VOID ILLUSTRATION - Making Of

INTRO

Last couple of months, I participated in Atom Hawks - Into the void - Art Challenge. As per usual, I started my thinking process with sketches, only to get my mind to it, waiting for a picture to be formed in my mind, as well as a story.

Though Prep

Thinking of what the void could possibly mean to me in an imaginary way, I decided to add an ingredient to it, by association; ancient astronauts pseudo science mixed with speculative sci-fi.





The Scene in my Mind

A huge set with the void epicenter in the distant background. The scene is a battle that shows an  Alien guard’s superior power over the earthians, completely overwhelmed by such event. I also pictured a creature in the foreground feeling for the earthians failing rescue attempt. Rocks and destroyed spaceships evoking previous journeys racks floating all over the void space.

The Storyline

"Not far away from our solar system, an alien princess has been thrown into a confinement void. That exile happened a long time ago. Having built the necessary technology at her disposal, she tried to reach for help, searching in nearby stars.
One of her messages landed on earth, in Peru, 4 centuries ago. Unfortunately, earthians didn't have the necessary technology nor the according mentality to understand the phenomenon at the time. It was viewed as a divine manifestation and used as a powerful way to manipulate people’s mind.

​In 2044 all pieces of the puzzle match and, this time, earthians have the necessary means to reach the sender. Accordingly, an expedition flies to the coordinates from where the signal supposedly was sent. The space convoy makes an amazing discovery and  tries to help the alien princess out of the Void with intent to bring her to Earth. 
Only thing is, they have no idea she is heavily guarded from any outside attempt to set her free. Human fire power is no match for Alien’s hardware. As they keep exploring and gathering clues around the place, the Earth crew finds out they are not the first ones to the rescue, and soon realise their demise..."

Technical Specifications
I sketched traditionally characters, creatures, droids, but not the void place to set a Key moment for the story. Made value shot variants to see how contrast could work better. For the illustration setup, I mixed photo-bashing, 3D modeling, along with my favorite; digital painting.


WORKFLOW - THE PLAN

Avid research, to be as informed as possible, although, with time constraint(90 min) otherwise, I start digressing in that mental sea of who knows what, like I’m trying to escape a bad reality or bad memories with imagination, while morning flies away.






W.I.P.

Usual, for now, the individual treatment and execution of each part of the scene. I find this method interesting because it allows me to binge study as I work on it (doesn’t mean i’m always succeeding on that matter, but I keep trying). 

NOTE ON COMPOSITION:
To me, Void would evoke some kind of anarchy in terms of elements placement, although, I couldn’t get out of a slow spinning movement feel to the overall scene. I tried to take advantage of it (don’t know if it worked). 





Now I think the scene should be mirrored, so the alien creature would work as a blockage to the plot progression, even if I initially though of the earthians as a menace to a pre-ordered arrangement. 

FINAL PIECE

Didn’t make it to any winner status on the challenge results, but I enjoyed every minute I spent on it, and nothing can take my grinding pleasure away. It’s a lot of fun watching a piece being formed, from that imaginary place to an illustrated visual representation of it. 




PROGRESS SHOTS

VIDEO SNEAK PEEKS

DESERT WARRIORS - MAKING OF

Last August, I participated in an other Art Challenge, this time for Firestarter Community. Bjorn Hurri, a concept artist I respect a lot, was the judge. The theme was “Desert warriors” and I gave it the usual though process; “what if”… and started to sketch thumbnails.

Made as much studies/explorations as possible. After a couple of days, a picture formed in my mind, as well as a story - One thing I would very much like to master is the ability to make the perfect visual representation of the picture that forms in my mind, when I take that mental snapshot.

THE SCENE IN MY MIND

A poster-ish keyframe (wait WHAT ?) of a Martian Female Warrior standing before the arrival of an outsiders military convoy, in a desertic enviro. I though of an imminent combat situation, like an ambush of some sort. An ambiguous menacing key moment ? "One against an army" kind of situation ? Well, at least that was the main thought.

Now the other challenge was to convert that strange mind snapshot into an illustrated visual 

MAKING THE SCENE - THE PLAN

In addition to allow me to do the characteristic skills exercising, this also gave me the opportunity to have a closer look at 80’s Sci-fi movie posters, for inspiration, and think of it as a "pre-action" keyframe, but I didn't want to end up being too influenced by anything I watched. 

I started to deconstruct the mind snapshot as a storytelling tagline. The ruler sending his soldiers to take positions all over the planet  and this alien female warrior, ready to fight for her planet, stands in their way.

COMPOSITION, TALK TO ME

I drew and painted each part individualised, in case I changed my mind at some point. I also  make a list of keywords, to think about, while building the scene: movement, flow, framing, lighting and mood.