moth trio shot

After seeing some kick ass artwork I just had to try my hand at a painterly group shot. I started with Herschel and the rest of the image grew from there, with Vaitea and Moth going on top. This one took 4 hours, and was a lot of fun to create.

sunset time

I just had to get this image down after seeing it one day in the city. I took various artistic liberties, but it reminds me enough of the feeling I had looking at the shadows casting off the Empire State building into peach clouds, the sun setting behind it. I didn't capture the awesomeness of that view in its wholeness- but I tried in the little time this took. I hope you can get a glimpse at what I saw, and felt.

hey there Herschel

1) standing full-body portrait.

I decided to make his lab coat a lab jacket... ??? (just cut off the sleeves and lower half) Does that defeat the purpose of a lab coat? Ah... well...

he is a quirky guy to begin with.

2) This is a concept portrait of Moth's boss, Herschel, the lepidopterist and bar owner. As he is a scientist, I stayed along the tradition of making him older and have some kind of facial hair (let's people get him more easily, with the lab coat especially, and the appearance implies experience), but I wanted to add some fun twist with having bright red hair rather than gray, and a mohawk-ish cut (it droops a bit to one side). I hope its neat!

Herschel is a quiet and kind person with a warm smile (although the mustache hides it a lot). He's kind of weird in that when you talk to him, he'll seem distracted and will tend to look past you at other things even though he is listening and responding clearly. Ironically, when he does meet eyes with people, he will gaze intently... making them feel awkward.

p.s.- he has a small bump on his forehead... just a benign skin imperfection. People tend to look at it. He doesn't care though.

the moth bar

Early in the morning, Cliff wipes off the dust on a mug.

He probably keeps the cleanest down-town bar in the city. It looks kind of classy at this hour, but at night it's just like any other bar with the darkness, the loudness, and the neon and colored lights. Cliff doesn't own the place, but the owner highly prizes him as one of the best bartenders he's got.

The boss is a lepidopterist (biologist specializing in moths and butterflies) which is where the bar name comes from.

spiral bound pad

These are some of the first sketches during the development of Moth and Vaitea. Moth hasn't changed around much although his facial features waver too much for my liking between drawings (not counting different expressions which call for variation). Vaitea was a tough one for me because I really liked the first sketch I ever made of her (not shown here). I tried to replicate that look in later drawings without having a reference but it didn't look right... usually I'm pretty good with remembering my characters' designs but she eluded me. I finally pulled that first sketch out and made a good enough copy of it in my sketch book... the full body drawing of her next to the heads is that sketch. The heads there are me experimenting with different looks.

I want to stay true to the idea that Vaitea doesn't have a stereo-typical comic-book female body... but she is still pretty. I have to try hard to keep her proportions together in every pose... its tough because its so easy to draw the generic and proportional female when sketching quickly. She has larger hips and legs, but they are short not long and thin. She doesn't have a large chest. She has to have just the right head size- otherwise she'll look like a kid. I'm still getting a feel for her eyes and nose, on how large or small to make them.


Hope you guys liked the drawings. I feel pretty good about their designs but their "souls" need to develop!

MOTH

This is Moth, the lead character of some amorphous story I'm slowly creating. His real name is Cliff. He constantly carries around a notepad, a pencil, and a pen. He was a bartender but now he's wrapped up in other things... like adventures and stuff.

I believe it's really important to get a personal project going even though my job may encompass most of my weekday hours. Even though I may get less sleep each night... I think it's that important. I talked to an awesome co-worker today, Mike, who has been in the comic industry for years and has also worked in 2d animation, and other graphic design work. He confirmed today my feelings on this so that's really encouraging... my feelings that I really need to just get my work out on the web, a project- I gotta tell my own story. It's amazing how fast business can move through the net, but first I have to create the art for my business which is a slow process. My dear friend Christine has been a big inspiration on this already, as she has made her way creating her own projects, seeing them through to completion. I am truly in the infant stages of my own first story I'm planning to put entirely online, but I will do it! Here on this blog as well as on my deviantart, I'll gradually build it up. Please wish me the best.


In other news, for those of you who are thinking, "We never saw your thesis- where is it?!"

I have a website now! It's very... very... VERY simple and just starting off but you may view my thesis there in the "story" section. Check it out- lemme know what you think!

REDCHIMPANZEE.com <--my website