WIP Portfolio piece: farm animal field trip
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I want to pick a thumbnail sketch that has the best storytelling. Does one of these do that better than the other?
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@kayleenartlover I really love the one of the cow driving the bus! There is so much action and movement, it if very fun!
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@kayleenartlover I also like the cow driving one the best, with the chicken coming out of the window XD Lot's of story going on in there already. Even without a story.
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@Avondrood-art Okay cool! I really want to make sure my portfolio has some illustrations with storytelling and that sketch was kind of an early one but none of the other thumbnails I've tried since were working for me. Hopefully it's safe to move on to actually sketching it...
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Working on drawing the bus design from a couple different angles before drawing it in the final illustration. Should I do the short one with 3 windows or the longer one with 4 windows? Does the shape work or look too cartoony?
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@kayleenartlover the short one has more personality/character. I would, however, put the front wheel ahead of the door. Looks off balance now.
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@kayleenartlover I like the shorter one. It’s more cute.
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@tom-barrett What he said ^^
I'd do the shorter one too. Looks way cuter. @kayleenartlover -
@tom-barrett I see. I used a reference photo for the tire placement but that was for a bus that is completely flat on the front. Other buses have it in the engine part but that would make the front "nose" wider. Should I do that?
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@kayleenartlover I looked up some photos and see what you are referring to. However, remember that as illustrators, we have a bunch of creative license to modify elements to fit our style or story, or both. On a flat-nosed bus, the wheel behind the door looks balanced, but when you add a nose to the bus, it makes it look odd with so much "unsupported" at the front. On your sketch, it appears to have enough room to place the wheel up front without making the nose any longer. Or maybe you could make the wheels smaller to fit. Or you could make the nose even less long (just a hint of the nose) so the wheel behind the door works better.
And keep in mind, this is my subjective opinion.
You have to do what works for you. Once you place the illustrations on the page, then that becomes what busses are in that world. So, in the end, not a huge deal either way. -
Update: bus design
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@kayleenartlover I love how this is going, and it is hysterical that you found so many pictures of buses getting air! I had a thought about the teachers and students, if you are still brainstorming a plausible distraction. Maybe they all got out to take a picture with the scenery or some landmark of educational value, and are standing facing away from the bus. The photographer is the only one who is facing it but might not even notice that the animals are getting on because everyone else is in the way. Then you have the one kid in the back who sees it happening.
studiojcd.com
she/her/hers
Insta/Twitter: @chengdesautels -
@jenn I couldn’t get it to work including more details for this particular page and it to still look interesting. Many thumbnails would’ve made either the animals hard to see or the people hard to see. If this leads to a book I would definitely do that as a setup before this one.
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@kayleenartlover love the updated bus design and how the story is progressing! I like the small colored bus in your thumbnails above. There is a lot of character in that drawing with it being slightly skewed in the jump.
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@tom-barrett which picture are you referring to?
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How does this look? I tried to exaggerate the tires so it wouldn’t look stiff. Any tips on the line weight? Should I make any lines thicker?
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Here’s the colored version of the bus. If it doesn’t need any changes, then all that’s left is the animals driving/riding it and other details like in the thumbnail.
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Should I move the back right tire where it was supposed to go perspective-wise or would that make it look more stiff? Does it look like there is movement happening if I leave it the way it is? I plan on adding a hill below it like it's catching air going over it.
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@jenn yes! Those flying buses are soo rad lol
