Digital Art - "Hellgirl"

This is (unsurprisingly) another of my ImagineFX Forum weekly competition entries. Here's the brief of the competition:

Simple pencil sketch

Title: "Hellboy's Perfect Pin-up"

Brief: "Hellboy needs a girlfriend, a female equivalent, design his perfect companion."

Pretty straight forward! I started with a couple of rough pencil sketches till I came out with what you can see in the first image. I then photographed it and created a more refined digital line-drawing.

Before going on to do the proper colour, I decided to try adding very rough quick colour, just to make sure I was happy with it, and work out the lighting.

Early rough colour

Once that was complete, I did the usual steps of laying down flat colour in the background and working over the top of that in lighter or darker shades.

I was quite happy with the final illustration, but I wanted something of my own that wasn't based on someone else's ideas, so after the competition I re-worked the character into a more conventional and unspecific female adventurer (which you can see as the final image).

Final competition painting

Reworked 'original' character

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - "Varrish"

Initial Pencil Sketch

This is yet another of my ImagineFX Forum weekly competition entries. In this case. Here's the brief of the competition:

Title: "IFX Creature Design Cover"

Brief: "You have been asked to submit your design for the next creature design IFX cover. It must show at least the head and shoulders of the creature, looking at the viewer. Remember to leave space for any text with a generic comment. Include the IFX cover text in the font of your choosing. Please note this is just for fun and not an official cover challenge!"

B&W initial paint-over

I decided to use the competition as an excuse to also design a creature for the science fiction adventure book I am writing. I had already described this alien, so I just had to create it visually.

I did a pencil sketch of the front and side view of the creature, which I photographed, and then used as a rough guide to paint over. It was a fairly straight forward painting task, but for the competition I also added a vague futuristic background. In retrospect, I realised this detracted from the creature design, and it works much more effectively with a relatively plain background.

Final Design

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - "Green Baby"

Yes, yes, I know it's been too long between posts. But I've finally returned to doing the Imagine FX magazine forum weekly competition, so here's the latest. Hopefully I'll have another for you later this week. Here are the details of the competition:

Here you can see
the rough sketch over
some early painting

Title: "Baby Boom"

Brief: "Depict the baby or youngling of a fantasy or sci-fi creature. It could be a mythological beast or more modern fantasy creature, or alien, it's up to you but it should make it's parents go "awww" (though not necessarily anyone else)"

I won't give you any more details about where my design came from, suffice to say it's the baby version of some other characters I hope to write a children's story about, one day in the future.

Here you can see most of
character is finished, but I
have yet to start the background

Anyway, onto the painting... I did a VERY quick sketch in pencil for this one. I didn't even bother scanning it, I just photographed it on my phone and took it into Photoshop (I know, lazy!).

I then simply painted over the top and added a few textures toward the end, to liven up things like the table and wall and an overall canvas texture to help that 'painted' feeling. Notice the baby looking up at the blurred silhouette of a parent in the foreground. I was quite happy with this painting, which only took a few hours overall.

Final Painting

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - "Rocket Girl"

Initial digital sketch

This is another of my entries for the Imagine FX magazine forum weekly competition. I did this quite a few weeks ago, but have neglected to upload here to my blog, so I thought it was about time I did. And for those interested, this will be my 100th blog post!

Title: "Rocketgirl Rita - a 50s' Sci-fi  pinup"

Description: "Rocketgirl Rita is a 50's pin up - she is renowned for being THE ultimate Sci-fi pin up"

Brief: "Depict Rita in all her 50's sci-fi glory - include as many cliche's as you wish!"

Refined line drawing

This painting was done completely in Photoshop, with no scanned pencil sketches or similar. I started off with the idea of having four separate mini paintings of the character in various action poses, one in each corner, but unfortunately I realised I didn't have time.

The painting was completed over two evenings, firstly on the initial sketch and refining that to a sharp line drawing, and then adding colour and shading. When it came to painting the character, I used soft round brushes for speed, as they blend easily. Normally I avoid using them, because they tend to give digital paintings a cheap 'artificial' look, but I decided to risk it for the speed advantage.

With flat colour

To mitigate this, I used textures to break up the artificial 'smoothness' of the character's skin and clothing. In order to really push the old poster feel, I also utilised a folded paper texture I had created some time ago for another painting (The WWII Power Suits, for those interested).

With initial shading

This final version is slightly modified from the final I did for the competition, as afterwards I decided to modify a few elements. Namely, instead of keeping a texture on the 'moon', I left it with flat colour, to help the character stand out. Other than that, I merely touched up a few colours and minor details.

I was fairly satisfied with the final painting, considering how quickly it was done, and I hope you enjoy it too!

Final Painting

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - "Waking Mars" and "Pendragon"

I thought it was about time I added a bit more artwork, and although these two piece are at least a good few weeks old now, I realised I hand't posted them, so here goes...

As usual, these were entries for the Imagine FX magazine forum weekly competition.

Waking Mars

'Work In Progress' illustration 1

Title: "Waking Mars"

Description: "The year is 2050 and man is exploring the caverns on Mars. The expedition is run by The United Earth organisation who has spent billions on attaining the rights to any resources in this sector. During a routine mapping expedition, one of their survey teams stumbles across something unexpected. An hibernating dragon - now awakened by their presence, it is hungry and deadly."

'Work In Progress' illustration 2

Brief: "Create a Movie Poster for "Waking Mars" which displays the moment of discovery/awakening. Both dragon and human(s) need to be included in the composition, as well as the United Earth branding/logo."

I didn't leave myself enough time to finish this one properly for the competition, however, below you will see my final refined version.

In order to create it quickly, I drew it traditionally in pencil, then went over in ink and marker. Once scanned, I coloured it in Photoshop and added plenty of textures to bring it to life.

'Waking Mars' Final

I also wanted to give it an old movie poster feel, so as you will see, I've overlaid one of my own paper textures (if you remember the WWII Power Suit competition, you'll see when I originally created a few). The paper texture is all creased and folded and helps to give it the look as if it's been left in a drawer for a few years.

It's far from perfect, but it was a good experiment at how you can use colour, texture and light along with a few other little tricks, to bring life to something that was really quite quick and rough.

Pendragon

'Work In Progress' illustration 1

Next we have: "The Pendragon Castle of Camelot"

Description: "Depict a Pendragon Castle of Camelot."

Brief: "The castle can be anything from Fantasy style to historically accurate Roman constructions."

'Work In Progress' illustration 2

This one was created purely in Photoshop. No scanned drawings, only a couple of quick pencil sketches to get the layout straight in my head. I also wanted to experiment more with using Photoshop brushes that have a canvas texture, to see how it affected the overall look and style.

It's not brilliant, and I hate how poorly the towers and city came out, but I'm quite happy with the other elements.

'Pendragon' Final

I hope you enjoy these two new paintings!


All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - "Dino-Rider"

Pencil sketch laid on simple digital background

Another of my entries for the Imagine FX magazine forum weekly competition. Unfortunately, I spent a good few hours working on this, only to discover a fault on their website just before the deadline, which meant I couldn't enter. So this painting is just for the portfolio...

Title: "Dinosaur Design"

Brief: "In an alternative world, Dinosaurs and humans have co-existed for millennia. Create a dinosaur with a human mount from any known time period (Roman, Medieval, Modern Day, etc) giving consideration to what it's role in society would be; Military, construction, transport, status symbol, etc."

Mostly completed dinosaur illustration

My thoughts were that many would go for Roman or Medieval riders. Some even did WWII versions. In order to be a little different, I went for a futuristic rider. I thought it would be interesting to imagine them used in modern/future warfare. Rather than go for the more obvious 'Velociraptor' or 'Tyrannosaur' types, I tried to think of a herbivorous dinosaur that was more horse-like, and therefore more likely to be a good mount. I settled on Parasaurolophus, as I rather like their unusual and sweeping heads.

Near completion, but lacking the leg armour

After finding a few reference images, I sketched the dinosaur and rider in pencil first, then scanned them in. I didn't have much time, so I kept the painting fairly rough, and tried to avoid getting caught up in details. Again, to save time, I kept the background to a (hopefully) effective minimum, with the suggestion of some other riders in the background. After painting it in a standard ratio (I was using A5, landscape), I decided to see how it would look with a more epic widescreen look, which I tend to like. As you can see, I chose to use that for the final painting.

Final painting

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - "Mr Stork"

Rough pen sketch, scanned
then placed over a
textured background

Another of my entries for the Imagine FX magazine forum weekly competition.

Title: "Mr Stork"

Brief: "Produce a full colour, full body, character design for Science Officer/First Officer Mr Stork"

Description/Info: "Following on from challenges #193 and #202 - Mr Stork serves under Captain James Quack as the Starship Interpond's stork like Science Officer/First Officer . Based on the very similarly named Mr Spock from Star Trek, and good friends with Captain Quack, Lieutenant Uhurow and Dr "Bones" Macaw."

Work in progress

It flopped a bit in the competition, due to not being clearly 'Spock-like', but I was personally rather pleased with this one.

I went for more of a retro-scifi Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers look, and it turned out to be a fun, vibrant little character which I started and finished within 4-5 hours. For this version I strengthened a couple of highlights and added a couple of antennae on the little sidekick alien, but it's otherwise the same as the final competition version.

Final Painting

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - "Dark Days"

One of my entries for the Imagine FX magazine forum monthly competition.

Title: "Blade Runner"

Description: "Ridley Scott has decided to remake Blade Runner with the advantage of today's SFX. He's looking for a Concept Artist who can best envision what this world might look like."

Pen and Marker concept illustration

I spent quite a bit of time on this one, and I'm reasonably happy with the results. Given that the brief described a remake of the film and Ridley Scott is in fact genuinely making a sequel, I originally thought I might do something in a more 'up-beat' style. Perhaps envisaging one of the off-world colonies that were never seen in the original film, but that would share visual similarities. After seeing some of the other entries, however, I realised that people were expecting something more reminiscent of the original film, so I went for the dark and moody atmosphere already established. Perhaps not the best choice in hindsight, but it was fun to do something in a Blade Runner style anyway.

I started with a quick pencil sketch, that I then went over in ink. Once I had erased the pencil, I shaded it with markers, to create my initial concept illustration. When scanned, I then roughly coloured this, as a guide for the larger full piece.

In order to keep the atmosphere without directly copying, I avoided looking at too much reference material from the film. I wanted things to be filtered through my own imperfect memories, that way alterations that creep in hopefully introduce a few unique elements to the otherwise established look and feel. There's a bit of everything in there, for Blade Runner fans. A sushi bar with neon lighting, a cityscape in the background with flames from one of the buildings, an antennae-laden blimp advertising the off-world colonies, a spinner launching or landing, pedestrians with self-illuminating umbrellas, sheets of rain and of course a suspicious looking character in a futuristic trench-coat...

Final Painting

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - "Batcave"

Initial sketched ideas

My apologies to any readers, as I haven't updated my blog for a long time. On the plus side, there's a few things I can post, so here's the first of what I plan to be three new updates in the next day or so.

This is another of my entries for the Imagine FX magazine forum weekly competition.

Title: "The Bat Cave"

Brief: "Depict the Bat Cave how you think it would look"

Description: "Paint the Bat Cave in a graphic novel style (dark comic style), include control panels, and show an innovate entry/exit."

Early Work In Progress

I wasn't especially pleased with how this one came out, but it was good fun and achieved fairly quickly. You'll notice that for speed, I also re-used my vehicle design from a post or two earlier, as a new version of the Batmobile.

Final painting

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - "Pink Fluffy Apocalypse"

Yet another of my entries in the Imagine FX magazine forum weekly competition.

Work In Progress images 1 & 2

Title: "The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse"

Brief: "A long hidden manuscript has been discovered and contrary to legend it seems that a fifth horseman of the apocalypse has been mentioned in the manuscript."

Description: "Although the manuscript mentioned the horseman, no description or association was written. Depict the horseman in his glory and display a banner with the forces he/she represents."

Work In Progress images 3 & 4

I suspected many people would go the dark dramatic route, so I decided to do the opposite, and do something fun and humorous. My description was:

"The five horsemen... Conquest, War, Famine, Death and... The Pink Fluffy Maiden of Doom!!! The worst of them all, she has been airbrushed from history because she is so terrifying that none can know of her existence lest they be plagued by eternal nightmares... The Pink Fluffy maiden of Doom will bring about the final apocalypse (the other four are only her henchmen, sent to pave the way) with an excess of throw pillows, pink drapery, lace detailing and rampaging hordes of merciless puppies and kittens... Fear her... Fear the Pink Fluffy maiden of Doom!!!"

 

She's supposed to be very pink and girly. I didn't have time to put in the extra details I would have liked (and completely forgot the banner mentioned in the brief). I wasn't happy with my first attempt at drawing the horse (as you can see in the first two WIPs). However, I went back and decided to draw it in pencil, rather than trying to do the initial sketch digitally. I was far happier with the results, after sketching it traditionally. Then I photographed it and painted over it digitally.

 

Final Illustration

 

I'm reasonably happy with the horse and rider, but I didn't leave myself much time for details or the background. I think I may come back to it at a later date, drop the "5th Horseman" idea, and turn it into something light and cheerful (perhaps another fairy, to add to the collection of fairy paintings!). It's not one of my better pieces, but it's hopefully good fun.

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.

Digital Art - Concept Car

Here's another of my entries in the Imagine FX magazine forum weekly competition.

1st Work In Progress image

The challenge was to design a new product, essentially of any kind. I left myself with little time (again!) so decided to go for a futuristic concept car that I could create fairly quickly. I started with a few very rough sketches of the top, front and side, then a quick pencil sketch of the vehicle from the angle you see.

2nd Work In Progress image

I then went over this in pen and erased the pencil. the next step was to photograph it (I was too lazy too hook up my scanner), and then use it as the overlaying illustration to colour digitally. the finished illustration was started and finished in around four hours.

This final version has a few minor amends, as I decided to change the logo and title details a little.

Final Illustration

All work is the © copyright of W.D.Lee and/or the respective companies, individuals or organisations to which the work is related. No infringement is intentional. No reproduction or copying is permitted without express permission.