orchard pig sketch book development

the queens guard character

theres a queens guard needed in the animation. i felt i could get go into to much detail because it wouldn't fit with the style we have so far. i didnt want something with a personality either that would take away the pigs attention, pigs are the main thing about this project. as i was talking to a friend about it i said i need somthing almost wooden looking and it came to me to make a old wooden doll.

below is a a quick illustration i made to show cal how this will move. to show him were all the joits are.

again to show in detail how this character will move.

inked and ready for photoshop. 

not my best concept but it works and is spot on for what i intend to use it for.

applied illustration development

got some real good feed back from my tutorial, she pointed me in a good direction and gave me inspiration i needed to get on with this project. i decided to come away from my scifi stuff for this project, i wanted to explore something i never have before.like horror or comady. i wanted to chalaneg my drawing now...could i draw funny? could i draw things scary? i mentioned this to terica and she agreed that i should come away and that it would be an exciting process for my practice. 

right away i know its a challenge, if i was to make things to pitch a scary comic book then i have to get some scray creep drawings down not just with scarry drawings but to set the scene, the placment of things will have to be considered. the pannal angles to create the scene and the atmosphere. im going to have to study lots of directors and films. and use some of there shots in some of my panel work. getting that creepy feeling you get when you watch a film is what im aiming for in pitch/slides/comic.

the best way for me to tackle this project well is to plan well in advance and make a tick list of things to do and things to have in my pitch.

TO DO LIST

find inspiration for a story (book/short novel/text/song/poem)

research with in horror films and directors. (visual and contextual)

on field research of on (character location and age and elements of the story) 

body of character designs 

body of landscapes designs

story board experiments.

PITCH 

story boards. 

4 final character concepts

4 final rendered character board  1 of each character. 

4 landscapes concepts final rendered.

8 page comic book boards for pitch.

derwent pencil drawing update

i took my derwent pencil drawing to my tutor for advice on the project and for responsive as a hole. i had told her that i had chosen this competition to replace my spectrum 23 project. but as sated in my last blog posts that i had made a huge mistake and didnt know witch way to tern i.e draw it again or continue. she advised me to stop with this project and focus on secret seven. we both agreed it was for the best. she was very honest with my image and told me it was a step back wards for my practice it was almost GCSE level. and i couldn't agree more with her, it was a step back i knew it was, i played a safe move in a desperate attempt to make work fast and get me back on top, but it didnt work. 

for the course and responsive, it was a waist of time! but for me it wasn't i enjoyed drawing it, it was nice to come home to what learnt me the valuables and gave me the tools to create illustrations like i do to day. but for everything else it was a waist....

secret 7 here we come.

project proposal.

   

concept experiments

MY OWN CONCEPT EXPERIMENTS.

I felt the need to have a quick experiment with my self by making a concept of something.
after going in to a game workshop with tom ( my good man ) for a nosey. becuase this was all new to me and never even heard of this war hammer world ( thats why we was there ) i was inspired to draw some kind of war machine thing. i know i could have drawn somthing out of my head and it wouldnt have been that god but it would have been a concept none the less.

my inspiration. 

in my head i knew i wanted to create something humanoid. somthing humanoid and metal. so i had the frame of a transformer in mind.


i also thought about the movement of the figure, how would a huge steal arms move in real life. so i researched how they do, and the hydraulics of a jcb digger is just what i needed to make my concept believable


i decided i wanted this machine to be man driven, like an armored suit. when i think of man driven i think of cars and planes. i put car and driven together...i  think beetles have a real nice form to them and wanted my machine to have an out of date look even though its going to be a futuristic piece.


again i was thinking how would a huge machine move around, after all its going to weigh tones right? so i used jet enjines to move it. and by the looks of the picture jet engines look very complex and i imagine if there was a huge machine suit that would also look complex inside so im using jet engines to create my piece.

here it is. its no robocop but its mine.. im real pleased with the out come of this idea experiment, i feel i used the referance well. you can see the engines on the shoulders/breast plate, the hydraulics in the arms and legs. the beetle for through out, that ages look. and the humanoid figure from the iron hide photos.

 

experimenting with colours



this is a digital painting using the airbrush tool i think its a good tool but not effective on this comic book style i was looking. i am happy with the resukts in the colour pallet. has a real weathered look o the machine. this is a method i would use for a rendored image. maybe painting this machine in battle with an airbrush would really make the scene pop. it would set the tone well because to me it has a real likeness to real life tones.

 much happier with this one. i kept the colours bold and true on this one. i could have gone more with detail and individual colouring but its wasnt needed in the experiments. 

i used refernace for this colour experiment. a while back ben had said my work reminds him a lot of moebius. i used that to giude my colouring in style this time. leaving the clours simple and bold. no cross grading or anything. 

mobius work. 

markers, not really good with coloured markers i'm okay with black and grey but with colours my judgment is rubbish. i get experimental and daring with something i dont know about and to be honest i dont like working in markers...i dont like the feel of it on the paper, almost feels it ruines the paper as your drawing. its very draggy and very unforgiving. 

this was a very quick experiment. i used water colour back wash and then built up very simple acrylic and gouache layers with use of wax. i use this methods in all my paintings but i did this on cartridge paper and dosnt work well at all, but i just wanted to see how style would hold up with the large areas of black casted shadow.

derwent art prize development.

above is the nearly finsihed piece only the foot to finish with layers and rendor, around 6 hours and it sould have been finished. the lower part of the leg in the air is far too short...if i was to extend it the foot wouldnt fit on the page. if i was to straighten the foot the muscles in the leg would all change and it would make the image look flat|! in the above photo you can see the leg is out by a long shot but thats the angle of the photo in life its harder to see. 

you can see in the photo below.

you can imagine my disapoinment when i noticed the proporstion was wrong. such a novice move to make! i was oltering the desighn of the leg and torso as i went along and like a dick head i left the leg alone so when it came to doing it to the leg, it was too late.

i was really happy with the progress and the development of this piece. it was a nice change to go back to what i knew best.

my options are, to draw it again or crop this down. crop it down by size of paper. so make the image A2 or A3. before saying im going to scrap this and start agin, iv decided to crop the image and see if its acceptable cropped.  

this is the image croped down to A3. this is the only part of the image that i could save, if there was more leg showing it looked like her was cocking her leg up like a dog...any more of her right arm showing t looked like an adult image...the arm was indacating something else completely.

now that its cropped it still looks nice but now its a smaler image that alows me to add more detail and layers into the image. because there is less of the body to look at its less forgiving so i need the detail and more layers.

after taking some time looking and reflecting on this drawing iv decided to carry on drawing and making this as good as it possibly can.

derwent art prize development.

I create my pencil drawing in layers. Building up layers and layers of graphite. Fixing a letter and starting again with the lighter grade. I brake the rules with my drawings. I scratch into the paper making a tougher grade and rub it away and shade over it to get the darkest of a grade of pencil...there's lots of tricks and rules iv learnt through the years of drawing and I think this picture is going to require most o them. Below is an example of the first layer...I look at the image I'm drawing and work out witch grade of grey runs through out the image. 

On the right hand side you can see 2 to 3 layers of pencil and techniques. On the left is around 7 or 7. Both sides are the grade 2b but I'm able to make a real real dark 2b with scratching the paper and rubbing it away and working on the damaged layer of paper.

You can't really tell on this picture but the picture is starting to come alive its starting to have realistic elements to it. Hole thing is around 9 to 10 layers now and pushing it with the damage in the paper. ( but still looks a clean sheet) I'm starting to rub in areas to capture realistic lightiting and shadows. 

On the right hand side of the torso on the lats. ( armpit and breaths area.) you can see caster shadow, a reflective shadow, circumference sphere lighting, highlights. Its areas like this in the image that are allowing it to become realistic looking and have depth. 

When it comes to drawing the head I needed to firstly get the proportions right. To do this I over lapped a piece of paper over the place were I'm going to draw the head. As I would if I was going to trace it. I drew a very basic understanding of Jessie's head to get place,net and proportion right. 

When I got the proportion right I then placed another paper over that one and started to draw a more accurate image o Jessie's side profile using the image underneath as guidelines...my template. 

I use lines a lot in my planning and design, I line thing up on the face to get an accurate reading. On Jessie her ear lobe lined up with her top lip. Her eye brow front lined up with the crease in her lips. 

  

Once I was happy with the placement I used another piece of paper and layered it over one more time and drew one out line around the hole head. Making a out line of a silhouette. I then used that to add in a little more pencil work to work out last min adjustments. Making sure I have the right angle of the gaze of Jessie. Getting that feeling and impression is vital for this piece.  

Using the drawing I just did for the head I light boxed the out line on to my main piece. And started to add the layers as I did before. Looks tight to me. Happy Jack.

Further work on more layers really concentrating on exaggerating the darker tones.

Now iv got the head in place and started the shading. It's got to the point were I need to start matching the levels up, witch is kind of hard now, I can be slightly rough and out of the edges with the body but the face has to be spot on, if it's rough or I scratch into the paper too much I'll lose the smoothness in the face, I'll get texture and if it's got a grit texture It won't be able to look realistic. 

Iv got the layers of the face and hair matching the layers on the body. There's a couple more layers to go on through out the image but I can't do them until I finish the leg and the hands. The last couple of layers are the final cast shadows, and the bbl (bringing back the light) 

derwent art prize

i decided to direct my inspiration to fitness. the gym is a huge part of my life... i think drawing something gym related will exciting for me and also really enjoyable. it will be a nice chance also  to see how i adapt all iv learnt with my pencil skills. its been over a year since iv drawn a realistic pencil drawing, ill need to brush up fast. after all these projects keep coming and the work load is rising...im starting to feel the pressure from all angles now. and even more so that i just received my feed back from 503 and i'm not happy with my results. 

i want to create a inspirational image. or find an image that inspires me or someone else. somthing that can be used aslo in the gym world. 

PLAN OF ACTION.

research inspiration - gym and fitness related.

drawing studies of the images 

pencil warm up techniques and excursus. 

experiment on different paper stocks

start the drawing.

because its im not aloud to take photos of gymnasiums its been real hard to find inspiration that i can share on my blog. yeah i get inspired when im at the gym. i see someone leant over a smiths, music in their ears, staring across the gym pumping up for the next set and i think what a black and white drawing that would make. but i can document that on blogger. so im going to have to use the internet to try and find inspirational images. of work outs, working out, pre work out, the hype, the pump even a end result of a body transformation anything that is inspiring to others. 

these are some of the images that im working towards. between set or work out. this is my starting point. the woman inspiration image is realy striking me. when it comes to femail fitnes, all that is advertised to them is, bigger ass, slimmer waist. almost telling woman that they shouldn't gain muscle

if a woman wants to gain then she should have the same amount of ispritaion and suport just like the men who go to the gym and work out for bigger arms and chest! so maybe my focus could be an inspirational image...or a nod to the head of the woman who are out there gaining. a nod of the head to them woman doing it there way.

the above mages are realy pushing the boat on sexist...im sure but gues what there pictures of muscle men in shorts every were in gyms. if im to make a piece that is for the people whos done it and can inspire people to do it then i should research some of thouse woman. 

 jessie hilgenberg

jessie is a ifbb figure champian. ever since the first title she has focused on health and fitnes training and has helped thousonds of womaning over the world ( the jessie girls ) she offers vlogs about work outs and diet plans she helps controll a healthy life style. shes helped body transformationa and so on but most importently shes a huge inspiration to thousands of woman. 

shes done it! shes doing it! shes inspiration. 

i wanted to find an inspirational image that says it has been done, it can be done and shows inspiration. i think mrs hilgenberg is this figure im looking for. 

   

for jessie its not about having that big but them slim hips. its about having a figure. and that contains muscle gain. like i stated before theres not that much for inspiring woman to gain just inspiring woman to be what fasion think its should be. people think we live in a disney tale world for fuck sake...men should be chissled and charming and handsome. woman need to be fair petite and what have you...2016!!

!!

to draw something like this would be good. i can see this in the black and grey with no back ground. it would work. it would voice how ever i have to keep in mind that this comp isnt an inspirational advert it is a pencil quality comportistion  but the advert init is going to keep me hyped for the image. i need to find an image that can let me capture great realism, something that will translate good on paper. something that will allow me to hit high level of quality. 

deep in the internet i found these images...these are what iv been looking for, these are-

insperational for woamn who want it 

inspirational to show woman its been done

inspiration what can be 

allow me to be able to create a high level of craft.

allows me to create nice realism 

allows me to create an awsome scale of grey grades

id like to say that iv been drawing long enough to understand paper by now and i feel that the best paper to draw this on would be a nice thicker cartridge. like a 45 plus...but im wondering if the pencil would look nicer on summerset paper maybe the vintage would make the pencil work more grater and look more sharper with it having a tanned back ground.
went to the libiary and bought a few summer set pages of each. when i got back home i realised they dont messure out the size i want the image to be. i wanted it to be A1 but these are about 2 inch shorter all around...that aint what i wanted. so thats out of the picture. as it was the tanned vintage summerset paper was too dark and would look almost burnt on to the page.
55 + cartridge will be better due to size and due to the fact its a crisp white and will work well when trying to create dark dark places in the image, the over white and the over shadowed is what i need to make the image look realsitic.

i started of by printing in the images of jessie and giving all of them a real good look and to see whitch would let me really express depth, expression and also show of what i can do! after all thats importent for the win of the competition.


i chose this one becasue theres a real good balance of shadow and highlights in this picture and like i said before these are the best tools to work with to make a picture look realistic. these are the elements that will really make my skills with a pencil come through...not because im that good but beacsue anyones drawings look better with highlights and casted and reflected shadows
the image is also intresting, the placement the pose is all interesting, it shows anatomy at its best...and i think this comp is going to be portentous as hell and this will tick that box with this pose.

orchard pig sketch book development

responsive class.

the responsive class gave me and cal the opportunity to discuss the work that i had made and to talk about the next steps in our progress. i was extremely relived that cal liked the pigs that i had created. i was worried due to the fact i dont draw like this and for someone to approve of them is a mile stone for me. so defenitly in the right direction we spoke about a representation that needed to be in the animation. (not saying what it was on the blog because i dont want someone else know the shit that i had to research deep into grrrr...this is a comp after all)

my next steps are 

to create a family of marching pigs. 

a marching big wig. (queens gard) 

to create a character for the bar (the big pig)

big pig the bar tender pig!



same as before when working on the little pigs. i inked and focused on the line weight. making sure lines wasnt too thick and little, to keep that proportion and personality right. too thick and the character could look fat not sturn.



using a water colour texture, on photo shop i coloured my big pig in. im happy with how he looks. i feel iv captured a sterio type bar man in the big. checked shirt to keep home.

another screen shot of mr big pig but this time hes got a few tatts

my team partner on this project told me that he was to sort out the scene... but i want to experiment ths pig in a location. i need to know if this pig looks the part. sets the tone for the characters.

 

i have to keep the line weight style through out my images or the hole thing could just fall flat and look too miss match.



coloured the bar and attached mr big pig in the shot. i made the pumps extra big because compared to a pig i imagen they would be like this. i know it animated but i want to keep this very tongue and cheek...if not i feel like this would cry out to kids and the last thing we want is to advertise a pint to a 4 year old.

there we go. the location is a very qucik concept but it does the job. it sets the tone, it tell me that the pig looks the part and gives me an idea of what the character would look like in the animation.