Angry 80's Vampire

1980's vampires need love too. However, the focus of this assignment was to portray a clear emotion -- in this case, anger. Overall I'm fairly pleased with the realistic rendering I managed to achieve on the face. I know there are finer details that can be added in the future to improve the life-like quality of the painting but I feel that I gave this particular painting a lot of time, effort, and particular attention to detail. I don't usually paint as realistically as I did here but I definitely liked the challenge. Originally the hair was intended to be longer and a lighter hue, maybe even white, but as I was painting I opted for a shorter cut instead - one that ultimately defined the decade this vampire belongs in. The neck still needs defining but that can also be improved with a little more time, and the background would probably help give the painting some energy if it were red. Red would also relate more to the angry emotion that I was trying to portray. I was able to learn a little bit more about painting realistic skin and am anxious to try it again in my spare time [whenever it decides to drop by...].

Monkey!!

 Something I did randomly and quickly one night. I like the style quite a bit as well as the faded colours of his jacket and pants. I meant to finish the picture with a top hat sitting slightly askew on his head and actually forgot to put it in, but I don't think the lack of hat hurts it too badly in this case. Not too sure why he's holding a strawberry ice cream cone though... that's the real question here.

Character Concepts

The objective of our character design project [still a work-in-process] is to create two characters of any style and concept, and develop them from rough stages to final clean and coloured artwork. My concept was for a post-apocalyptic world fifty years into the future, specifically focusing on Tucson, Arizona. My two characters - a loner-drifter-bounty hunter-cowboy and giant science experiment gone horribly wrong - would meet here in the deserted landscape of a radiation-filled 'Wild West'. Below are some early concept pieces focusing on character number two, the science experiment, also known simply as Hubert. He was created by the state government to test the affects of radiation on creatures currently residing in the Tucson area, with the intention of relating their findings to the scattered settlements of humans that also reside in the state of Arizona.

These are early colour schemes done for Hubert. As a native creature of Arizona, I figured a deeper reddish-brown skin tone would be appropriate for something living in the desert. The skin itself would be tough and leathery, like that of a rhino, to give some protection from the harsh sun and sandstorms that frequent the area. The striped version in the bottom right-hand corner is one of my favourite concepts. They help to show the wide bulk of Hubert's massive body. Ultimately, however, I stuck with something much more similar to the top left-hand version. The bone structure is mostly taken from the skeleton of a bear, with a dropped pelvis. As I continued with this concept I also introduced various feline elements into his skeleton,and overall body shape, intending to give Hubert a bit more fluidity to his movements.

The next image shows concepts of the head. I wanted him to have an almost dinosaur feel to him, something a bit lizard-like that makes you think this creature has been around for many years but has evolved very little. Nevertheless he is suited to live in the heavily-radiated Arizona state. I considered giving Hubert a greenish skin tone as opposed to the red colour, but it ended up feeling like I was turning him into a dragon. The red and brown hues felt more natural overall. Running along the back of his spine are spokes of metal attached to the actual bone of his vertebrae. Government researchers are responsible for this mutation. The idea behind merging metal with bone was to strengthen the creature overall and examine the affects of radiated skin against common material such as metal. The research results ultimately found that the skin accepted the metal rather than rejected it, and with a slight increase of radiation to the metal itself they were able to successfully bond the metal pieces to Hubert himself. The darker bit of skin that is hanging around Hubert's neck on the left expands, as shown on the right, when he becomes angry or feels threatened. It also allows him to swallow food in larger pieces, since he doesn't have teeth for grinding or chewing - much like a crocodile.

Below is a quick character relationship showing the size of Hubert in comparison to Character One, an average man [or in this case the loner-drifter-bounty hunter-cowboy].

Vehicle Assignment

 
The most recent assignment for my Digital Tools class. The purpose was to create a vehicle that could be based on (but not directly copied from) a real-life vehicle and then to paint it focusing on its metallic qualities. Although I'm sure I managed to meet the requirements somewhat successfully, I found this particular assignment to be much more difficult than any of the previous ones. I wouldn't mind going back and redoing it when I have a bit of spare time - including taking another shot at redesigning the main body. I'm happy with how the clouds turned out though. I don't always leave much time for the backgrounds, unfortunately, but it turned out fairly well in this case I think. Satisfied with it overall.

Monster Creature

   -rawr!         

Rodent Assignment

 Frederick the hamster with progressive stages shown: initial sketch, contour lines, grey scale, final piece. There wasn't enough time spent on the background evidently - I focused much more on the hamster himself.