Phantom and Christine: Part 4 ( Erik Render)

I wanted to experiment with this picture and try shading using the gradient fill tool and using masks. However this didn't give the best results and some places where to small for this approach.


Above is Erik with shadow and light on him, then increased by duplicating the layers. I must remember this is quite a dark setting and as Erik is in the background he'll be darker (out of the lime light) than Christine, who is more of a focus point.
I also forgot to draw in Erik's cape, that's what those things are on his shoulders, silly me! That's probably why that arm looked a bit dodgy.

Red Bull ... gives you wings... O' No She Didn't!

...Oh yes I did!

Well, wouldn't ya know! I had some time to do another sketch. Here is the Red Bull, the last of the character designs I'm doing for Beagle's The Last Unicorn. He has a bison-like mane, cracked horns and hooves and a big ol' manhood! It may sound perverse, but when I was a kid playing with little plastic cattle it was the under-bits that told me what was a bull, so the impression has stuck with me... yep, when I think of bulls I think of the genitals before the horns (as females can have horns just as big) ... Okayyy! Focus off from the vulgar bits.
In the book the Red Bull was described as blind, and in the movie his eyes were white so I suppose that could be taken as blindness. I, on the other hand, thought no point in the eyes being there at all, so got rid of them completely and replaced with some weird horns. The Red Bull is kind of a ghost/phantom it doesn't matter if its unpractical. Besides, he has whiskers! Blind rats can get along almost as normal just by using their whiskers, sensing air vibrations ect, so why not a huge bull?

I also loved his long whippy tail from the film. So I kept that.

"Butterfly, do you know who I am?"

"Why of course, you are a fish monger!"

God, I love that quote from the book (may not be exactly how I wrote it...but hey, don't be picky!)

So, this is my take on the/a Unicorn from Beagle's book, the Last Unicorn. I tried to incorporate some unexpected animals with the design, like a rabbit nose ('coz they make rabbits look so damn cute ^.^) and even a Great Dane muzzle (though it just looked stupid so it was scaled down a lot). My unicorn is also a bit more fluffed in the body, like a mountain goat (I think the book did reference goats for the unicorn's description). For me the thicker pelt adds a bit of wildness and age, based off true wild horses before the taming by man made almost every horse smooth and shiny.

" There has never been a time without Unicorns, we live forever. We are as old as the sky, old as the moon..." ~ Quote from the movie adaptation.

Phantom and Christine: Part 3 (Colour)

Time to start thinking about a palette. I want Christine and the Phantom to contrast in their colour tones, Christine being a warm reds and browns while Erik is cold greens and blues. 1. is the default palette and 2. is the same colours but having the background on a "Overlay" filter above it to get some darker hues.

Erik's arm (mainly the folds of the sleeve) is annoying me. It'll have to be fixed before I move on.

Phantom and Christine: Part 2 (Sketch and Line art)

Well, here is the sketch. Erik's hand had to be adjusted so it was more long than bulky, as described in the book, but other than that its ready for going digital. I want to try and do the background in ArtRage (which I have wrongly been calling ArtRANGE *shrugs and laughs*)

Oh! And the Panda-Leopard has been scrapped. I simply don't have the room or time for traditional art/painting and when you don't enjoy the prospect of doing it then its not worth doing.

*Later* And there's the background. It's so weird that it was done digitally! You can see brush strokes for wombat-sake! It was imported into photoshop and adjusted slightly so the hue was more warm browns/golds instead of green and the edges darkened.
I've also just started the line art, above a mid tone flat colour layer so I can see what I'm doing better. I probably won't use most the lines, so I'll erase where necessary depending on how it eventually turns out at the end.

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.