Concept - Frottage

For this technique I looked at the art of Max Ernst who first used the technique of frottage [1]. To do this, you lay a piece of paper over a texture such as grained wood then take a rubbing using a soft pencil. Ernst used this to create strange creatures such as  'L'évadé' (The Fugitive) [2] 

To make my piece I used textures from around the studio, the floor, wood cabinets, speaker case and woodcut carvings.

 


From these I made an image of a turkey-like bird, using the gingko leaf as a head and the card-reader embellishment as an eye, the other textures for the body and feathers.

I am pleased with my image and discovered that frottage is an interesting way of using texture and collage in my work so it will be something I experiment with in the future.Using natural shapes works best and looks most appealing (the gingko leaf makes a very good head shape from the way the stem curves into a small beak shape)

Ernst uses pencil to work into his collaged image to create a more comprehensive image that looks like a finished drawing. Although my bird does not need this, it is a useful note to consider for future uses.

References
[1] Ernst 1925
[2] Ernst 1926


Bibliography

MOMA. 2016. Max Ernst, L'evade. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/max-ernst-levade. [Accessed 12 December 2016].

Wikipedia. 2016. Frottage (art). [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frottage_(art). [Accessed 12 December 2016].

Concept - Bio-mechanical

Bio-mechanical art was popularized by H.R. Giger in the 1970s during his work on the acclaimed sci-fi film, 'Alien' [1].  It fuses organic and mechanical elements and in Giger's work, he often portrays a very smoothly shaped woman who is connected to machines via wires and other devices so that they become one working organism. Because of this it is very closely linked with cyborg art which tend to add mechanical properties onto humans to improve their qualities such as a camera lens to replace an eye.

I find Giger's work to be very unsettling, possibly because of his overt sexual references such as giving the Xenomorph a penis in some sketches or only seeming to show female bodies naked and connected to machines with tubing and wires. Several of his pieces he names 'Erotomechanics' very clearly. I greatly dislike this aspect of his work which is why I try to avoid him as an artist.

From researching Giger's art and watching the 'Alien' film, I have made a sketch of a possible human-machine hybrid inspired by his workings and sketches. I also tried to incorporate elements of cyborg art such as the cables and wires plugging directly into the organic forearms. I imagine he would act very human like, possibly operating a computer or machine that his fingers are plugged into.

References
[1] Scott 1979

Bibliography

io9. 2014. The Most Unforgettable Creations of H. R. Giger. [ONLINE] Available at: http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-most-unforgettable-creations-of-h-r-giger-1576157799. [Accessed 12 December 2016].

Wikipedia. 2016. Biomechanical Art. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomechanical_art. [Accessed 12 December 2016].

Wikipedia. 2016. Alien (film). [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film). [Accessed 12 December 2016].

Concept Art - Character Design

I began with my character description from the 'Dungeons and Dragons' game [1] with additional information that I had decided on previously (such as their backstory and individual appearance). My design needed to include: half-elf appearance, piratical themes, roguish clothing and some weapons (a rapier or daggers)

Inspiration came from recent playing of the video game 'Dishonored' [2] (a game in which you play as an assassin in a fictional city) which the character designer, Cedric Peyravernay, and art director, Victor Antenov, based on steampunk and neo-victorian ideas [3] [4]. In particular, I like the military style of the clothes [5] so I used these in some of my designs.

The initial sketches I made were to establish their facial appearance and some ideas on how the clothing might look. I also researched some images of rapiers [6] to better understand how to draw them.

I am pleased with my attempt especially my use of colour as I tried to give each different design a unique colour scheme, Design 1 has the initial piratical look from the loose shirt and wide belt which give a co-ordinated look. Options 2 and 3 are most inspired by the 'Dishonored' game art, using more Victorian clothing shapes and the darker colours worn by an assassin. Options 4 and 5 look more like the traditional style of the 'Dungeons and Dragons' characters [7], a more middle-aged look that fits in better with the game's themes.

By exploring several different style options, I now have a better idea of how my character should look and the practicality of different clothing ideas. However, I want to pursue both Options 1 and 3 so it will be a difficult decision!

References
[1] Gygax and Arneson 1974
[2] Bethesda 2012
[3] Peyravernay 2016
[4] Antenov 2012
[5] Peyravernay 2014
[6] Pinterest 2016
[7] Hasbro 2016


Bibliography
ArtStation. 2016. ArtStation - Cedric Peyravernay. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artist/cedricpeyravernay. [Accessed 03 December 2016].

ArtStation. 2016. ArtStation - Dishonored-Elite Research, Cedric Peyravernay. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9NzlO. [Accessed 03 December 2016].

Classes | Dungeons & Dragons. 2016. Classes | Dungeons & Dragons. [ONLINE] Available at: http://dnd.wizards.com/dungeons-and-dragons/what-is-dd/classes. [Accessed 03 December 2016].

Dishonored Characters Art - Pictures - Game Pics - Images. 2016. Dishonored Characters Art - Pictures - Game Pics - Images. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.creativeuncut.com/art_dishonored_a.html. [Accessed 03 December 2016].

Pinterest. 2016. 1000+ images about d&d insp on Pinterest | LARP, Costume and Swords. [ONLINE] Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/tocsidiser/dd-insp/. [Accessed 03 December 2016].

Wikipedia. 2016. Half-elf (Dungeons & Dragons) - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-elf_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons). [Accessed 03 December 2016].

YouTube. 2016. The Art of Dishonored - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtLfj6lQeJE. [Accessed 03 December 2016].

Concept Art - Digital painting

After watching speedpaints of concept landscapes on youtube, I wanted to try it myself (although my skills in Photoshop are quite limited) so I looked for an artist who makes more simple paintings. I found Badr Douah, a Moroccan artist who paints with bright colours and likes to experiment with shapes. [1] [2]

Taking inspiration from him, I chose a painting I had made previously and used it as a starting point for a digital painting.

I liked the primary colours I used in this piece and the unnatural landscape but wanted to give it more depth (as I had seen in the speedpaints [3] which depict a scene in a very 3-D way, suitable for a film or game). Elements I wanted to keep were the colours, the rider (a human figure is often used to show scale), and the shape of the rocks.

(screenshot of work) I altered the colours of the rocks as they went into the distance to give depth and used a more interesting angle which shows the shadows of the rocks and rider clearly.

(finished image) I am pleased with my image and found it useful for learning techniques used in digital painting, it is a vast improvement in my attempts from last year. The colours are much richer when working digitally compared to the original watercolour and pencil drawing, it makes it much easier to show depth and shadows.

References

[1] Douah 2015

[2] Douah 2012

[3] Molnar 2012

Bibliography

badr douah blog: ios android game art . 2016. badr douah blog: ios android game art . [ONLINE] Available at: http://douahbadr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/ios-android-game-art.html. [Accessed 27 November 2016].

DeviantArt. 2016. landscape concept by cstlmode on DeviantArt. [ONLINE] Available at: http://cstlmode.deviantart.com/art/landscape-concept-311461950. [Accessed 27 November 2016].

YouTube. 2016. Desert Base - Concept Art Speedpainting - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzmFFzXneK0. [Accessed 27 November 2016].