#i am getting better at not using refs but definitely not at backgrounds LOL

[captainbasch]

A half-body commission of a wonderful fae-lad!

:: character not mine ::

[23sanguinity]

As my friends know, I am both a long time lover of Moana and currently obsessed with the transformers. So when I wanted to make transformers art but had no ideas I looked at my tiny Moana doll and was like what. What if she turned into her boat

Info on design +refs used bellow cut (I ramble a lot, be warned)

I basically traced a picture of my tiny Moana doll and an image of her boat to design the initial concept and because my friends thought it was cool I wanted to color it, so I sort of traced the vague shapes of the sitting lady reference and made the second pictured sketch from that. I colored over the second sketch, and decided that while I usually don’t do line art it would look better with it, so i did that but after finishing up I didn’t like how little color it had without a background so I spent a little time doing that. Procreate tracked 3hrs36 but I was sketching some random bullshit before I had an actual idea so it’s probably about 2-3 hours? I think? I am completely time blind even on my meds.

Another note is that I didn’t consider how an actual transformation would work at all, just that the parts had to go somewhere. I imagine the head folds under between the two storage compartments

I actually have a lot to say.

The hair was tricky, I wanted to still evoke her hair texture as she wears it in the movie but couldn’t really do that so on the final drawing I ended up just implying that shape of the hair. The idea was that any little sticks and bits would be segmented with some rope running down the middle so they could move, but it looked a lot like braids, which while cool, isn’t really what I wanted.

I thought several times about how it would be cool to know about the actual wood types used in this type of boat and how the colors I was using likely would not match up with this, but did not end up doing any research to incorporate into the final piece. I think the tones I used get the job done but aren’t really true to the movie or any sort of real world boat. If I draw this design again I’ll definitely keep fiddling but for now I’m happy that the sail at least looks right.

Back to the hair (lol) I thought a bit about replicating her bun instead, but couldn’t quite figure out what to make it with. I might try a redesign that doesn’t have any hair, maybe with some segmented sticks going down her head but stopping at the neck, but idk

If I draw her again I also want to focus on more of the little details- sail texture, wood grain, the little pattern on the hull/legs, I’m just impatient af and rush everything I do (also probably why the hair didn’t quite work out, I can’t slow down enough to do it properly)

I also need to look at more references, the ones I included are literally the only ones I used, and there are a few things that would look better if I did

I didn’t incorporate her oar into the design, thought I wanted to, I both worried about messing up the scale (honestly the rushed background kinda did anyway, whatever tho) and unsure how to incorporate yet another long stick. Most of the design I got around the stick issue by segmenting them but I don’t want to do that with the oar, because while breaking it doesn’t compromise structural integrity it does have a more visible role in the plot. Also, I’m not entirely sure where to put it, because again, it’s more plot relevant than other individual boat components and I’d want it to be clearly visible.

You know I think this is what art teachers wanted from me. And I’m just doing it for fun now