I played a bit with the idea of scenario one and two. But I think I like Henry the Raven better than designing a monster.
I was thinking on going with a narrative where Henry is still protecting the village from monsters, just before for a fight. At the same time there are monster about that are sneaking away with human corpses. This might be too much for me, but challenge! Or something...
Great refs Eyliana. Do more thumbs :) Think cinematically, and you can study movie screencaps and comps to help you settle on a comp. Also not sure those comps are 16:9 aspect, the seem not wide enough? It's important to design to the specs from the start or you won't be solving the right problems..
@Amit; Yes, you are right. I noticed that they were not 16:09. I made the thumbs of this series a bit wider.
Did some more thumbs and some crow and hat studies. I find thumbs difficult. Not sure if they are really keyframe images, since I have the feeling that keyframes describe a moment of action, or just after action and are therefore quite dynamic. And the series I created now are more static. From that point of view the first once were better. Oh well, from this series I like 3,4 and 6 the best. I find that with 4 and 6 there is still space add some elements to make it more a keyframe thing and do a bit more storytelling.
Worked on two more detailed compositions. I really like the atmosphere of the first one, but the second one is more key frame like. Because of the 'action'. There is a monster in there, but I don't think it's really clear from the thumb :p.
Next is studying some gothic churches and maybe getting started with practicing some watercolour to see if I can get the effects I would like. And anatomy, especially for the second one.
Thanks Hobbit, I try! Find making compositions still complicated and time consuming.
Discovered today that I have the last week nearly no time to work on it, or paint. So I'll have to try to paint most of it next weekend. So go, go, go!
I did some more tiny studies and started to work on the final comp. Used a sketchup model for the church. I still have to design the character and the monster. I hope that the crow studies I did help a bit for the character. I might switch out the position of the monster and the character. But I like the big blood spatter ^^
Nice studies and exploration. That's a cool angle you've got going in that most recent comp, though i think the figure closer to camera looks a bit better imo. Looking forward to more!
@Neopatogen; Thanks! But no, I really should though. It is one of the biggest struggles during the CC. And I'm going to watercolour it again. Sketching stuff up is just easier with layers :).
@Legion; Thanks! I moved the figure a bit closer, and you are right, it works better. Thanks for the input ^^
I finished the whole lineart, which I have to transfer now the watercolour paper. And I did some colour studies to figure out colours and how I'm going to paint things. Still not sure about that, the piece is complicated.
Id say work on your values. Think how the darks and lights interact in the piece as a whole. That bottom right color thumb is a step in the right direction. The colors and values are better than the other 3. When planing the lights and darks of the composition think about contrasts and how each area of strong contrast draws the eye. I assume the creature is the focal point. I'd move the moon behind his head since its a bright value and the contrast created to its head will draw the eye in even more where you want it. Watch for tangents where two objects just barely dont overlap. It can break the sense of depth. Make sure objects clearly overlap or they are spaced enough apart. In the bottom right thumb theres a few tangents with the moon and the creatures head and with the hunters head and the back window. You're doing great though, keep it up!
So far so good, I guess. I like the right side of the church, the rest is still a mess. And I don't like the messy uneven washes. Maybe I can hide it later... Hmm this is gonna take a lot of work.
I love that you're working traditionally, it must be so difficult, but you're doing great.
I think putting the moon on the left would balance the composition more, like in the previous sketches
I agree with Nada, Its cool to see someone working traditionally here and see the differences(and or similarities) of working from digital. I do think that the struggle pays off quite in the end.
watercolor is definitely a toughie have you tried using gouache?
@Nada; thanks! I actually moved the moon back, so that's good.
@kurt; no I've only worked with watercolours and acrylics. I've only white gouache to bring back white in the watercolours when I mess up :p. It is on my wishlist though. The hardest part is the planning and not making things too dark, since there is not really a going back.
I worked some more on the painting. Sky is maybe a bit too dark, will see how that looks like in the end. Hope I can finish most of it tomorrow.
