Zombie's Book of Sketches

[ZombieChinchilla]

I've been following the Character Design Challenge on FB for a while now, but am only now taking a crack at their monthly challenge now. The theme for August is insect warrior. Here's some concept sketches. The first four are beetle warriors, and the bottom four and moth-inspired. I think I'm gonna do some more sketches like this before I start working on the final illustration. Leaning towards the bottom right two designs, especially the moth-inspired masks. Any crits or tips are highly welcome!

[Doolio]

yes, constructions and croquis, do that more!:)

[ZombieChinchilla]

Thanks, Doolio :)

More concepts (I compiled everything into one pic), but the final piece. Would love some crits

[Artloader]

Hey Zombie :).

The moth design was my favourite too (I have a thing for moths - nothing weird but ... nevermind this is already sounding weird) the mask and antennae are a nice touch and I like the lantern with the moths around it, nice touch.

I thought maybe you could play around with the colour scheme a bit, there are some moths that are bright pink!

Keep it going!

[chubby_cat]

Looking good, Zombie!

I think it would be interesting to see more of the wings/cape. Since the rest of the clothing design is quite simple, you have a lot of room to add more detail to the wings/cape. Moths have great wing patterns and it varies from breed to breed. If you look at the cactus moth, for example, their bottom wings are almost translucent: 

The contrast is pretty neat and gives it multiple textures. If you were to fold them down like a cape, you'd get some cool layers and effects. Playing around with this kind of stuff, and the colour as mentioned before, will really help push your design further.

Hope it was helpful. Best of luck with your submission!

[Mylqin]

Thanks, Doolio :)

More concepts (I compiled everything into one pic), but the final piece. Would love some crits

Hey Zombie the design looks great so far, I like what you did with the lighting and muted colors (if that's the word I'm looking for..) I wish I caught you sooner so I could suggest something with the design itself, don't get me wrong it's great and I enjoy the simplicity but I feel that the mask is a bit out of place. With the wings/cape it looks like the wearer can protect themselves from harsh climates and what not, but what of the mask? What utility does it serve? Why does she wear the mask? (and if i take it off will she die?... sorry) . Is it tradition to wear it? Answering these things in the design makes it feel more deep in my opinion. Also at first i thought she was wearing all winter clothes so I was going to question her foot wear, maybe the clothes blend a little too well? that may just be me.  

Either way great job! I enjoy the atmosphere the design creates already as is

[ZombieChinchilla]

Sooo I’m posting here again after a few months bc I’m struggling!! I want to do an illustration inside a greenhouse, but man I’m getting convinced that perspective isn’t real. The first two are sketches I did, based on a ref, the first one with one pt perspective and the second using 2 point. I’m doing these in Procreate on my iPad, and I’m using draw assistance for both. But they’re were looking off, so I decided to find some refs to study from, and y’all...the lines don’t line up at all. I’m getting multiple cross points and I don’t understand. Can anyone help? Any helpful tutorials/books to look up? I know I need to start but the basics, but...it’s not matching up for me. Thanks so much in advance 

[darktiste]

Just make sure your first horizontal and vertical line are straight or else you will get fuck top stuff.If you can't even draw a square that have 90 degre angle you don't want to be going into perspective yet.Do less tracing and do more cube in 1 and 2 point perspective do alot of them like atleast 10 but i recommend doing until your tired or until you can draw them without guide going back to the vanishing point.Think like an architect you want your blueprint to be solid before you go into the detail.This mean understanding the theory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfHKJLir1yE

[Amit Dutta]

Vps don't line up in images if there is lens distortion that you will get if the photo was taken with a wide angle lens. Parallel lines in the real world appear curved in the image. The wider the lens (smaller mm number eg 10 20) the greater the distortion. Our eyes equivalent is usually taken to be 32 or 35mm camera lens. Smaller angle lenses (greater mm number lens) flatten out perspective.



Learn the theory

Perspective Made Easy by e. norling
How to Draw by Scott Robertson
Videos by dobsky on perspective

[darktiste]

It good to know about distortion specially since they affect where you should put the vanishing point a good rule is to avoid putting them inside the page.

[ZombieChinchilla]

Thanks, guys. I think my main issue was that the horizontal and vertical lines weren’t straight, so I went back and reworked them. It’s meant to be a greenhouse with a person squatting on the floor, surrounded by grass Pokémon. There’s gonna be an oddish sprouting from a pot that they’re all looking at. I like it so far, but the shelf on the right is puzzling me. It looks awkward, and I wonder if it hurts the composition. Any further advice would be appropriated.