CGAN Feb 2017 - A Fantastical Beast - WIPs

Ah thanks Banj, it was PMD, I loved his stuff.

I wanted to do something from scandinavian lore for this challenge, but it seems we mostly have humanoid types of creatures (not quite what the fantastical beasts movie is about...). But when I looked at those Phil McDarby photos, I decided to give it a shot anyway. I remembered having drawn the lady of the forest as a red head with a fox tail when I was a kid, so I decided to make a new version... And to try the "new" pencils in ArtRage 5. So far it's mostly blurry, 72 ppi and I haven't got a clue if I'll ever finish, but I figured I'd at least post some wips...

That looks great, Charlottle!

The over-the-shoulder glance looks very sultry and mysterious, and the twist of the spine is lovely.
Also I really like the second wip with the subtle highlights and shadows on the toned background. If all else fails you could just post something like that.

But I'm looking forward to see what you can do with ArtRage5.

Thanks Valence
I mostly feel a lack of adequate (sp?) references I'm afraid... So far I've had to wing most of the anatomy But it's kind of fun working "with pencils" again - it's what I did before getting my first computer, after all.

And I love your final, especially the one with the text and the "photo". I think I'll need to hire you to write my text for me (Well, that's if I get far enough to need one)

Charlotte wrote: I think I'll need to hire you to write my text for me.

I wouldn't recommend it.
You'd only have to go on to hire a proofreader to correct all my typo errors, preferably before flattening and posting the image. Otherwise you'd have to do something really silly like correcting the flattened text manually by cutting and pasting individual letters and then re-editing the post in the finals thread to spare your embarrassment. And nobody does that kind of thing, do they? Do they?


EDIT: For typos, obviously.

Nobody would ever do that, I'm sure But I'm a scrooge, I'd probably do my own proofreading.

Now why do I see my images both in the post and as attachments? (When I posted a snowy tree earlier it posted the image plus two attachments named sntrd2 and sntrd3... (Apparently if you use å ä or ö in your jpg names the Nexus (or HAL) simply removes them. I did not name my file sntrd. That doesn't make any sense.)

Realising February is short (why does that come as a surprise every year!? And why does it seem much more shorter than the couple of days it actually is?) I decided to work on the background, even if it's all sloppy and fuzzy so far. Not sure how much I'll manage to refine it either. Been using the artRage crayons for this as they cover a bit more "ground" and add texture...

EDIT - and apparently the file was too big... (trying again)

I quite like the fuzzy background. It's always good to have varied edges and here it adds a grainy focus effect to the image.
I can never control the crayons very well, I prefer the hard edge airbrush, I feel more comfortable with the smooth pressure/opacity changes rather than the harder grain. But that's probably a consequence of my messy scribbly strokes.

And I think your file sizes are big because you're exporting a png rather than a jpg.

Valence wrote: And I think your file sizes are big because you're exporting a png rather than a jpg.

could be It's a bad habit I've picked up from Aywas where many images need to be transparent...

hey guys sorry haven't been around lately, just an idea rattling around up there, hasn't been discovered yet because they hide up in the tree heavy leaves, they have eyes that can see 360 deg independently to always keep an eye out for prey/enemies, this guy came down briefly to do his business and was spotted