mantid creature designs

Here are some designs for the mantid/mantis shrimp creature, the apex predator and probably the most important creature in the dome. (Excepting perhaps the humans). 

Loki bust progress

For my maquette class I'm working on a bust of Loki from the Avengers. It's really challenging but fun to work on. (Which is lucky because it's going to take a lot of work to be good...). I've had to do a lot of problem-solving to get it as far as it is now, and I expect there's be more to come... I really picked a difficult subject, but I'm glad because it's a learning experience. :)

It's still very rough, but it's starting to look better!

More clay came in the mail! Yay! 

Henry V

Sketches from the free shakespeare in the park performances of Henry V. These were drawn during the show from the amazing actors. These are just for fun, but I thought I might as well post them here.

some new thumbnail sketches

These are thesis-related, but done for my 2d/3d hero props class. I'm doing a bunch of small, quick thumbnails, then taking a few of them and working them up in slightly more detailed drawings.

Expanding the blog

So I have decided to expand the purview of this blog to include work from my classes as well as thesis work (although the two do overlap to some degree).

Here are some quick sketches from photo reference that I did for my maquette sculpting class. Our first assignment is to do a bust of an existing character. I decided that I wanted to do a realistic sculpt, so it became a choice between a few of my favorite characters: Kenneth Branagh as Henry V, Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet, Ripley from Alien/s, and Loki from The Avengers. (There's a tiny bit of thesis character work snuck in there too)

I think I'm going to go with Loki wearing his armor and shouting angrily ("I am a God you dull creature!"). I though the shape of his armor and cape would make a really nice base for the bust, and if I'm able I'd like to sculpt his helmet as a removable element as well.

Sturdy background info part 2

Some more information about sturdy. 

  

   The titanocamelus has a long giraffe-like tongue that is able to reach and clean the entirety of the extended lower jaw, and is flexible enough to grab food pieces and pull them into its mouth to be ground up by the functional molars. Sturdy lives in the arid portion of the dome, traveling in small family groups or herds. They are mainly preyed on by hopper. Although not naturally aggressive, sturdy can be belligerent and may attack humans if they feel threatened, especially if the group approached includes a young specimen. Young individuals have a less developed hump and the extra teeth on the lower jaw take several years to fully grow in, during which time they are protected and cared for by their herd. Sturdy is difficult to domesticate, but can be hunted for food although this is dangerous both to the hunter and those who would eat the meat, which can be contaminated by hopper's deadly bacteria. Sturdy eats mostly a diet of fungi that grow underneath rocks and plants in the arid area of the dome. These fungi are most common near the nesting grounds, but are prevalent around the entire dry portion of the dome. These fungi grow quickly, and without a healthy population of sturdy to curtail their growth (sturdy eat a lot) they quickly become problematic. This fungus grows mostly under things because it is more difficult for sturdy to reach it there, although sturdy has evolved a clever way to deal with that. The fungus maintains itself by lingering in the deepest cracks and crevasses where even sturdy can't reach it. 

Sturdy background info

Well, this post may be boring to people who aren't me... But this is a bit of the writeup that I am doing for each creature. As usual, details are subject to change, but this is the gist of it. I have more, but I figure this is enough text block for one update. 

1.   "Sturdy" Sturdy Ungulate - titanocamelus polydentis

a.     Main food source: small fungus

b.     Main predator: hopper

            Sturdy is an herbivore, and gets its nutrients from scraping fungi from the undersides of plants, rocks, and debris, so it has evolved to have an under-slung double jaw, with one part where its upper teeth and molars meet, and a secondary part that has become elongated and has extra teeth angled up for scraping. The head is heavy and held low to the ground, and the neck is thick and powerful to allow it to swing its head back and forth in a powerful defensive motion. 

      Much like a camel, it stores extra fat in a hump on its back. To compensate for this extra weight, it has an additional pair of legs situated in the middle of its body. The ribcage has remained much like a buffalo or oxen, but there is a secondary shoulder girdle and set of shoulder blades for the front set of legs. The legs move in a wave pattern so they don't hit each other when walking. Due to the heaviness of its body, sturdy is generally quite slow moving. Its forelegs are longer to allow it to raise its head if necessary to search for food or scan for predators, since the head is too heavy to be raised up by the neck alone. The loose skin on the neck accommodates a wide range of motion and also is used to attract mates or intimidate predators. The neck skin has a series of small air bladders underneath it that can be inflated to give an impressive appearance. 

Sturdy colors

Color! I'm still not sure that I'm satisfied with the final version of the color scheme for this creature, I may work on it some more in the future. But here's the process I used to color.

First i did a couple different versions, thinking about how the colors would reflect its habitat (at this point I had not decided if it would be a forest or a desert creature). These are just flat colors applied over the line drawing.

This last one is my favorite, although I think it could use a little bit of variation still. I got this one by combining two other color versions, something that often yields more interesting results than just trying to create more new ones from scratch. 

Then I applied the shading layer to the colors, and added some extra highlights and textures, still just trying out different versions to see which I like best. 

This one is the best I think, although I think I might make the skin texture more matte and less shiny, more like an elephant or a rhinoceros, especially on the back area. 

Sturdy drawings

After I chose a silhouette (or in this case a tiny sketch) I scanned it and from that point on worked in photoshop. This image is in an orthographic view, so you can only see one side, but I should really put in an indication of the other three legs... That would also help it feel less flat... But anyway. 

Here is the original thumbnail, about one and a half inches long drawn in ballpoint pen.

Followed by a quick sketch over that in photoshop. I removed the horns for visibility, then never put them back in. I'm still on the fence about whether it needs them or not. My original idea was that its head was so heavy it used its horns like sledge runners to push itself around, but that seems a bit silly.

From this point on I compiled a whole bunch of anatomical reference (mostly from animal anatomy books). I used references of cows, buffalo, and rhinoceros anatomy mostly. 

I really want the creatures of Dark Waters to be strange but believable, so I am trying to insert as much real anatomy and structure into their design as I can. 

This muscle diagram was really helpful in shading the drawing. 

The arrow here was just to remind me of the light direction, then I never erased it. 

I was looking at the buffalo, and thought it might be interesting with that type of patchy fur, but I'm not sure it adds to the design particularly. 

Next up: color!