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Gallery Pendrake's Art Thread..... (latest wip: Stegadon)

Awhile back I wrote a short story titled: The Monument. A setting from the story is an ancient and rather large monument which is situated in a plaza in the middle of a jungle. The plaza has at least two causeways leading away from it although they may be overgrown and disused. I decided to try making an illustration for the story...this suggestion was entirely Bob's fault.
spawning of Bob said:
...Feel free to do an illustration for someone's story (or your own).
Click to expand...
(6th paragraph from the bottom)

The first step was to do a sketch on the nearest piece of paper that came to hand...

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That turned out to be a pad of graph paper. The drawing implements are included for scale and may or may not be the instruments used. The pencil lines were for certain drawn by a pencil like that one.
________

The second step was to take the thumbnail to an OfficeBox store. (Not quite the proper name of the big box type store...but it was a chain.)

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Some Sharpie's and an implement of scaling... ...included for scale. The image now fits comfortably in an 8.5x11 sheet.
 
The third step was to take the enlarged copy, slip it under a sheet of vellum tracing paper, and start drawing it with different Sharpie(tm) markers for different line weights. That looked like this...

IMG_0071w960.jpg

...when it was done. Small details added everywhere; tried to draw the steps a bit straighter. Tiny sig hidden in the weeds.
_______

The fourth step was to import it to an app called Adobe PS Express. This app can do color corrections, cropping, and so on... ...free version; very basic. Also, it has some effects filters. The very first filter (out of maybe twelve) resulted in the final image entered in the March-April art contest:

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Well this looks incredible from stage 1 to finished product! Fantastic concept all around!
 
Straight lines from the very first draft? How exhausting!

I'm super impressed that you can get the perspective of a complex item right on the first draft. On the rare occasions where I can't avoid drawing a structure, I need to resort to vanishing points and other barely remembered tools from geometrical drawing class 30 years ago. Second point of awe is you doing irreversible steps with ink - there was no going back on the cracks or the weeds. Did you do a test drawing to get the cracks right?
 
I'm impressed at how precise your first draft is. It looks so clean. Whenever I work on anything it is so much more chaotic... very much an exhaustive process of trial and error. Kudos on such great execution.
 
spawning of Bob said:
Straight lines from the very first draft? How exhausting!

I'm super impressed that you can get the perspective of a complex item right on the first draft.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
If examined too closely you would find it is only right for a certain value of 'right'.

spawning of Bob said:
On the rare occasions where I can't avoid drawing a structure, I need to resort to vanishing points and other barely remembered tools from geometrical drawing class 30 years ago.
Click to expand...
Between enlarged first draft (step3) and the ink-on-vellum some (emphasis some) of the perspective lines got their aim corrected; but it is probably best to not follow lines out to a (guessed at) horizon.

spawning of Bob said:
Second point of awe is you doing irreversible steps with ink - there was no going back on the cracks or the weeds. Did you do a test drawing to get the cracks right?
Click to expand...
There was not a test drawing. I could have done some sample cracks on stage 3. Pull out the underlay; tryout different masonry patterns. But, as it happened I didn't.

I liked the way the stonework was looking more Inca and I liked the way it started resembling snake scales as I added more. The join lines are there to sell the idea that the thing is built of stone, but without overpowering the drawing.

As for the weeds I have been sketching them that way for years...in pencil...pen...crayon...chalk...
 
Thank you for your tutorial! Turned out beautifully.

When I first saw it I immediately thought... BY THE POWER OF LIZARDSKULL!

(I apologize for the He-man reference but I just couldn't pass it up)
 
:cool:
Maybe "....Loquatzla...." means LizardSkull Serpent in an obscure Sotekian dialect. :p

(It is called, The Monument of Loquatzla, in the story but the name is not translated [or] explained.)
 
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This looks so cool already!
 
That is some really nice drawing!
 
@pendrake, what kind of plans do you have for the stegadon? I kind of took inspiration from what I read in @spawning of Bobs posts and yours for the rough idea of my entry. I'd hate to have accidentally snaffled your idea.
 
Brave to use a sharpie. :artist:
 
I agree with @n810 , I wouldn´t risk such awesome drawing with an unerasable marker :p
 
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