It has been over a week since I've been able to show anything - Hopefully Ill be able to bring frequency back into the twice a week range. Until then here are a few 30 minute sketches and a new ship for Scrap Station Sigma.
This race is pretty basic but hopefully I will be able to jazz it up a bit before the assets get finalized.
These were done with prompts from Concept Art Sessions
More progress on the space suit from Anathem. I've added in the details, simplified some previously magical geometry around the collar and have added lots of hand holds and railings in what I feel are practical places. I strongly feel that In space you can never have too many things to grab onto!
The right version is my first pass at the protective outer garment they put on for protection against micro meteorites (while hidden behind the "cold black mirror"). The book doesn't go into details on how these bulky suits would don these coveralls so I had to assume that the garment was put on in pieces and added bright orange strips marking important locations for context. I also added in a network of small electromagnets on the frame that when turned on would draw metal disks embedded in the kevlar to the hardsuit.
Ultimately the suit itself is bulky so an outer layer over top begins to approach comical but I think it is a very important aspect of the design so it will likely be included on the final sheet.
I am feeling better about the arm and leg joints now and decided to fuse the ankles since the feet are all but useless in the book and context. Unless something else comes up the only other functional aspect im not happy with are the fuel and waste cells currently stored in the FannyPack X5000 but I may just let it go and head into the revised back view and then final renders.
This 30 minute sketch was inspired with the prompts of Cargo and Commuting. Im really interested in semi trailers and their transition to be self driving and battery powered so had fun playing around with very utilitarian shapes and language.
Here are some of the better received 30 minute sketches from the past week or so. These were all done as part of Concept Art Sessions.
"Rails" + "Armor" 30 minutes with 15 more noodling around.
"Wooden" + "Tower" 30 Minutes
"Engravings" + "Village" 30 minutes with 15 more color correcting and noodling.
"Crack" + "Ladder" 30 Minutes
"Monstrous" + "Destroyer" 30 Minutes
Ok, finally had time to polish up and post the direction I am going in. Still not done and pretty rough around the edges but moving in the right direction. I am having a hell of a time with the rotating hard suit joints - The geometries involved are unlike anything I've had to draft out before so there is some drift between joints and views that I need to hammer out. It would be really fun to see animated but it is not easy to design while keeping it cool.
For the final presentation I will also be including a figure wrapped in the white micrometeorite armor mentioned in the book so I've been adding small electro magnet pads to the suits to anchor those in place.
The various waste and fuel tubes are not really well realized and I may need to just treat them as something that require a teammate to change out due to their placement.
Onward!
"Trust me, my legs and arms enjoy 2-3 degrees of movement!"
I'm going to start a little side project in between jobs to create the space suit used in the last act of "Anathem" by Neal Stephenson. The book's description essentially paints this as a diving hard suit with the limbs being comprised of rotating bulbus sections that are locked together. The pilot enters via a large back door and the hands fit within large roomy forearms with skeletal manipulators that only pop out when in use.
The biggest challenge for me will be to modernize and enhance what could easily be a pretty stupid look - I don't know if you've seen many diving hard suits but most don't look that cool in my opinion. The other thing that worries me is becoming a slave of function - something I can easily chase after, especially when the source material is 100% sound and solid.
We will see how it goes!
Fell a bit behind on my 30 minute daily sketches but made it up with 3 today. This one was with the prompt of "Slimy" and "Wilderness". I wanted to subvert the "too green to be healthy" look that many swamps have with a more wooded feel surrounded by life. If i had more time I would have played that up.
I probably should have re-rolled the prompt or done something less straight forward.
Well... with the prompts "Carnivore" and "Red" this piece kinda just drew itself.
30 minutes via prompt from Concept Art Sessions.
Got the prompts "Giant" and "Artillery" which was pretty straight forward.
30 minute sketch via Concept Art Sessions
I was worried about my time on this 30 minute sketch so decided to use a photo for paintover. From now on I will probably avoid this for these quick warmups.
Here is today's 30 minute sketch - the light source wasn't great but I didn't start off with lines! Go me!
30 minutes - done with prompts from CAS
A few days ago on the Verge I saw that Google has released a new chrome extension that turns each new blank tab into a masterwork from over the last few hundred years. I immediately installed it and am glad I did! Historically I've never really gotten into fine art but I am finding it really inspiring when something shockingly beautiful pops up unexpectedly!
For a bit I was debating if I would post all of my daily sketches or just the ones I liked most. I think for starters I will post everything as a way to drive myself forward, but I hope they don't turn perspective people away from my work as a whole. I am trying to push myself into different workflows and out of my comfort zone. I've seen some amazing stuff done in 30 minutes and I want to get there!
As always my prompts are coming from Concept Art Sessions. (Who has a TERRIBLE mobile site...)
"Messenger" + "Battlefield"
"Aircraft" + "Research"
"Pistons" + "Delicate"
"Seatbelts" + "Square"
