Nothing Gold Can Stay (oil on canvas 18x24)

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold, 
Her hardest hue to hold. 
Her early leaf's a flower; 
But only so an hour. 
Then leaf subsides to leaf, 
So Eden sank to grief, 
So dawn goes down to day 
Nothing gold can stay.

by Robert Frost

FPS Final Turnarounds

FPS Value Trials-Duchamp

FPS Value Trials- Michelangelo

FPS Value Trials-Leo

FPS Color Trials-Leo

FPS Color Trials-Michelangelo

FPS Color Trials-Duchamp

FPS Evolutionary Sketches-Michelangelo

FPS Evolutionary Sketches-Leo

FPS Evolutionary Sketches-Duchamp

FPS Speculative Sketches-Michelangelo

FPS Speculative Sketches-Leo

FPS Speculative Sketches-Duchamp

I am looking forward to the evolutionary sketches to firm up Duchamp's design because I have always had a very firm vision of him; it will be easier to make small changes here and there then to come up with a whole new concept. 
While he has the same features and costume in each sketch, I am genuinely at odds with myself as to the best pose/level of truncation to initially present him. I can see all these poses being part of the game play, so choosing one to continue with for my evolutionary sketches will be a challenge. 

FPS Michelangelo Moodboard

FPS Leo Moodboard

FPS Duchamp Moodboard

Fountain Throw (working title)-Mood Board

After a little deliberation I decided to go with a satirical concept for my first person shooter game. Not being much of a gamer, I found it difficult to think of possible styles but finally decided that the characters would be in the Chibi style and become more or less truncated as the moment calls for. 
To play the game you take the point of view of Marcel Duchamp, armed with a satchel full of unlimited small pixelated urinals. You travel to renaissance Italy and throw the urinals at Artists all over Florence and Rome. When they are struck with the urinals they immediately abandon their craft and go in search of ready-made objects to give lofty conceptual meanings to.
The two major boss fights of the game will be Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo. It won't be enough to hit them with one urinal; there would instead be several obstacles to reach them and work that must be destroyed.
I found it hard to create a moodboard for the aesthetic I am visualizing.

Final Turnarounds-Demograpic Change

Tavia

Knox

Sasha

Much as I enjoyed phase one of our Fairy Tale Revision project I think I grew more as an artist during the demographic change. I had never before attempted a more simplified or cartoony style, and it was nice to see that I can try it out without compromising my notions of aesthetics. 
I opted for very simply shading and contour lines, the only deviation being that I chose to lower the opacities of Sasha's contours because I felt that it better suited his fair coloring. 
If I had it to do over again I would play with the opacity of the other two's line art for the sake of unity and because I like the effect-its definitely something I will consider in the future.

Color Trials-Tavia

Color Trials-Knox

Color Trials-Sasha

Value Sketches-Knox

Value Sketches-Tavia

Value Sketches-Sasha

Some rough value experiments for Sasha.

Evolutionary Sketches-Knox

Translating Knox the man into Knox the teenage boy was no easy feat.  How could I convey the strength, solidness, and quiet assurance of his character in the package of a very young man?
The answer, clearly, was awkward skinny legs. I wanted keep his broad huskiness while still making him a believable teenager, so I decided that he doesn't grow into his barrel chest for a few more years. This approach was a sharp contrast to how I aged down Sasha-for him I simply decided that he had no burgeoning manly figure yet and was a scrawny late bloomer.
All in all, I found the process of turning men into teenage boys much more challenging than turning my princess into a child. Children are children, the boundaries are clearer. Teenagers straddle a realm between child and adult which can require a little more finesse. 

Evolutionary Sketches-Tavia

In this version of the story Tavia is often the catalyst for drama. Being stubborn, absent minded, neglected by her royal parents and also magically gifted has her getting into trouble quite often. While there will be an ongoing plot, the semi episodic nature will be triggered by Tavia's misadventures and the boy's attempts to save her from herself. This dynamic will also set the stage for the moral lesson of each episode.

Evolutionary Sketches-Sasha

Sasha for a younger demographic has been challenging. I want to imply a strong inner core somewhat concealed by a silver spoon upbringing. 
He will later be rather successful in the military but at 13 I see his as scrawny and less than intimidating. This would, of course, be interesting in a scenario where the characters are a allowed to grow during the series-leading to a sort of ugly duckling transformation.

It should also be noted that the background colors are coming out consistently darker than intended when saved as a jpeg.

The Monkey Wrench-Speculative Sketches

 Now that my demographic has changed I have changed the delivery of my story from a graphic novel to a TV show that will be both episodic as well as follow a continuous plot.

Knox, the 14 year old blacksmith's apprentice will end up taking Sasha-the spoiled rich boy about to be beaten up by a crowd of ruffians-under his burly wing. Eventually he will meet Tavia, a young girl with more magic than sense and a taste for reckless behavior. Together, Knox and Sasha end up looking after Tavia while also getting into the misadventures of teenage boys. As if that wasn't enough, Knox has his own interesting power. Can he handle his new friends and also keep his unusual ability a secret, all while managing a grueling apprenticeship? Tune in and find out! (lol)

I thought that a much more cartoony style would suit this show, so I focused less on aesthetics and more on exaggerating each characters attributes. I soon became fairly sure about the body type I wanted, so it quickly became more a matter of outfit, hairstyle, and facial features.

Fairytale Revision-Final Turnarounds (Still in Progress)

Fairy Tale Revision-Sasha (Snow White) Moodboard

This is Sasha's mood board. As he is my Snow White I could hardly see him as anything other than stunningly and naturally blonde and that is more than OK with me. I included the upper right photo as an example of how incredibly fair I would like him to be, and the photo of Aaron Taylor-Johnson as an example of the sort of facial structure I would like him to have.
Actually, Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Anna Karenina will likely prove a useful reference because the story takes place in the time period I am using as a spring board and his character is in the military-win,win!
The photos of winter are there for the obvious reasons and because when I think of how blonde Sasha will be, my only real mental reference is the color of gently sunlit snow.

Fairy Tale Revision-Knox (Bear) Moodboard

Here is my mood board for Knox, the burly blacksmith who fills the spot of the Bear in my story-at least conceptually anyway! ^_^
I included the Hemsworth brothers because I like their builds and facial structures. I see Knox with striking, thickly lashed eyes that don't need to be particularly large to stand out. I will definitely be including them as a reference source.

Fairy Tale Revision-Tavia (Rose Red) Moodboard

Fairy Tale Revision-Setting Moodboard

Story Board Moments-The Betrothal

Here is the story board for the betrothal, a pivotal scene that forever entangles the fates of Sasha, a boy with snow white hair, and Tavia, a little girl with scarlet hair as red as a rose. 

The story boarding was a little more fun this time, I had a plan going in for how I wanted it organized and did a very rough sketch of the whole layout before adding small details. I tried to add more of a sense of movement and flow, but I have a feeling that will come with more practice.

Story Board Moment-The Bear

This is a story board for the moment when Tavia-Rose Red, meets Knox the blacksmith-my take on the Bear.

I envision my concept as a lengthy and ongoing series, so rather than attempt an entire timeline that I am yet unsure of, I chose to create story boards for a couple of pivotal moments in the story.

Having never created a story board before I have found this task rather daunting. It has forced me to realize that my drawing skills-while perfectly fine for drawing exclusively from life and creating finished drawings and paintings-are ill suited to quick and lively gestures where the main objective is to capture movement and expression. Unfortunately these shortcomings have made the process more stressful as well as lengthier than I believe was intended.

 

I am going to start attending weekly figure drawing sessions as a way to speed up my drawing process and expand my pose repertoire. I will also spend more time studying the helpful references that Dana provided on the class blog. Those were certainly very helpful!

Snow White and Rose Red-Moments

Setting

Once upon a time there was a Kingdom called Altair. To most, Altair was a land of beauty, though it was known to some as a land of vanity. For some aristocratic inhabitants Altair was a land of magic, passed from generation to generation in the noble families as routinely as property and prestige.

Betrothal

     Sasha would scarcely remember the day that sealed his destiny. Though he was a remarkably observant six year old, being forced to entertain a stubborn toddler while his mother gossiped in the palace rose garden was unlikely to register as important.

     “Such lovely red hair...” He overheard his mother saying.

     “Oh yes, she must have inherited that from her great grandmother” the queen replied over her tea.

     Sasha rather thought the princess Tavia looked like most babies as she tottered back from the white rose bush, a white rose clutched in her chubby fist.

     “For you” she said, dropping it carelessly at his feet, smiling up at him with satisfaction.

     “Just like your hair! White!” She nodded almost sagely.

     Before he could reply that he was a boy and nothing about him could possibly look like a rose, the Queen clapped her hands, laughing.

“Oh, what a lovely thought!” She turned to Sasha’s mother.

“I think it must be a sign, Lavinia-they look just like our palace roses, one Snow White and the other Rose Red…”

     And just like that, it was decided. One day Sasha would marry the youngest princess of Altair.

The Bear

     It was an unusually hot day in Altair, too hot Knox thought. He paused to wipe the sweat from his brow before he brought the hammer down again. The molten metal was slowly starting to look more like a sword and each neon spark was like a small cry of relief to his soul.

Sadly, his inner peace began to recede as he became aware of someone watching him.

CLANG!

Its probably that barmaid again…

CLANG!

His cheeks started to burn. He knew he shouldn’t have left the window open.

CLANG!

But it was summer and he was standing in a hot forge! Didn’t she have things to do?

CLANG!

He was uncomfortably aware of his light linen shirt, open at the collar and exposing quite a bit of his chest.

CLANG!

He was not going to look up.

CLANG!

Didn’t she have work to do?

CLANG!

Did she want to sleep with him?

CLANG!

Did he want to sleep with her?

CLANG!

Tits aren’t bad I guess…

CLANG!

Annoying voice though…

CLANG!

He didn’t have time for these games. If she had something to say she could say it.

CLANG!

“Excuse me?”

CLANG!

Not the voice he was expecting. Slowly, he raised his eyes.

     She must have been lost, because she clearly didn’t belong in the working class part of town. Slowly he laid down his hammer.

“Can I help you, my lady?”

“I hope so” she answered briskly. “You see I was simply hoping you could recommend a good spot to refresh myself-“ Somewhere beneath layers of ribbon, white lace, and tight corset, her stomach loudly corroborated this statement and her fair cheeks flamed with rosiness.

“-You see I am famished and I don’t know this part of town very well” she finished haughtily.

Knox couldn’t help but raise both eyebrows. She was very young-not yet out of the white customary for wealthy young girls still in the schoolroom. What business could she possibly have walking around here, let alone in a pub? Yet it was clear as she attempted to look down her nose at him-despite being at least a head shorter than he was-that she wanted no help of his. Fine.

“Try Dunlaggin’s” he nodded in the direction of the pub with the annoying but busty barmaid.

“Thank you” and she turned on her heel in that direction.

CLANG!

So the rich girl wanted to eat the pub, so what?

CLANG!

She was going to attract a lot of attention.

CLANG!

Not his problem.

CLANG!

Just a beautiful young girl, encrusted in finery, walking into a bar filled with drunk men, with that superior expression on her face…

CLANG!

Damnit…

Rolling his eyes, he laid down his hammer once more and made his way to Dunlaggin’s.