--- In SkunkworksAMA_at_yahoogroups.com, spudugly@... wrote:
>
>
> I don't know about being turned away, but the pre-eye surgery work
you were doing was some of my favorite pieces.?
>
> We havn't seen much in the new style yet, so I won't make any
judgments, but so far, the older style is still my favorite.?
>
I think that's because I wanted to get the new style down pat
before releasing it. Also, I would pick different "parts" of the
artwork which I felt needed work, and focus on correcting those areas
before moving on to the next parts. Plus, the mainstream material
(while less enjoyable to draw) has helped immensely.
One of the areas I wanted to correct was the subject matter of body
mass. One of the things that had been bugging me for awhile was the
simple fact that most artists draw their "furry" characters as if
they are covered in colored or patterned skin. I'm not talking about
texture, necessarily, but the fact that if you take a shapely human
body and cover it in a decent layer of fur, guess what? That body is
going to look a whole lot thicker, and it might not be as attractive.
So I started by drawing the characters without their fur, to better
understand the bodies beneath all that hair. Ever seen a show cat?
Ever seen one without any fur? Yeah, they kinda lose the appeal, and
the body looks quite alien by comparison. The fur helps conceal the
unusual skin, musculature or skeletal features and helps to smooth
everything over into a pleasant form. For that reason, while
remaining humanoid, the new style bodies are not necessarily _human_.
I also wanted to work on skull shapes, since not all species would
have the same shape skull. But I'm not just gluing an animal head
onto a hair-covered human body (I've seen several artists guilty of
that). I had to bear in mind that the cranium had to still resemble
the basic shape for that species, but also allow for a larger brain.
Issues such as visual abilities were tackled as well, since the
critters had to obviously be able to see straight ahead (although
Treska's species does have a "blind spot" which extends about 4-5
inches from the end of their snout).
Another area concerned the pads on the hands or feet. An animal
actually has very ugly paws, but with the addition of fur, it helps
to make everything blend in together. The digits are quite bulbous
and mishapen, but once you throw some hair into the mix, Presto! It
looks correct. So I also wanted to understand the structure of those
parts as well. And while it might not be too evident in single-image
pictures, I've also been paying attention to communication via body
language, since these characters would not only use speech, but also
scents and body language to communicate. Little stuff like this can
add up, you know. ;)
--JMH
Received on Fri Sep 26 2008 - 00:57:47 CDT