Finally a finally

After a fair amount of deliberation and what not, finally settled on a design for the witches castle and got it finished. Still debating on whether to have flames on the tops of the posts. The volcano idea is Nubry's idea, because we all know that if you're mental, twisted and evil you like to dwell above the lava pit of an active volcano right?

Witchy poo

Some older roughs and a bunch of cleaner stuff. Also getting into some animals that might populate OZ, still yet to come up with some plants however. I'm continuing to explore with rough line work, and that's about all I have to say about that.... til next time.

Getting it sorted

Been a while since I posted anything, mostly because of internet trouble at home, but also cos I've kept my nose to the grindstone. Several major developments have happened to the Wizard of OZ plot in the last short while, just sorting out where the ruby boots are going to fit in, and why the wicked witch of the east had them in the first place. That was a challenge, because it involved a lot of relationship depth between the characters to flesh out different motivations. Everything is very fluid now, so it's just down to the final details of the major events that occur in the story.

In terms of artwork, the Tin Man has been the most popular character design wise. Something great about mecha, there's so much coolness associated with it that it oozes appeal when you sit down to draw it. I guess he's been the easiest because of that, so many ideas jump to mind when I think "robot".

We sat down as a group and brought all our design ideas together, all the silhouettes and various line sketches (and my detailed line version) and as a group we mulled over them and picked out the parts we found most aesthetic and stylish. We decided we would all draw a fully detailed line drawing of the Tin Man each, with the parts we had decided on as a group, and re-convene to pick the one we liked best as the final version. We're planning to take a similar approach to each of the characters (time permitting) until we come up with the full set all ready to go.

I've included much of the development of Tin Man from my mind, also some rough environments of locations and terrain in OZ. So much work left to sort!

Settling on a story

So today my friend at uni mentioned we should base out concept art assignment work for pre-production at uni, around the Wizard of OZ. Could I be any more please with that idea! Really opens a lot of doors design wise I feel, given the diversity of characters and the setting, going to have some crazy fun with this one. So I got all inspired today and thought I'd jot down a quick character draft for the cowardly lion (who also is prince of the jungle in OZ among other things we've supplemented). I still want to add more junk to him (and a tail) but I feel very happy with his physique as I want him to be massive and powerful, adding to the irony of his cowardice. Also one of the members of our pre-production group felt that he out to carry a staff. Not sure if it works, but it's another kool design element so I'm pleased :D

Other than that, been fooling around with space craft and vehicles still, even delving into the realm of drones. Loving this tangent.

More depth

I thought that I might do some thumbnails that are slightly larger, and weed into the details a little more. Still hung up on spaceships, though I'm thinking of moving on to utility vehicles, tanks and robots in the not too distant future. I can feel my process becoming more fluid and I'm finding I'm starting to mentally visualize things more and more before I put pen to pad. I love it when a random shape pops into your head and you can just roll with the idea and flesh it out.... pure fun.

Back to basics

So I'm starting to fully sink my teeth into this concept biz. I got a hold of some more Gnomon workshop vids and have been watching them intently, and then going and trying out the various techniques. Really enjoyed some of the creature ones, all done in lead and graphite, which inspired me to have a stab at pencil and graphite again myself. It's always fun to go back to the age old basics after dabbling in pen and marker for a while, something so natural and smooth about working from the heart like that. Sure felt good. I can't say I was too explorative, but I just wanted to take my time and play with some forms.

I've also been mucking around with some spacecraft thumbnails, just at any spare moment, like on the train to and from uni, or when I'm on a phone call, amazing what those little moments in the day can be used for!

Feng Zhu, you complete me.

So after watching a certain Gnomon workshop DVD that I got from the library, it wasn't long before inspiration stirred within me and gushed out onto my sketchbook. Feng's penmanship is unbelievable! Going to be a good while before I develop that sort of skill, however the principles really helped me. Drawing dot to dot, drawing from the elbow, keeping things simple for overall effectiveness. So how does my attempt at vehicle design shape up? I'm not dissatisfied, but there's room for much improvement.