fmplouisa

[fmplouisa]

Exhibition Preparation

These slats of wood are going to serve as the material in which I have hammer in the nails that hold the posters on the display.

It is reminiscent of an old wanted poster display of criminals on a fence or on the side of a barn or on a tree- anywhere of social significance where they would be seen by a lot of people. 

I used a sharp scalpel to create precise incisions into the paper mounted foam board and I am very happy with my outcomes.

After that it was a simple task of nailing them to the old wood planks to resemble posters that have been up for a while because people are too afraid to attempt to apprehend them or don’t want to become targets of the mercenary duo themselves.

[fmplouisa]

progress on photoshop

The above image is what occurred when I accidentally made the layers with colour invisible and all that remained were the outlines and shadows which make her look very dangerous. 

By adjusting hue and saturation and colour balance I was able to create my desaturated wanted poster.

In short I just played with the saturation and colour balance until I was satisfied.

For the Portraits of my characters I wanted to add a simple yet effective background. The night and moonlight has always been linked to assassins so I settled on a moonlit cloudy night with trees to suggest she’s in a forested area.

The trees, moon and sky all on separate layers so I can edit each individually with mistakes. 

I created the illusion of rough bark on the trees in the background with grey and a hint of white to show the moonlight is catching of the trees texture. 

Adding a gaussian blur would have aided in the illusion of the background being distanced from the character in the foreground.

I experimented with various titles for my characters as a duo but ‘spectre sisters’ held a soft sibilence that seemed very out of place for assassins so I scrapped that and chose to simplify the writing on the posters to the screen shot below. 

[fmplouisa]

Wanted Posters + Old Paper

As is with most wanted posters of the pre 1900′s the paper used is typically old off-white or papyrus coloured with various discoloration so I took inspiration from that for how I wanted to display my characters at the Final Show on the 19th of May.

In the Disney Film ‘Tangled’ the character Flynn Rider ( Eugene Fitzherbert ) has made iconic wanted posters that seem to always draw his nose wrong for comedic effect.

I enjoy the idea of the rips where the poster has been torn off of the tree and i also want to hammer in some faux nails so my wanted posters of Mercy and Malice look like they’ve been hammered to a wall/tree/fence/etc.

Below is a scanned in copy of the wanted poster issued by the US Department of Justice in 1934. The discolored and sun-damaged paper adds to the old feel to the poster and the written information was most likely typed on a typewriter.

I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this fake poster of Jon Bon Jovi. It uses all the classic description and the mug shots. What I find most hysterical about this is where is states he was “last seen riding a steel horse” with a “loaded sixstring on his back”

I annotated this fictional Wanted Poster of Buford ‘Maddog’ Tannen from the Back to the Future film trilogy to back up my understanding and research into the details of a Wanted Poster so that the ones I display can look as authentic as possible.

[fmplouisa]

Photoshop...again

My previous attempt at creating a furry, overly detailed and realistic piece of concept art of my characters yielded less success than I had hoped. However the worst thing that occurred in this instance was that I learnt a valuable lesson. 

I tried to make my fantasy character look realistic when in her concept she is a Siberian Husky Human hybrid that seems like she would fit very well in the world of the Thundercats (which was by no means plagerism- merely inspiration and creative influence) and I am fully aware of the likeness my characters and the style of the Thundercats share.

In this attempt I decided to forgo the use of a preliminary traditional sketch that I would scan in and just free handed a mock-up of what I envisioned her. The guide lines are a pale red in the picture above.

At first I was trying to fight my innate instinct to draw sketchy lines and make the transitions between the lines smooth and precise. It was only when I discussed it with an external entity that I realized the sketchy lines added a quality of fur and also an element of movement to her.

In addition to this I thought it best to draw the hood on a separate layer so I didn’t run the risk of messing up the facial line art I had done beforehand.

I also quickly sketched in where I thought shadows could go when I cell shaded it later down the line.

On another layer I coloured in black a potential shadow placement and them I changed the setting on the layer from ‘normal’ to overlay’ which darkened all the colours by the same amount and giving the illusion that the hood is casting a shadow.

She looks like she’s staring into your soul in the screen shot below. That isn’t actually that dishonest of her as it’s part of her character to be silently plotting the quickest way to end someones life.

The addition of more shadows and shadow placement in relation to wrinkles in fabric etc.

I definitely like this one more than my other more realist looking one. Realism doesn’t suit the look of the character- I realize that now. 

[fmplouisa]

PhotoShop Final Piece Progress

I knew that the mouth needed to change because it looked too small for the face and the proportions were all wrong. Changing the mouth meant I also had to change the expression being portrayed by the eyebrows but that was relatively simple to fix.

The picture below was the reference I used to create my mouth- I already knew that the tongue was an aspect I didn’t want because it didn’t fit my intentions for the character. The tongue also made the mouth seem very vampiric which was probably the artists original intention.

I traced around it to get the basic shape and then used the ctrl ‘C’ ctrl ‘V’ method to copy it once I had it selected and then flipped it to create a wicked grin.

The subtle cell shading I have utilized suggests a sense of drama and an eerie feeling of misplaced intrigue that will most likely result in death, for whomever was foolish enough to allow their curiosity to override their rationality. 

I used the dodge and burn tools to shade the inside of the mouth but I used varying shades of off-white to shade the fangs and teeth.

[fmplouisa]

Book Character Biography: Malice

Full Name:  Κακία

Pronunciation: KA-KEE-AH

Nickname/Alias: Malice

Meaning: Malicious

Gender: Female

Real Age: Unknown

Species: Σκυλάκι

Pronunciation: ZKEE-LAH-KI

Preferred hand:  Left Handed

Eye colour: Heterochromic- Right Eye: Blue Left Eye: Green

Hair colour: Mauve/Silver/Grey

Height: 5′ 8″

Distinguishing Features: The unique Mirror Heterochromia Iridis both twins possess 

Abilities: Close Combat with almost any close range weapon i.e: Dagger, Sword, Teeth and Claws, Σκυλάκι Martial Arts

Reputation: The Hyper-aggressive of the Twin Sister Duo

Temperament: Aggressive and Unpredictable

Signiture Quote: “As long as all goes to plan you are in for an extended amount of searing pain and tortuous agony- Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Well for me at least”

[fmplouisa]

Book Character Biography: Mercy

Full Name: Ελεος

Pronunciation: AY-LAY-OHS

Nickname/Alias: Mercy

Meaning: Mercy

Gender: Female

Real Age: Unknown

Species: Σκυλάκι 

Pronunciation: ZKEE-LAH-KI

Preferred hand: Right Handed

Eye colour: Heterochromic- Right Eye: Green Left Eye: Blue

Hair colour: Mauve/Silver/Grey

Height: 5′ 7.5″ 

Distinguishing Features:  The unique Mirror Heterochromia Iridis both twins possess

Abilities: Keen accuracy with almost any long range weapon i.e: crossbow pistol, crossbow, bow and arrow, boomerang shuriken, Kunai knives 

Reputation: The Merciful of the Twin Sister Duo

Temperament: Calculative and Level-Headed

Signiture Quote: “I care not for who our target is, only that we get paid in full when the target has been dispatched”

[fmplouisa]

Typography for My Characters

I wanted to create a unique typeface for my characters Mercy (έλεος) and Malice (κακία). 

Ampera 

This one seemed to pique my interest though upon further inspection I decided it looked a little too refined for my characters, who’s occupations include violence and excess bloodshed. 

Mandalorian ( A Star Wars race language)

I found this font interesting as it was a font in a different language- I still like it but I felt it was slightly too cybernetic-looking for the fantasy scruffy handwritten typography I imagine to represent their characters and to imply their lifestyle choices as mercenaries.

Celtic Garamond

Carolingia 

With the exeption of ‘The Elementarium’ below all the fonts above have been sourced from dafont.com. 

Even though my characters are not magical they are definitely not human by any means so I have concluded I will write their names in ‘Elementarium’ and also using ‘Celtic Garamond’ though I will scruffy it up when I write it to give a handwritten feel to it as if they wrote it themselves.

[fmplouisa]

Progress on Photoshop Final Piece

I had to construct a completely new brush to create the fur texture of my Husky Girl characters. 

It’s original function was as a grass brush but I re-purposed it, adjusted the angle to the lines and colour dynamics to get fur which in my opinion looks pretty convincing. I also used it on her eyebrows because they looked too drawn had I not added the tri-coloured fur which gave texture.

I also added the fur to the inner ear to keep the fuzzy texture going and also because canines have furry inner ears too, it’s not exclusive to the outer ear.

[fmplouisa]

Progress on my Final Outcome

From this I concluded that line art is expendable for the betterment of the art itself, however line art is useful as guide lines at least, even if I don’t intend for them to be part of the final outcome.

Harsh lines also don’t seem to suit the art style I’ve created and in my traditionally drawn and coloured picture I also didn’t use hard lines, instead I used shadow.

I utilized the copy/paste trick that I discovered before to make sure the eyes were symmetrical and the eyebrows were positioned roughly in the same place on both sides. 

Below was my attempt at using the Burn and Dodge tools to shade and highlight my character but I was not getting the desired fur texture that I wanted. Though I was happy with how seamlessly the shading appears to be.

I began by trying to get used to the tools by colouring a small section of the character first- an ear. I primarily used the mixer brush to get my different shades to blend together and then I used the Dodge and Burn. 

On this I hadn’t begun to used many layers to all the shading was above my flat colour section as I got the basic shading down

This is how I left it after one whole day slaving away trying to make this piece somewhat resemble my original drawing. 

[fmplouisa]

PhotoShop Practice

I scanned in a preliminary sketch for my husky assassin girl character and traced the eye shapes by selecting a brush and lowering the opacity of the background layer just enough so I could easily differentiate between the new line art and the original line art.

My intention with this was to finalize my eye design concept.

 After tracing the shape I sharpened the lines and reshaped it until i was happy. 

Once I was happy with the shape I used ‘ctrl’ C and ‘ctrl’ V to cope it and them flip it like a mirror image so the the eyes were the same on both sides.

To aid me in visualising how the eyes would appear in contrast to the rest of the face I flat coloured them with a greyish lilac and a greyish indigo colour. Then, knowing which colours I wanted the eyes to be I coloured them accordingly.

The situation where an individual has an eyes pertaining to different colours is a phenomenon known as Heterochromia Iridis- a genetic mutation that changes the pigmentation in the iris. 

This, coupled with the idea that my characters are mirror twins makes it the only thing that another person can use to tell them apart other than their outfits which will also be different.

I avoided using black for the pupils because it can make the eyes look flat and I wanted to keep up the illusion of a spherical shape. I am very happy with how the eyes came out- I did the same but in greens to the other eye.

For the blue eye I used the Mixer brush on a low opacity setting to create the delicate gradations between baby blue, to aqua to cobolt and finally to ultramarine. The green eye began as an acid green which then gained a leaf green and an olive green around the pupil and a dark forest green for the shadows. 

With the additions of the high lights I am really proud of the way they turned out- the black sclera’s however, will need a little more refining.

[fmplouisa]

Outfit Conceptualization with Online Character Creators

This is just an idea to help me visualize my own designs that I already have.

I feel like a tight flexible material is very popular with assassin and mercenary characters as well as a cloak to preserve anonymity. 

Changes will have to be made to suit a digi-grade leg structure like that of a wolf. And it will obviously have a tail hole for the tail.

[fmplouisa]

PhotoShop Tutorials

As a Photoshop novice I sort the aid of some step by step tutorials to direct me how to create specific assets for my characters.

Hair being the most important one as my characters are pretty much covered from head to tail in fur because they are race of humanoid husky wolves.

I will use this link to dowload fur brushes to aid in creating the illusion that my characters are furry. 

http://designbeep.com/2012/02/10/15-sets-of-free-fur-photoshop-brushes/

[fmplouisa]

Blood

Due to my characters Occupation as assassins/mercenaries I believed it was necessary to include references of blood because I may decide to add wounds to my characters. 

The ones I can see myself making use of are: Blood on Fur, Claw Marks.

Blood on Metal, Spit and Slash

Cut.

[fmplouisa]

Zootropolis vs Robin Hood

Zootropolis is an example of anthropomorphic animals in pop culture. This film shows a childish view on this concept as well as giving insight into why we, as a society, are unsure of human traits in an animals body. 

Even before Zootropolis Disney had produced Robin Hood which had been portrayed with an all anthropomorphic concept. 

However different the plots of these films appear to be they do share very obvious differences. 

A fox clad in green attire and a rabbit dressed in blue. Within Zootropolis the blue Judy Hopps wears is linked to her uniform and her status as a Police Officer. An outcast fox who has questionable intent in both films is quite cliche considering that a fox is typically seen as a symbol for trickery and deceit, due to their sneaky nature.

The unbelievable similarities between Disneys’ Robin Hood and Zootropolis are just one example of my belief that originality is an extinct and frankly deluded concept. Despite thorough planning and small insignificant details there will always be comparisons- there will always be plagiarism in some way. I am fully aware my concept art for my characters is clearly influenced by Thundercats but I am not trying to create Thundercats my characters have their own world to exist within.  

[fmplouisa]

Canis Albus

Link to their Tumblr: http://canisalbus.tumblr.com

This art is simultaneously anthropomorphic and conveys an eeriness.

I have no idea what the bottom picture is of but it’s adorable and it also shows this artist doesn't just draw dogs and canines but also creatures of indiscriminate species.

The use colour is very controlled within each drawing and the colours gradations are incredibly smooth and soft.

[fmplouisa]

Furries VS Anthros: what is the difference?

Anthro’s and Furries are NOT the same. Here’s why.

The furry art style corresponds to an animal head ( tail/wings/ears) placed onto a human body.  It is a person with an animal head and tail- that's it. Furries also tend to wear human clothing, have human hands and a full head of hair, which is something you wouldn’t see on an animal.

( the above is a furry)

Anthropomorphism is the addition of human traits to an animal. An anthro is an animal that is bipedal and has paw-like hands with thumbs in addition to digigrade legs. If it wears clothing at all it’s normally by means of tribal attire however Anthros have been known to wear clothes in the past when it has been relevant to context. The amalgamate hands and feet are how I want my characters hands and feet.

There is a very fine line between furries and Anthros and sometimes there are insignificant differences to both. Its very hard to conceive a difference even for me, and I am interested in this concept. Trying to find the equal balance has proved very challenging which is why I have done so many concepts of my characters.

The only plus to this is that both my characters look exactly the same because they are mirror twins.