Gryphon prompt: Lets share our inspiration and WIPs

[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:

[Fey Realme]

@skeletortoise i think there is real magic in #2! Your people feel so authentic and there is just enough context to say pirates on their ship and the crop is great. What i’m not getting so clearly in #2 is the recentness of the plunder or that it came from a griffins nest. What if you had that sack being carried up the gangplank on some pirates back with the griffin baby partially covered in the gold (possibly playing with a piece) while the captain and first mate look on in horror and a small guy up in the rigging (very near the mast) points at the mama griffin with obvious terror?

I like how you tried a bunch of different moments, the guys would be so proud, but i think that moment of realization and impending doom is the most interesting!

@jenn haha thats totally fine! Yeah i found that out too! I never realized! It turns out griffin legends really came from the silk road in asia—i always thought it was a european thing

[skeletortoise]

@reberlik @R-Fey-Realme @Larue Thank you all for such great and in depth feedback! I think I will go with #4 or #5, and maybe try for #2 if I have time. No harm in doing two after all!

[Tash]

Hey folks!
I think I've landed on a concept for my submission. My Griffen has a snake tail that is vicious and unruly, so they are going to obedience classes together. There are some other characters there with behavior problems.

I've been playing with the layout but I'm struggling a bit with a layout that's dynamic but also displays all the other characters, is the Griffen getting lost?. I'd love to know your thoughts!

[Reb Erlik]

@skeletortoise Awesome! The guys definitely appreciate people who draw two, so if you think you can, go for it! Truthfully it is hard to choose because you have great silhouette in #2 and great story in #4/5

Also I went back and rewatched Lee's visual storytelling class, and realized that the mom approaching the pirates actually also counts as a "moment before." It's building tension because she hasn't attacked yet, like the jaws poster or the implied shadow of a shark approaching from under a ship.

[Reb Erlik]

@Tash What a fun story! That's great!
Yes, the gyphon needs to be the primary focal point and the other animals secondary. It's a bit of an issue to have the large dog and hoody boy in the front center unless you plan on de-emphasizing them somehow.

In Will's Creative Composition class, he talks about Emphasis.
This can be achieved with:

• having all the other characters looking towards the main character
• warm colours on the main character only
• size of character
• leading lines pointing towards character (including bodies of other characters that form a line)
• silhouette and value: main character is either lighter or darker than bkg
• focal point is the highest contrast point where light meets dark
• framing: darken border
  (other characters can be in the shadow)
• edges: crisp edges for main characters, others are softer/blurry edge or desaturated colors
• a human character (our eye goes first to boy in hoody, then to his dog because we identify with human character first)

[jenn]

@Tash What a fun concept! I guess I'm just repeating what @reberlik said: I am seeing the dog as the focal point of all 3 layouts, because of the gesture of its trainer and everyone looking at it. The griffin perhaps should be the one in the training hot seat or somehow attracting others' attention. Maybe like a middle school kid, it is clowning around during class so that the others aren't paying attention to the demonstration with the dog? Just an idea.

[zoejonesillustration]

@Tash Hi there Tash! I love the story here so fun!
Love the designs of the characters also!

I agree with the others, somehow the attention needs to be more so on the griffin. Perhaps you can have the griffin be bigger the rest of the characters and the instructor is taking down the names on a clip board and is shocked at how big the griffin is. Perhaps the older ladies dog is barking at it? Everyone is just a little on edge/scared of the griffin.

Just an idea looking forward to seeing the finished illustration!