Gryphon prompt: Lets share our inspiration and WIPs

[Haley Browning]

@MarcRobinson Good point! This one is harder to solve for me though. I'm in love with the zoomed in composition but, the wings keep getting in the way.

[stayhomejoe]

Today’s griffin ideas.Griffin ideas.pdf

[Fey Realme]

I did some research on griffin origins and found this interesting article if anyone is interested! https://www.icysedgwick.com/griffins-legends/ Apparently the legend could have been started by people who saw pentaceratops fossils while traveling on the silk road through Asia. The legends eventually made their way to greece. it is interesting because there arent really any stories about griffins, just the legend of their existence.

My story idea is: once upon a time there was a boy who was obsessed with griffins, and every day he would imagine what amazing adventures he would have if he had a real griffin. Then one day his parents got him a griffin… a dog named griffin anyway. “You cant just call him a griffin and make him one! He is still just a dog!” Parents can be so silly sometimes. “Griffins are great guardians of gold and nature, right?” His father asked. He reluctantly agreed. “Well this is a griffin in training. He needs your help to find gold to protect so he can practice and become a griffin in his next life.”

The boy was still skeptical, but the thought intrigued him. Maybe Griffin was just what he had always wanted.

The guys are really looking for that immediate read so ive been trying to do a norman rockwell magazine cover based on that story idea—its a bit of a struggle bc instant read is rough.
These are the thumbnails i did in reverse order

Im leaning towards #1 but i like 2 also

What do yall think?

[Haley Browning]

@skeletortoise Zooming out would help. I'm playing around with more potential ideas. Thank you for your advice!

[Haley Browning]

@R-Fey-Realme I like 2 and 3 because the design of a griffin is added and shows what the boy actually wanted. I like how you kept the collar on the griffin drawings because it helps communicate the ideal pet without relying on text. This is a very cute story by the way!

[Larue]

Hello my fellow visual story tellers. I’ve been throwing around three ideas based on what things are precious,important and valuable that my gryphon might be a protector of.
My three ideas:
-The first one is obviously gold so there’s the leprechaun and his gryphon enjoying a good read with the hordes following the rainbow sneaking in.

• second was books, here’s it’s like a librarian protecting them but a sneaky child is trying to steal one from the restricted shelf( magic potions perhaps?)
• Third, cheese of course, as wheels of cheese are gold(kinda) and those pesky mice/rats are always trying to steal it!

Concepts only, no view points in stone just wanted to know if you guys think any are a good idea. Thanks in advance for any feedback back!

[Larue]

@R-Fey-Realme
Hi, my two cents is I could see the family coming out of the pet store with pup and the boy wearing a gryphon tshirt( mythical style) with a disappointed look on his face. Kinda sets it up as a story and prompts questions about if he’ll warm up to it or not, parent could be carrying it. Or, could show his room full of gryphon posters as they present him with this pup. Just trying to tell the story without words. Look forward to seeing your final!

[Reb Erlik]

@R-Fey-Realme Hi R.Fey, very creative concept! I agree that #1 and 2 are your strongest compositions and also #5 has a great facial expression and pose.

The prompt is a creature design challenge, so you may have some critique for going outside of the box on this one.

It sounds like you're feeling passionate about your idea and you'd like to draw this story instead. (Totally relatable, my idea also doesn’t quite count as a gryphon).

It seems like your idea would work best as a short comic with space for dialogue, such as the dad's speech about reincarnation. Then you could have a set-up and payoff with the boy anticipating a real gryphon, then getting disappointed, then finding happiness anyway by loving his new pet.
Definitely a teachable moment in there and an opportunity for a sweet story.

Comics work better than single illustrations when you want to convey multiple emotions and multiple moments
Each time the character's emotion/expression changes is a new panel.

[Reb Erlik]

@R-Fey-Realme Could the boy possibly put the dog in a costume to look like a gryphon? Maybe ride on its back?
Also how does the dog feel about the boy?

[MarcRobinson]

@Larue I love the second idea! And the library seems to fit with the owl theme too. You could even have the librarian gryphon shushing another kid who creating a distraction, so the other kid can sneak past.

[MarcRobinson]

@R-Fey-Realme I really like number 1 as a jumping off point. But you're right, having an instant read is difficult. Especially when the story is quite detailed like you have here. I'd absolutely struggle to condense a couple of paragraphs of story into one image that read well. My advice, for what it's worth, is either simplify/condense the story for this illustration, or maybe go sequencial or add the story text to the page. Also remember the prompt is to design a gryphon to help with the next htfya, but if you want to just use the gryphon prompt to do your own thing that's cool too obviously. I love the variety you've got in all your thumbnails, that's not easy.

[MarcRobinson]

Sorry for the poop photo of my laptop screen. My illustration has officially entered the "ugly phase" where there is digital paint everywhere and I'm regretting my life choices! I always have to remember to trust the process, because when I try and skip steps it always comes out worse. But all the big decisions are already made like composition, design and value, so it's just a case of rendering now.

[Reb Erlik]

@MarcRobinson The drawing is absolutely gorgeous. I've just been staring at the background in awe of the room detail and perfect perspective. Keep going! It's not the "ugly phase", it's just another step on the staircase, lol! Looks like you painted a grisaille with brown and now you're adding color on top, like a traditional oil painting approach.
Will Terry does something similar in his 10 step digital painting class, where he'll do a "color theme layer." After adding tone and doing color studies, he sets the blending mode to Multiply and colors in larger areas with harmonious colors.
The color theme layer will influence the entire image with a cool or warm light. He doesn't start with the local color of an object (like painting grass bright green) but instead thinks about the how the color of light will flavor other objects (grass may look blue for example).

[MarcRobinson]

@reberlik hey thank you! Yeah I do something very similar. I like to work in steps where I don't move on until I'm happy with it. If I rush I always make mistakes. Like Will I tend to do a value underpainting with bown/orange just so it doesn't get too muddy with greys. Sometimes I cheat a bit with using a local colour then putting a sepia wash over the top to get some slight colour variation that way. Thank you for the kind words. I shouldn't call it the ugly phase, but more of a messy middle phase!

[Fey Realme]

@Haley-Browning great insight, thanks! If i go with #1 ill add something like that.

@larue thanks! Yeah i was originally thinking of doing it in his room with drawings everywhere but it wasn't working for me—a bit too complex so im trying to boil it down

@reberlik haha yeah… i didnt want to put that much time in though. Next months sub is going to involve a few panels and a dressed up griffin, in this one im just trying to get the origin story to set up for next month when they go on wild adventures to collect gold to protect. Youre right there on my brainwave

@MarcRobinson thanks im a stinker, whenever they do a prompt i immediately start thinking about how far outside the prompt can i go and still be in the prompt. I cant help but be cheeky haha. Its entertaining to me and maybe ill get good enough to where it communicates.

I think with all this feedback i have an idea for how to make #1 a textless version—thanks everyone for your input!

[Tash]

@Larue I love the owl in the Library! It just looks like it's in its element there!

[skeletortoise]

My thumbnails for the current prompt! The story I finally landed on is that a baby Griffin stows away in a pirate stash while they are treasure hunting near a griffin nest. In some of the illustrations I have the mom looming threateningly, while in others I have her just sleeping in the background. In number three she's not even present. I feel that the presence of her as a threat makes the story more interesting, but the idea of a baby Griffin stowing away in a pirate stash might be enough?

Please let me know which thumbnail you think works best. I'm leaning towards two or seven. Though I do enjoy the before moment when the baby is thinking about jumping into the chest shown in four and five.

[Reb Erlik]

@skeletortoise
Awesome concept! Your story ideas are super creative!
Silhouette and composition in #2 is really nice.
Lee says in Visual Storytelling class that "moment before" an action can be more interesting than the "moment during" so I would lean towards #4 and #5 in terms of good storytelling. Especially if the viewer knows something that the rest of the characters are oblivious to.
#7 has the most drama and also nice composition but the focus is definitely on the mom

I would choose #4 but make baby gryphon larger and in foreground, kind of like you started to do in #5.
See if you can apply the same kind of strong silhouettes as you created in #2.
I think it's enough to make one storyline the focus, and my preference is baby stowaway. That feels like a more unique story than creature attacking pirate ship.

#4 and #5 are a sneak peak into drama to come,
whereas #2 and #7 are the moment of discovery/moment of fear.

But the best choice is your favorite one!

[Larue]

@skeletortoise
I like 5 because it shows the moment he decides to take action without the mom knowing. You only need to show a part of her sleeping. The discovery of him can be in the next prompt. If he is a stow away it could be confusing if it looks like he was “gryphon-napped” and mama gryphon is pissed off.

[jenn]

@R-Fey-Realme If I drew the wrong animal, my mythology-obsessed progeny would call me out. Like kids who know the name of every dinosaur, you know?

Speaking of which, apparently gryphons were inspired by fossils of a real dinosaur, Protoceratops: