatures like Galapagos tortoise and even Dodos.)

* There must be some sort of spectacular plumage of a warm colouration (reds/yellows ect)

* Though the creature itself is fictional, it is still prehistoric. Keep this in mind. Don't put a modern species in the background. "
( Tortoises have certainly been around for a long time, the Dodo I'm not sure of. If I ever go with that idea I can always make it into a fictional relation of the Dodo, like an ancestor.)

To have the Panoramic version might make the Terror Bird seem less predatory. BUT, the features (beak, ect) should speak for itself.

At the moment, the Panoramic and the "Tortoise Meal" are at level pegging. I still need to gather research into what a Terror Bird would look like feeding, either by watching Nature Programs like BBC's Walking with Beasts or looking at modern carnivore birds like Eagles and those African Secretary Bird who eat snakes.

Terror Bird of Paradise: Part 1 ( Thumbnail Sketches)

Just some thumbnail sketches for my new project, Terror Bird of Paradise. The first one was to see if there was a good basic shape I can work with. The second was to take a detailed look at the head. I particularly like the one on the top right with the rough saber-beak. The chicken-like one on the middle-bottom is also strangely appealing.

Iscribble Doodles #1

Just chilling on Iscribble, thought I'd try to visualise some of my characters from my novel. These are Quez, leathery Pterasaurid-like creatures. Top Left, is Namad, as an example of the male of the species with his red crest. Below him is Sunstripe (the protagonist) with Samillio the mouse. On below her is her mother, Sunspot, who dies in the prologue.

Rejected Joker Cards

Here are the cards that didn't make it onto the final picture (shown in July's post, "Burning the Deck") These were only rough concepts, just to see how they would look in card format and to consider if they'll look good in a smaller scale.

Burning the Deck

______________

<<< "You're Such A Card"

Well, here he is. Had a lot of fun with him (you could say I've been struck by a Joker-Gas-Bomb), even if I'm not 100% satisfied with the outcome. Here's to you Jeff Matsuda! May you splorge out unique creations until giant canaries take over the world!

Joker: Part 5 ( Rendering )

I've really been enjoying rendering this fella. Using a Noise filter on a brush gives a nice texture. Speaking of textures, not sure how much I'll use them. I've used one for the background, I might use another for the clothing...maybe hair. We'll see. Need to come up with the design on the card as well.

Joker: Part 4 (Line Art Fix and Flat Colours)

I finally figured out what it was about the line art that looked wrong. His whole body was slanting in one direction and it looked really unbalanced. Using lasso and transform tool I got that elbow twisted into a better position. At least it doesn't look like the table/surface ain't made of ice and he's a second away from slipping off screen. Meant I also had to quickly fill in the space with a hand that I had to trace over a photo of my own (as its hard enough for me to draw hands on paper, on Photoshop it'll be tediously time consuming.) I realised, half way through doing flat colours, that his sleeve was defying gravity, so I had to fix that again. I'm not too sure about the folds. Also the level of neck exposed was unbalanced on one side so I brought the jacket to the centre a bit more.