My final project was to create a five piece set of illustrations. They are of different biomes (rain forest, desert, wetland, forest, coral reef) featuring a fictional creature based off of dragons of my own design. The dragons are supposed to be as realistic as possible, meaning their makeup would make sense in their environment.
Rain forest (revised)
Desert (revised)
Wetlands (revised)
Forest
Coral Reef
Yay
Rendering is done for the first three. I’ll have the other two done by next week, and make any revisions.
Line work is done, color blocks for the rain forest done. I might start shading on the rain forest if I get a chance this week. We’ll see.
Rain forest block
Desert lines
Wetland lines
Coniferous forest lines
Coral reef lines
Here are the finalized sketches and lineart of one.
Questions:
1. Are the themes of each dragon design comprehensible?
2. Are the compositions visually appealing?
3. Can I complete all five in five weeks?
The only really repeating criticism is the inability to tell what biome the third design represents…it is supposed to be a wetland. I noted that one compared the dragonfly wings to a more jungle setting than a swamp. I will redesign it, so hopefully it is easier to read.
Overall, everyone liked my composition ideas, but would like to see them completed to better judge. They also had a difficult time reading the first sketch, but I plan on redoing that.
My poor time management skills aren’t a secret, but everyone believed that if I kept to my schedule I should have no trouble completing all five on time.
Again, I will be redesigning the wetlands dragon, and sketching a more comprehensible sketch of the rain forest composition.
What I will accomplish by:
Week 6: finalized full scale sketches, beginnings of line work
Week 7: finished line work, beginnings of blocking colors
Week 8: colors blocked, rendering started
Week 9: more rendering done
Week 10: finished pieces
Here are my final dragon designs and composition ideas.
I plan for the finished pieces to be a mixture between realism and cell shading. I’ll mostly be using Photoshop.
I’ve written down most the common animals of each biome, and overall characteristics.
Tropical and Subtropical coniferous forests
tigers, elephants, leopards, iguanas, boas, bats, warblers, woodpeckers, monarchs and other butterflies
- greens, yellows, reds
-sleek designs
Deserts and xeric shrublands
tortoises, kangaroos, thorny devils, camels, dingos, goannas, desert foxes, coyotes, pumas, rattlesnakes, gophers, eagles
-browns, faded colors
-extremes – big ears, big legs, large shells, spikes, rattles
-burrowing
Wetlands
dragonflies, small fish, turtles, snakes, herons, geese, frogs, gators, ibis, cranes
-greens, blues
-water and land based
-generally small
Taiga
small rodents, bears, caribou, wolves, birds of prey, foxes, lynxes, raccoons, buzzards
- browns, yellows, gray – not faded
-furry
-carnivorous
Coral Reef
shrimp, starfish, coral, sea turtles, sea snakes, dolphins, sharks, colorful fish, anemones, squid, clams
-all the colors
-fins, gills, flippers
-surreal designs
No, I actually cannot draw fish properly. Ugh.
I decided to do a series of dragon designs encompassing the essence of different real life biome.
I have narrowed down a rather large list to five biomes.
- Deserts (and xeric shrublands)
- Wetlands
- Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests
- Temperate coniferous forests
- Coral reefs
In other words, I’ll do a desert, swamp, rain forest, temperate forest, and underwater dragon design.
List of biomes – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biome
One thing that I have always wanted to try to accomplish is to make an opening theme song to a fake tv show, mimicking the style of most anime openings. Here are some of my favorites:
Another thing I would like to do, and have more experience in, is to make a short graphic novel. Maybe do one chapter for this project? I prefer Japanese over American comics personally, but don’t have a preference when it comes to animation. I just happen to like their theme songs better than ours.
Gravitation ex
Yu Yu Hakusho ex
Loveless ex
Fruits Basket ex
I also enjoy just doing illustrations; maybe do a series for this project, separate from the comic/manga style. Favorite illustrators? The CCAD graduate who published the book on dragons definitely. Here are some of my favorites from neondragon:
http://neondragon.deviantart.com/art/Fight-for-Life-114645056
http://neondragon.deviantart.com/art/These-Bones-143513700
http://neondragon.deviantart.com/art/The-Tidecaller-114994502
http://neondragon.deviantart.com/art/A-Pause-148397754
…Really, just her whole gallery. I’m also just plain obsessed with dragons. Shinerai is another dA artist whose designs I love.
http://shinerai.deviantart.com/art/Run-Shin-2010-WIP2-154286385
http://shinerai.deviantart.com/art/Tyndahll-Reference-151552765
http://shinerai.deviantart.com/art/Shinerai-Reference-v5-0NK-145529668
http://shinerai.deviantart.com/art/where-the-sky-is-high-143547632
…I guess I just really love interesting creature designs. Specifically of the reptilian body mold. Maybe I could do a serious of different yet related animal designs? I guess the question is, do I want to try a project that I’m not used to, or try to make something spectacular with tools I am comfortable with?
Hmmm…I’ll start sketching some things out.
