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 - "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.

Digital Art - "The Clown"

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

1st Work In Progress image

The Brief: "Depict a clown after the show is over and everyone has left the circus."

The Description: "Does everyone fear clowns? This is your chance to paint a clown as you see them, either pure evil, as they really are, or as the delightfully funny characters, that they want people to think they are…….. you decide. This can be a portrait, or a full character or anything in-between."

2nd Work In Progress image

Again, I ended up leaving this entry till the last minute, and this was completed in a little over three hours. What it represents, is up to the viewer. Personally, I think it's about the idea of alien life as part of us, or simply hidden amongst, but masked by the way society ridicules and and laughs at alien abduction stories or UFO sightings.

Final Image

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 - "Last Days"

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

This was created for the September 2011 weekly challenge entitled: "2012 - The End"

1st Work In Progress image

The Brief: "We have all seen disaster movies about the end of the world. Your job is to depict a snapshot scene of an aspect of it."

The Description: "This is quite an open challenge, this could be simply a shot of the Earth showing the reason for it's demise, an action shot of a ship being swept into a city, a lava threatened house, etc. The choice of scene is yours."

2nd Work In Progress image

I ended up leaving this entry till the last minute, and so this was completed in a little over four hours. I wanted to do something a little different that signified some cataclysmic event, but in a more subtle and subdued way, than the usual great fiery disasters. I was lucky enough that this entry actually won the weekly competition!

Final Image

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 - "Witch's Familiar"

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

This was created for the September 2011 weekly challenge entitled: "The Witch's Familiar"

Original Pencil Sketch

The 'Description': "In legend, a familiar or familiar spirit is a supernatural being that supports a witch or magician. Traditionally, a familiar is an animal but some are said to be humanoid."

Due to time, I wasn't initially going to enter this competition, however I decided to give it a go on the last night of entry. In order to complete it as quickly as possible, I decided to sketch the 'Familiar' in pencil first, scan it, and then colour it digitally.

Work in progress

Since the stereotypical witch's familiar is a cat, I decided to play on that. I thought that perhaps the cat is possessed, when it becomes a familiar, by some small demonic creature, which only reveals its true form to the witch. Hence my creature is not an animal, but still has some cat-like features.

Final Digital 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 Painting - "Grumplemug - The Fairy Carving Troll"

Here's another of my entries in the Imagine FX magazine weekly forum competition. This was created for the July 2011 weekly challenge entitled: "Grumpy Troll"

Brief: "Without context, design the character. The only restrictions are that he must have something on or beside him to show scale."

Description: "A new (fictional) fantasy film for kids, has a grumpy, somewhat dimwitted troll-like character who in contrast to his cumbersome appearance, likes to carve delicate fairy figurines out of wood. The troll is also short sighted and has a carved wooden leg."

A couple of very early troll designs

I was lucky enough that once again they had chosen one of my ideas for the challenge, so I was ready to get my teeth stuck into this one.

I did quite a few (very!) rough sketches initially, trying to figure out what kind of look to go for. Initially I was going to make him rather a tough looking 'realistic' troll, but I wasn't especially happy with any of the designs. They just didn't feel right for the character description. It needed something more light-hearted. In looking back at my earlier painting, 'Beyond the Darkness', I realised it might be fun to use a similar look to the creatures I had invented for that, giving the character a more "children's illustrated book" feel.

Refining the design and working out a pose

So next I  did a few designs of the character along that route, and messed around with his pose. I decided I wanted him to be a travelling troll, who keeps all he needs with him. In this case, his tool box is also a seat upon which he can sit and carve.

One more thing was needed, which was an object that shows his scale. I decided that he was a modern troll, who uses a mobile telephone for reference pictures and for taking orders via text. In the end, it became a touch screen telephone, purely for speed, as I was nearing the deadline and didn't have time to draw and paint the buttons and details I wanted. So on screen I thought it would be fun to place my previous 'fairy' painting, as if he'd been using it for reference.

Semi-final design (left), working out the pose (middle and top right)
and a photograph taken for reference (bottom right).

After completing it for the competition, I went back to finish a few details for my own satisfaction. Namely things such as the smoke from his pipe, the carving on the tool box, and a pot of varnish and a cloth in the bottom left, to finish the visual 'triangle' between top right (from the smoke) to bottom left, as intended. However, I didn't change the phone back to its original design, as I quite like the way it came out in the end. Below, you can view an animation showing the gradual 'Work In Progress'.

It didn't do well in the competition, but I was personally rather satisfied and happy with the final painting, which is all that matters at the end of the day. Not to mention, it again adds to my growing portfolio of digital art. I hope you enjoy looking at this light-hearted character and imagining his story, as much as I enjoyed creating him!

"Grumplemug - The Fairy Carving Troll"

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.