Aquarius (Zodiac)

[Lhune]

Hello folks! First thread here on Crimson Daggers, let's see what happens!

I am planning to do a series of illustrations of the Zodiac signs, with "guardian/keeper" as the theme. First up is Aquarius. I decided to take a new approach to the sign and work from it's core description rather than a stereotype. I was surprised to find out that Aquarius' element is actually air. Symbol for Aquarius is "the waterbearer" and the associated gemstone is amethyst so I decided to play with that.

Attached is my first pass on the illustration based on a thumb I did in my sketchbook. I want to make these illustrations the very best I can, so no need to be gentle here! It's still in it's earliest stages so now is the time to make drastic changes if necessary.

Crit away! And thanks in advance :)!

[Rognoll]

Yup, it's air. The illustration is looking great so far, it's really well composed, and it's too above my level to critizise, but I would have never guessed that it's about aquarius, hadn't I red the description. Even if you push the concept further, I think people need to understand what it is actually about.
Remember the zodiac uses tons of syimbology, so maybe you can use that as a tool.

I hope this helped a bit! Great work, Lhune, keep it updated!

[Amit Dutta]

Hey man, first off great work and a great idea. I like the fresh take on zodiac based titans.
I think the comp can be made better. It seems like a lot of that bottom third is not necessary. I know you want the creature to be the focus but perhaps using the dude on rock as secondary focal point rather than squished in the corner might help. I think the highs are blown out in the clouds on the creature, so watch that you want the focus on the face. Also play with the amount of cloud cover in areas so it's not quite so heavy over the back maybe?

I did a quick and dirty PO. Did most of the above except the clouds. I played with the idea of having the tentacles wrap around into the foreground to add depth. Gotta be careful with tentacles in cloud, you should map out the folds and coils (I didn't) so they make sense or it can be a bit too random. The idea of symbols and gatekeeper made me think of using the guy as narrative, maybe he's casting a spell in the shape of the sign to summon the creature? Too cliche? Dunno. Oh also removed the rainbow as I thought it was a pixiefairydust tentacle at first, used the all powerful birds as scale...but vegetation and rock texture could do that just as well.

Just ideas for you to play with more than crits because you're doing well.

Hope that helps




*EDIT : I think I made the comp too squished so I redid it by adding some depth between the foreground and mid rock. I got rid of the stupid foretentacle. haha. You could even extend the canvas up a bit? I left the old one in there so you could see what I did.

[Lhune]

Thanks a lot for the input! I understand what you're trying to suggest with the summoning, but I want to avoid that as that renders the person more powerful than the creature itself. I really want these keepers to look almost like gods. Below are the next two steps in the progress. I'm not sure if I like where it's going but I don't have any more time left. Feedback most welcome as usual!

[Amit Dutta]

Yeah the spell is nafff...just use the dude for scale. The second comp with the tall rock is the better of the two but the creature now appears a little cowed and less powerful because of two things. One he doesn't have high ground. Two if you look back to the first comp and design the creature's pose appears more powerful because we imagine the hind legs in a certain way. Having them visible and kinda scrawny chicken-lke and awkwardly posed makes the creature look like it's struggling to balance let alone keep any gates. I also think I liked some tentacle action, rather than none.
I'll leave it at that for now

[Lhune]

Wow thanks, that was exactly what was bothering me about it. Couldn't put my finger on it before. Will fix that scrawny look.