Pirate attack thumbnails

So I have found a mentor! YAY!! His name is Craig J. Spearing and he is awesome and humble all at the same time! Perfect mix. At first we were thinking I would revisit the Dungeon Delve challenge and make it a sweet portfolio piece, but I was feeling sort of burned out on it, so we've moved on to greener pastures with plans to revisit the Dungeon Delve at a time when it nags me to work on it again :)

So here's the art spec he gave me for my first "assignment" :)

A Ship Being Invaded-

8"W x 10"H

A pirate aboard a ship at night. Several humanoid creatures (more than one, but it doesn't have to be dozens) are boarding the ship. It can be a combat scene, or a moment of lurking tension before the pirate notices them. The ship is only a setting, focus must be on the characters.

Certainly sounds like fun huh? So here are my thumbnails. I did at least 16, reallllly rough ones in my small Moleskine, but some were so rough I'd probably be the only one who would be able to tell what was going on. I made a point to only use a cheapy ball point pen so wouldn't be able to erase and get picky with the details. I took my 5 strongest ones and put them in Photoshop to clean up/clarify. There were a few others I still wanted to visit and see what I could do with them, but the main character is a tad too small I felt or it's face was hidden from view. So here they are:

(click for larger image)

Dungeon Delve Final

So here is the final I submitted for the Dungeon Delve Challenge on ArtOrder. Drum roll please...

Well, here's to keeping my fingers crossed :) Wish me luck! Now it's on to more ideas! :D

Dungeon Delve WIP - Color

Well... I think 'm about 90% there, just wanted some feedback before putting on the finishing touches and submitting. I decided I wanted a threat as well, so I added 3 hell hounds (since in Greek myth they always appeared in triplicate), but I wanted them silhouetted, barely seen with only the slightest detail indicated in rim lighting. :)

Let me know what you think!

New Dungeon Delve Sketch

So here is my revised sketch... start color tomorrow :) Apologize for dark band in middle... went to Stinkos so I could use large scanner and told the guy to do it at 300 dpi... when I got it home it was at 150. Guess if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, so I had to use my standard size printer for my larger than standard size sketch (I usually try to work at least 1.5 times larger when sketching so I can get the detail I want)

Anyway... I think she is certainly feeling more lost now... at least when I look at it, her face seems to say, "Oh gods, not another wrong turn! Where am I now?

During painting phase the upper background is certainly going to evolve more, as well as make the archway more beat up looking and definitely edit any perspective issues. :)

Any comments?

Dungeon Delve - WIP

So I've decided to post my WIP on the dungeon delve in the hopes of getting a little feedback.

The first 2 images are my sketch and quick value study submitted for the Sketch deadline:

The feedback I got was that the figure was looking good, but that there wasn't enough of a sense of being "lost" and that the image was looking a little cramped. Well... I'm inclined to agree.

So then I had to come to a realization that I may have to re-consider my composition. Before I totally considered that, however, I played with simply moving the composition up and down and playing with what was going on behind the character. I did this with tracing paper over my original drawing.... and while I was getting somewhere... it still felt stagnant.

So I did what any artist would do that wasn't satisfied with the original work, I took the image into Photoshop and started playing with the composition by adjusting the size of the character in the overall composition as well as adjusting her setting and other than the pose of the character ended up with a whole new image. These should be considered thumbnails I suppose since they are definitely in a very rough stage, but I think they get the picture across so to speak ;)

In this first image I kept the foreground element the same, but changed the size of the main character and her surroundings have also changed to show that there is more to the dungeon than that cramped space she was in before.

This next one I also changed the size of the character and her location but I changed her positioning in the frame. I feel that placing her toward the bottom of the frame increases the feeling of helplessness, plus it allows me space to put in more maze-like dungeon architecture above her showing all the ways she could be going or has already traveled and opened an opportunity to place a dangerous lurking creature behind her. The plan is to have mostly cool colors with the only warmth coming from her lantern and that doesn't reach far. The creature in the background would be mostly silhouetted (perhaps partially obscured by mist) and barely lit by her lantern with more of this crazy dungeon rising up behind it... dunno we'll see

Right now I'm leaning toward the second alternate image, with some tweaking involved of course. Thoughts, comments, harsh critiques?

More thumbnails

Ahhh.... It is so nice that the muse has decided to grace me with her presence again. Helps that I've got a topic that I'm having fun with and it's getting back to my fantasy art roots. So to continue with the post from yesterday, here are some more. I've taken the ideas of some and refined them and did a few more new ideas that i had up in my head swimming around but just couldn't get down on paper yesterday.

So here they are. Feedback welcome if there's anyone reading LOL

Art Order Dungeon challenge

So I joined ArtOrder and decided to partake in the Dungeon challenge. So here are my thumbnails. Any feedback would be welcome as I have to submit the sketch by Sunday ;) But this is the first I've had to work on it since I've had other commission work to do.

I like the idea of #1 and 3 but the composition needs work. I like the composition of #4, 5 and 6, though I think #4 could still be made more dramatic by changing the angle. #2 was just a quick getting an idea down on paper.

Let me know if I'm headed in the right direction.