Shakespeare Details

Today I made it my mission get all of the loose parts of Shakespeare's London reading for painting as this is going to be quite the task.  I am very happy to say that I have just finished.  A lot of them took quite long as they have to be drawn small so I can later scan them into the computer to finish off the whole pictures.  There's not too much to say today really.  Some of them were ok as they were but I shall now show you the owns I fine-tuned today.

I started with the George Inn because I knew I had to put people in the Inn and I wasn't particularly looking forward to it.  I have a book at home on Tudor Clothing (and how to make them) so I used this as a reference.  Some may not all be from exactly the same time but it´s doesn´t need to really be that historically uccurate anyway, roundabouts is good enough.  I put Shakepseare in the corner sitting behind a table with his head back, hopefully he be laughing if I can manage it.  Opposite him sits a man calling to the bar maid for another beer.  Next to him sits a roll of parchment, could this possibly be one of Shakespeare´s acting troup?  The man in the back is hanging over the table looking pretty depressed, good to shove him in the corner so he looks even more alone and tragic.  The man at the round table is trying to greet the man coming in in a stiff manner but the man coming into the inn seems more interested in the bar maid.  Hopefully that will all become a bit more clear when coloured.  I drew it on an A5 so I can at least enlarge it to an A4 for painting. 

Next I did the First Folio Bust.  It's basically just a literal depiction of the bust.  Just as well I fixed it up though, the first one I sketched I realized was practically missing an arm.

Then I did the statue of Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey.  I changed the hand a bit so that it was pointing into the eyesocket more.  I am concidering to paint the figure as a real person in stead of a statue, or maybe even a statue turning into a real person, colour wise.  I say this as it is such a live-like sculpture and when I saw it, it really was like he was standing there himself.

Next was the Stain-Glass Window from Southwark Cathedral.  I started off by taking the Midsummer Night's Dream window and the Hamlet window and merging them together in photoshop.

I then drew the pencil sketch version.  It seems as though I drawn the donkey head on Bottom too big, although the one in the real window is quite large as well.  I'll see whether I need to fix it up or not.  This was also drawn on an A5 so I'll enlarge it to an A4 for painting so I don't drive myself insane, well more insane :p, I can do the face and hair then as well, hopefully.

The final major sketch today was the Shakespeare portrait which is positioned next to the Globe in the whole image.  I went for the kind of ruggid pirate look to make him look a bit more dishy than the usual weedy balding bloak you see in pictures.  I thought the earring was a nice added touch as a fashion of the time.  I saw a gold ring in a different painting but I thought the pearl drop was better in this case.  I can finish off the final details in it when it is painted, such as hair, shading, clothing patterns etc.  Might need to fix the eyes a little bit, slightly off.

The other pictures only had minor changes so I'll just leave those out here. 

Starting Sketshes and Overal Design Idea

Wednesday, 26th of April

Selected Songs from Legend:

• Robin the Hooded Man: As he is the main character and cannot be left out
• Herne: he is a visually interesting character and an important part of the Legend element of Robin Hood, also known as Herne's son. His connection to the Druids and the Oak make him a vital element.
• Together We: This song marks the togetherness of the Merry Men and Marian. The circle of trees can help accentuate this idea

I would say these three are a definite must, picking between battles and Strange Land is a bit of a hard one, I think Battles will probably be more visually interesting. The next choice is between Scarlet Inside and Lady Marian. I think the addition of Scarlet Inside will be more interesting than Lady Marian, but then there's the factor that Marian is probably a more important part of the legend than Scarlet is. I start with the other songs and will make this choice further on. I think I'm leaning towards Scarlet thought purely because its more interesting with the split tree etc. and a good lead onto Battles.

So that potentially makes it the numbers: 1 (green Lush Forest), 3 (Old Gnarly Oak), 4 (Circle of Trees), 7 (Split Tree), 9 (Clash between Dark and Green). Luckily this is relatively wide spread so I don't have to fit loads of song titles onto one page and then only one on another. Jolly Good!

Booklet Insert: 242mm x 120mm (Fold on 121mm although the images with be based on the spreads and not the pages)

Allow a bleed area as will need to be cut off when stapled.

As I said in my post on the Hellblazer cover the previous image of Herne is not quite right, too much digital etc. I will colour the images with paint and ink. Then in photoshop I can enhance elements and potentially add light enhancements such as in the background of the Herne picture. 

Right well those were the general thoughts of the morning.  I then started by trying to sketch out page 1, Robin the Hooded Man.  The first couple of sketches were very dull, see images for comments at the time.

I decided I wanted Robin in the picture firing an arrow.  I wasn't quite sure how to draw this so I got out my camera, my hooded jacket (of which I copied the hood of Robin's) and Phoenix's bow.  I'm not holding back the string because the bow is too small for me.  I then roughly cut out the photos to see what pose angle and size was right.  I tried combining poses but I found this too busy and not clear enough.  The bottom one was the one I picked which I quickly sketched out in pencil.

 

 I then continued with Herne.  I don't even know what I was thinking during the first couple of sketches so I won't bother including them here, just bad composition, uninteresting etc.  I then had a look through my Robin of Sherwood photo vault and found this photo.

Here you see Robin holding Albion, one of the swords of Wayland, before Herne.  I really love the myth of Albion added to the story and I liked this idea of Robin kind of kneeling before Herne.  I tried it by taking photos but it really didn't work.

The idea that you're staring at the back of Herne, peering over his shoulder to see Robin.  The pose is wrong (the eyes are blacked out because they were looking at the wrong spot)  and the composition just doesn't work.  I carried on by just sketching without the camera.  Funny how it can work so well for one thing and not another :D

This was the first go. I thought possibly I could rotate the book so it was standing but when thinking about the other pages I changed my mind so I carried on.  At first I kind of just randomly added in Albion, more floating on top of the picture than actually being included.

I then drew Herne holding out Albion as if he were offering it to the viewer and left Robin out.  As we just saw Robin in the previous page he's not particularly a necessity and I'm better off to focus on Albion.  I will have to mirror the image though otherwize the enlarged close-up hand is practically in the same spot as the previous page.

Then I continued with page 3, Together We in the theme of all  the Merry Men.  I was getting a bit tires and didn't quite know what to do and just sketched directly from one of the photos which was a bit pointless as I can't just shove in a picture the same as the photo.  I then drew the circle of trees meaning to put the Merry Men in but wasnt really too excited by that either.  I likes the trees but I wasn't bothered about putting the people in.

I then had a look at my inspiration pictures and found this one. 

Ii was mainly looking at the head together in different scales, not the atmosphere.  Although it's an idea often used, for example numerous Star Wars and Lord of the Rings posters I always think it quite an effective way of putting a whole load of characters in one page.  I sketched it standing and lying down, both incomplete at the moment, as I briefly reconcidered using a standing page.

I had been having trouble integrating the tree concept into the pictures which I thought was a real shame.  I was thinking about something completely different when suddenly an idea popped into my head which was actually pretty cool!  My idea was to do have the printed image pages on paper and alternate this with painted trees on plastic see-through sheets.  This way I could still include the tree theme and in fact to more effect.  Each tree theme will lie over the top of the picture making you look through the trees to see whats behind.  Only when you turn the page/walk through the forest do you really see what's behind them.  I made a dummy version of the book, it was a bit tricksy at first but I've got it now.  It will be folding and stapled/sewn like a normal cd-booklet.  The pictures will now become squares instead of panorama.  The exception being "Robin" and "Together We", for those I have found a fold that will allow them to unfold.  Robin will start by looking like this:

and will then fold open to become this (as shown above):

This will even give the effect that the string is being pulled back as you open up the page.

The middle page of the booklet in a sheet meaning that there are two tree pages following each other.  This is perfect as it is before Together We.  This song is connected to the circle of trees.  The first page can be the front of the ring and the second page can be the back of the ring which will actually add extra perspective. It will also make the book less of a 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2 pattern.

And that was it for today :D

Fairies and the Rest

Tuesday, 25th of April

A few days ago I coloured in one of the weta's just to see what ecoline and ink looked like.  It was more of a test before I started my fly for the Hellblazer cover to see if that's how I wanted to do it.  I decided to do acrylic and ink as I felt personally I had more control of the materials.

Today I continued to work on the fairy design for the Globe t-shirt.  Last time I said I would be combining the weta with the more insecty design I had already down.  Since that time I decided it would be better if they were a bit more human looking.  I thought this would bring the characters closer to the play but also just simply make them easier to understand for the audience/customer.  At first I had a look at the head.  I tried adding insect features to a human face but that really did nothing at all so I decided it had te be a insect head.  I started by adding an insect head to a human body. 

I was happy with these but I thought it was a shame to loose so much of the insect body.  I also thought there may be an issue with nudity as there are at times younger audiences coming through the shop.  This may very well not be an issue, but better something to be avoided in this case.  I had a wee flick through the article I found on Wetas in the National Geographic and found a good reference photo for the plating.

Looking at this picture I added the plating to the original fairy sketch seen above and I was very happy with the result.  I think this way of drawing the fairies keeps them original but still recognizable.  I kept the little taste/smell? feelerd and the mouth of the weta but I enlarged the eyes as I felt they looked more threatening than the small weta eyes.  I kept the feet as weta feet as well but I'm still not sure about the hands, I have a feeling that they sould be human, as if it could in fact be a normal fairy in full armour.

I then continued to draw some other bugs to put into position in the design.  I thought something stug-beetle-ish would be quite cool.  The darker coloured one was a kind monster version of a stag beetle, the antlers have been positions more as mandibles at the moment.  On the bottom one I added a ruff to add a hint of the Tudor theme.  I think though that it makes the insects look too friendly in a way. 

I then did a sketch of a faerie (currently wingless) reclining, thinking of the quote "Come not near our Fairy Queen".  It was only done quickly thinking that it could be in the foreground of the image.  The text is incorrectly positioned although I think the type of text is quite cool, it's similar to the bug antennae and is of course reminiscent of the natural world.  If this image were to be included the pose is probably about right, the front arm on the ground still needs a bit of work, too skinny by the looks of it.

I then had a digital play around with the faeries and the bugs together.  The compositions angles etc. are nowhere near right but I shall continue to complete my first sketch for the full design next week.  The new faerie (currently wingless) below isn't quite right I know, still really not sure about the hands.

TIME COUNT 15/04-22/04

+- 37 Hours 30 Minutes: Overal Weeks Work

I did extra work on the weekends so that I could have my Birthaday, April 23rd, free.  Unfortunately I was struck with a very heavy and painful period and I have had very low blood pressure today and felt very drained.  I'll be better tomorrow.  I haven't done any drawing today but I will work on Sunday the 29th to make up for it.  

Doctor Who Character Concept and Drawing

Thursday and Friday, 18th and 19th of April

I started out by writing out the general character descprition.  This was the first one:

"The alien race is originally in form a lion-like beast which can walk on legs or all fours for extra speed. When it lands on another planet it changes into the same form as the local dominant species. It can still change into its own form at any time. In the episode only original and human forms will be shown.

The race is an aggressive conquering race and have sent numerous people to Earth to plant parts of a massive attack weapon on the planet. When the weapon is completed and activated the human race will become uncapable of own-thought and turned into a slave race.

When the Doctor arrives on Earth with his assistant there are headligns everywhere warning about animal sighting and the possible dangers connected to them. The Doctor is contacted by the main Army base about one of the creatures (the race in lion form) having been seen in the base. This is how the Doctor is introduced and confronted by th race"

I had a look at the existing Doctor Who Characters to get a general idea of what they're aiming at.  For comment on age-gap and fear factor see image below:

I then wanted to do a more general research of creatures in film.  This was more to look at how designers tackled concept design in different ways.  It really does differ a lot.  There are pencil sketches, highly detailed digital paintings, quick sketches, watercolour paintings etc. The Concept Deign can be tackled just as much in your own style as any thing else and certainly doesn't nee to be sacrificed.  Looking at the clay models or maquettes to use the correct term, these are either painted or unpainted probably with the majority unpainted.  Colour seems to be tackled more in the 2D element.  I don't really think it will be necessary for me to paint mine either as it's more about the forms created by the transformation but we'll see.  I discovered a really blog/website while doing this research: http://characterdesignnotes.blogspot.com/ It's got loads of interviews with designers on it and loads of tips and tricks for character design. 

I then did one of my mind-maps: 

I then did some portrait sketching to see what kind of look he would have based on the different indeas in that came up in the mind-map.  The first I thought too ancient and wooly.  I really wasn't sure about the second and then when I drew the third one I thought that was probably about right.  Of course it has something to do with the lighting I used in the picture but I think a more gaunt look would be good for the human form to make him look a bit more seedy.  I don't really feel I need to perfect this as it also has a lot to do with casting in Film/TV but this was just to get the general idea of what I was aiming at.

After having drawn these portraits and reassessing my mind-map I had a rethink about the character. I was mainly thinking about what time it should be set in due to the link between the lion theme and Richard the Lion Heart.  Also the idea of the character disguising itself as a Knight's Templar interested me more than any old random person.  I decided to rehash my original character details to combine it with these historical characters:

"Second Version – Additional Description

The creatures come to Earth during the time of the Crusades, Reign of King Richard I (r.1189-99), a.k.a. Richard the Lionheart. The alien disguises itself as a Knight's Templar fighting alongside the King. (The Knight's Templar did assist King Richard I in battle, I looked it up.)

When the Doctor arrives he is excited and wants to show off to the assistant and manages to speak gain an audience with King Richard by using the Psychic Paper. The King tells him about a strange beast prowling the camp at nighttime. He is getting nervous as a lot of the men see it as a bad omen, some demon premonition of what's to happen in battle. The Doctor reassures him and says he'll help to rid them of the beast." 

I did sketch out a Templar Knight but I haven't done it in colour yet.  I'll just do that when I get a free moment.  I feel I can use my time a lot better working on the lion creature.  The project was meant to be a creature design project and the templar is more of a job for a costume designer as it has to be historically accurate.  I will make a colour version and tidy it up a bit later to make it a general illustration :D

Shakespeare in London Planning and Sketching

Tuesday and Wednesday, 17th and 18th of April

I started off by looking at the Shakespeare locations that I went to/tried to get to.  I then selected which I thought were best to represent visually.  I decided on:

The Globe Theatre

The George Inn

Memorial First Folio

St Bartholomew’s Gate

Westminster Abbey

Southwark Cathedral

V&A Props

I thought this was a good mix of places directly related to him, places from his time, tributes and Shakespeare in modern times.  Other places not on the image will be included in the write-up on the other side.  I decided I also wanted to include the Thames river.  To me this is a real part of London and its history and I love the way in divides the city it two. 

I then made a visual mind-map.  It is very basic as the majority is based on having been there so I just gave a few things to show this.  Thinking about the different places blue really springs out for me as a colour.  I think it's also a good colour to use in combination with ochre.  The ochre shows the old historical side ill the blues shown below have a more modern and fresh feeling to them.  I skipped doing a written one as I had already made somany notes on my trip to London I felt this unnecessary.  

 Something very noticable about London is the vast size of it and the huge amount of places and things to see there.  In my nine days I saw so much much looking at the city overal there's just so much more to see.  I really that feeling to be included that there's a lot in a small space with nothing in between, because to me that really is what London is like.  

I first had the idea to include many pictures of Shakespeare on the map with the different locations.  But when I started sketching I didn't really feel this was right, a bit like saying the same thing twice.  I was better of using the space for the locations.  I also tried with less images of Shakespeare surrounded by the locations but I thought they were dull.  

I then tried using the Thames as the dividing line, at first I thought this might be a bit obvious but I decided it was actually a good idea to help keep it an interpretation but still some sense of where the places are located.  I put the locations North of the Thames above and South beneath, very logical. I also though this was a good break in the very full picture and good way of incorporating the text.  Above in the mindmap, you can see a lot of inky text, which of course can also be interpretated as water.  

This is just a basic sketch of approximately how it will look.  I wanted to play with the scales of things to make it more of a mitch-match of places.  The Southwark stained-glass window I have portrayed as larger than the cathredal itself and although not visible here the window is a mix of two of the windows commemorating Shakespeare.  The George in needs mor people in it so it becomes a lively tavern. I don't think the pillar from inside the Globe should be stretching over the Thames either.  I decided to change the sculpture inside Westminster Cathedral a bit.  Instead of leaning against the pile of books he's leaning on a giant version of the signed skull prop in the V&A and instead of him pointing to a scroll is now pointed into the socket of the skull.  I have now done a basic trace of all of the loose elements and will be working on them indivisually.  This is so that I can scan them as I don't have a good enough camera to photgraph a whole large picture but I also want to be able to easily manipulate the sections seperately in photoshop.  This also maked it easier to change the bits if unhappy at a later stage.  I'm going to be using the same method of acrylic and fineliner so I can really work on this style development and potentially add a bit of the background from the Herne picture earlier.  When this is completed this will work as one side of the "map", more of an tourist information pamphlet really, and it could also function as a poster.  I will ask what Elizabeth and Meghan think in both senses.  Just one of those things I'll try out further down the lign.  Obviously the Thames only looks like a ribbon at the moment, but as the good old expression goes: "children and idiots..."

 

Hellblazer Sketching and Start on Cover

Monday, 16th of April and a bit on Saturday and Sunday, 21st and 22nd of April

Sorry about the weird picture layout, blogger had decided to change all the settings, and it is really bloody annoying. 

I started off by doing different sketches, for ideas for the cover.  They were mainly character based as I prefer this kind of illustration in general.  Lots of the sketches were based on a kind of entrapment concept.



I decided to carry on with using the large fly portrait combined with the bottle that is used for containing the dmeon Mnemoth in the story.  I liked it how Constatine was on almost all of the covers but sometimes indirectly, so I wanted play with this as well.  I thought at first I could position the bottle behind Mnemoth with Constantine's reflection in it but as soon I sketched this I found the composition really dull.  Instead I positioned Constantine as a reflection on the eye holding the bottle.  I already thought this had more potential.  I then change the positionn of Constantine within the eye.  My preference goes to the straight on portrait as this is more forceful (like Constantine) while the other is more of a worshipping pose.

 












I then started to illustrate the fly portrait.  I had said earlier that I was going to try and focus on bringing more unity to my work and look at combining painting and pen drawing.  I have already tried this out with a picture of Herne (Clannad "Legend" CD Cover).  At first as I said I was quite happy but after leaving it for a while and coming back to it I decided that it was too digital.  I liked the background and thought it successful: painted but due to photoshop layers a extra dimention of light was added.  My main problem was that the ink drawing was too rough and that the large amount of digitally added details were, well too bloody digital.  I decided with my fly to start off by painting the portrait in acrylics the same way I always do: pencil drawing to mark out basic shape then paint over the top in a relitively realistic manner.  Looking at my visual mind-map I used the green which seemed to be very dominant and added what has become a trademark colour, brown ochre :D.  I then quickly painted a very rough insect leg and used a black fineliner over the top to test it out before I started on the fly portrait.  I then went over the painted portrait highlighting the shapes, adding extra shadow and details such as the hair. I was and am very happy with this result.  These really are the two ways of working combined that I enjoy the most and I feel that they really compliment and strengthen each other.   
 

 After having down this I photoshopped the painting into a rough template of the cover to see how it would look and I added the sketches of Constatine in the eye.  I didn't think it was quite there at first so I enlarged the fly, zoomed in and tilted it.  Now looking at it it's actually too close up so I need to get a composition between the two. Obviously the text colour, still needs to be played with and the background will be different, black elements on Mnemoth enhanced etc but that all in the fine tuning at the end. 

I then started with the pencil sketch of Constantine.  I have a bottle the same shape as the one in the pictures so I take a photo of my Papa holding it so I can get the hand right.  Might still need a bit of work round the mouth.  I'll then finish the pincture in the same way as the fly, paint and fineliners.  I drew him smoking as this is one of his largest character traits.  Also then I can position cigarette smoke in the foreground, projecting the viewer into the position of Constantine.  In theory Mnemoth should also be reflected in the bottle and so on.. I'll have a look at what this looks like towards completion time, it might be too much, we'll see.

WIP Constantine