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Friday, April 19, 2013

Fox Princess Development Work


The following is some development work for a piece I am working on for Spectrum Live next month. 



Digital Color Comp


This color comp was a little break from other work I had been doing recently which mostly involved dwarves, wizards and other assorted hairy men. I wanted to do something different for a bit. 




Princess study on toned paper


I liked the direction it was heading, but then it just felt too empty. There was not enough narrative interest and my brain started to go numb from boredom. Beauty should be its own excuse to paint, but it is already beautiful outside right now; i needed to add something more.  

I realized it was missing the key element: 


Rat ninjas.



Early digital face gestures 


The ninjas made me feel a lot better about everything. Now there is a good tension along with (hopefully) something beautiful. They add a nice contrast to our princess and now I wanted to know more about her, where she is going, where she has been, and why they want to nab her. What will happen next?



Tight drawing on heavyweight bristol.  


If you are going to be at Spectrum Live in May stop by and say hello to see how the final color version turns out!

18 comments:

  1. Oooh, lovely. I especially love your pencil drawing. Can't wait to see the final!

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  2. Wow! Yes, those ninjas did add the perfect element. And I like how you utilized the empty space below to draw the eye upward. Super cool. Hope I can snag one next month.

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  3. Really cool! I hope that you post the final color version for all of us who unfortunately won't be able to get to SFAL!

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  4. Great image, definitely a change from your norm. Love the rat ninjas. Is their master a turtle? ;D

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  5. I really love this drawing. Do you have a specific brand or type of pencil that you use? I am trying to improve my pencil drawings and I'm struggling with achieving dark enough values. Thanks!

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    1. For graphite there isn't anything really special I use. For this one I used a kimberly's 2H and HB. If I want to go darker I will sometimes use a General's Layout pencil.

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  6. Brilliant composition. I do love your work, especially on the toned paper.

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  7. Ah, fantastic work. I love the rat ninjas–they definitely add some tension and look just plain awesome. Excited for the final!

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  8. Wow...this is going to be something else! very neato!

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  9. Rat ninajas=sold! They definitely do add that extra story-telling element you mentioned and also have an added bonus of looking extremely fun to draw. Will there be a blog post after Spectrum Live to show the finished version, too?

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    1. I will definitely share it on my blog after the show!

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  10. I love your art!!! :D
    __________
    What program do you use for the digital part of your projects?

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  11. wow.... this is completely... stupid... awesome! Rat ninjas? a Fox (the coolest animal) and a princess!!! can't wait to see this all finished!
    Thanks for sharing Justin.

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  12. Hi Justin, any chance of seeing the final, colored version? :) I'm really curious how it turned out.

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