Monster Monday- July 1, 2013

It's already July, it's hard to believe. I had a very busy week, working a lot the past week at my summer job. I only got a chance to finish one ink drawing of a legendary monster.

Here's the cockatrice. Its a combination of a chicken, ostrich, and reptile features. The cockatrice was one of the easier creatures to design and the first monster I started to sketch at the beginning of the project. I plan on experimenting with ink wash to add more value to the piece over the week to see if I want to add some more pop to the drawings.

Monster Monday- June 17, 2013

Sorry for posting so late at night, the past week has been a little crazy starting my new job. I got horrible sun burn making it difficult to draw over the weekend. Then I spent the day overhauling the third floor to make what little space I have work. 

Here's more of a fleshed out sketch of the Cockatrice. So far taking the Cockatrice has been one of the easier creatures to design since I had a clear concept of what I wanted from the beginning of the project. Still a few details to work out but getting close to starting the ink drawing of this guy.

The Minotaur's design is done. I flipped the idea of a bull face with a face with some human like features and a body that is heavily inspired by bulls and other cattle. When I do the final drawing, the Minotaur is going to have wider stance since he is a bulky creature and more of a hunch.

After being disappointed with the design I created for the Behemoth, I went back in with new reference. With a cattle inspired body, horns of a giant goat, and legs similar by an elephant, and a rhino horn, the Behemoth is more of what I originally thought.

Stay tuned tomorrow, got some awesome news to share!

Sketches for Legendary Creatures

This week, I thumb nailed out the book. So I know which monsters are paired next to each other. I don't want to reveal the chosen creatures because I'm still debating on a few monsters. I got a bunch of great recommendations of of legendary creatures to research, which is always fun to read about and see old illustrations of.

After compiling a list, I write down a few ideas that I want to influence each creature. 

Here's 2 pages for the Cockatrice. It's a hybrid of a chicken, dragon, and ostrich. I explored different facial ideas, wings, and legs. After sketching I'll create more of a complete drawing.

I haven't started the Cockatrice drawing. So I have the Taraque, which is influenced by lizards, turtles, and ankylosaurus. It's tail is going to be more like an ankylosaurus with a club to bash in skulls. The drawing was done on animation paper used for pencil tests. It's thicker then tracing paper and holds up to much more abuse, but can still have a few layers of paper before its hard to see the original underdrawing.

The next step will be to finish more of the designs, I have about half to do and then need to do finalized drawing designs for the others. Then onto inking! but that's not for a while.