Mad scientist finished

Well, it’s been a while since my last post but I have a good excuse – honest!  Okay, I should probably resign myself to the fact that I am a lousy blogger.

The hubby and I just bought a home and are selling our old place so understandably our focus has been elsewhere.  While having to leave the house while it’s being shown, I did manage to finish the image below and begin thumbnails for a new commission.  It’s a good thing the client – also my friend – is patient.

Tonkinese study

As I have some upcoming pet portraits to work on, I decided to do a little practice drawing of a Tonkinese cat from photo reference.  My cat happens to be a Tonkinese – wonderful little guy but doesn’t seem to like having his picture taken.  Thank God for the internet and Google!

Concept art for a short film ‘Insect’ – the reveal

I was given the go-ahead by the director to show the full concept art piece so I’ve attached it below along with all the steps taken to create the piece.

1. Based on the script, I made a number of  small rough thumbnails with various layouts to present for approval.  I was sent some reference photos of character types envisioned for the film.
2. On the poster shoot, the director chose one thumbnail with which to proceed. The model, Alex, turned out to be a candidate for the lead role, so I used her likeness from the photos taken by my husband, the official still photographer. At this point, I moved into blocking in the room, chairs and mannequins in perspective.  Once I was happy with it, I began to make the mannequins look like the characters, adding clothing, wings, bloody stumps, etc. Normally, I would have put the light into perspective but as we were not sure where the light source(s) would be located I wasn’t too concerned.
3. The director needed something to show the special effects crew (The Butcher Shop) so I scanned it at 300 dpi and brought it into Photoshop for digital inking, throwing in a brownish background colour by using multiply on the colour layer and another layer to paint in some quick highlights, and sent it off to her to show the FX crew.
4. Later on, the script was further tweaked requiring some changes to the artwork including a complete re-inking. Once I was satisfied, I added colour.

The film was shot last Saturday and l got to help out on the set as Assistant PA in Craft Services (a.k.a. Food Services).  It was a long 14-hour day spent mostly in quiet and darkness and I now have a new appreciation for what goes into making a movie.  It was quite exciting to be a part of it all and to see my concept art brought to life by Carlos Henriques & Ryan Louagie, the prosthetics team. They did an amazing job transforming Tyler Williams into the Angel.  I can’t wait to see the finished film!

For more information about the movie and to get an early look at it please visit www.bull-dogpictures.com.