Transportation (Insect town) WIP
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So I'm thinking do have a moving insect town as the concept for my transportation piece. I thought it could be a night scene and the bugs in the sky could be fireflies helping to light up the convoy. Do you think I should add more bugs in the background on the hills?
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@gary-wilkinson cool concept but what about changing the camera angle from the top front looking down at it. Right now it seems static.
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neat idea! Having the characters in a line is working, but I suggest having some small (ants) and medium-sized (crickets and beetles, etc) bugs overlapping the larger ones, and instead of the bug with the food leading the snail, perhaps have a "leader" bug on the ground (one of the fireflies?). Maybe make the worm a caterpillar so as to have more legs in motion for movement.
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@Chip-Valecek I understand what you mean about it been quite static. I guess it depends on how dynamic the piece needs to be. If I go for this view I think I would do something quite minimal by having have a white background (delete the rolling hills) kinda like a spot illustration. I'm going to try some other viewpoints though and see how they compare. Thanks for the advice.
@tombarrettillo Great idea about the leader. Perhaps I could make a king character riding a firefly at the front
I'll see how a caterpillar compares to the worm. Worms are kinda boring lol -
So I sketched out a few more ideas/viewpoints and expanded on the original. They all follow a bug transporting city theme (I really like bugs I guess). Any comments on which you prefer or things you don't think are working are appreciated
1 - Convoy of city snails (not so ken on this one anymore)
2 - Farmer ants moving that build their farms on top of insects.
3 - Bee battle. A king bee heading into battle leading his army (other small bugs following on the ground)
4 - The capital bug city on top of a ladybug in the distance.
5 - Bugs eye view of the king snail city.
6 - Firefly leader leading the way for his group of bugs.
As for myself, I kinda like the original idea updated or the farmer ant town.
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@gary-wilkinson I like 2,3 & 6! It's hard to pic. They all have their strong points and appeal. 2 is real dynamic and could look pretty epic once finalized. 3 has a great feel as well. And 6 is very readable, really displaying the characters.
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@gary-wilkinson I like #2 (actually doing the same sort of perspective on mine) and I see what you mean with #6 being a spot ant with the little elements you add to the sketch i can see how that would read as well.
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It's really hard to pick! I think you should do 3. One a morning scene, one an afternoon scene, and one a night scene. I'm kind of joking. . . but not really.
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I still like the first idea as well, and the updates really improve it. One more thing that might help (though isn't really necessary, I guess) is to flip the whole image, so the bugs are moving right, kind of how a kids book would read.
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These are great, I like 5 and 4
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I like the dynamics of #2, and the sweet charm of #6.
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You'd love Dan Gartman
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@ben-migliore his work looks nice but i'm not really seeing the connection
am i missing something? -
@gary-wilkinson Sorry, I looked at more of your work and you two have different styles. I just know he starts with sketches before hand then draws over digitally. Your sketch looked a lot like some of his.
Again sorry there probably is no connection, I didn't look at more of your work before hand.
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These are so wonderful! 2,3 and 6 are great! I really like the full view of 6
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I am divided between 2 & 3. I think both are great concepts and angles. I like 6 too, but I don't think the story telling element is as strong as the 2 & 3.
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I like your first one, clear silhouettes and a good design for a fun subject not everything needs to be dynamic especially in kid lit stuff.
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Thanks for everyone's advice and comments is really helpful
I've had a go at trying to do a digital sketch rendering of the 1st image. I was thinking to try do a Will Terry sketch style image and work in some subtle colors later, but if I try to include the fireflies as the light source then I can't do a white background which I was thinking to do at the start. It feels the image is getting away from me a little 
Anyhow i'm not sure whether to restart it or just choose a different image and go straight into color. Any thoughts?
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@gary-wilkinson said in Transportation (Insect town) WIP:
It feels the image is getting away from me a little
anyone of the sketches you´ve done, could fit into the idea that you have for this month perfectly.
However my suggestion is 2, I think with the sunset light, oranges, yellow, pinks, and the shadow on the farm ant on the snail in violets or dark blues, would look great. -
Don't give up on this one. I think it is coming along very well. And if you still want to make it a spot illustration, have the background fade out to white, or frame the image with tree branches at the top, and foreground shrubs and plants at the bottom.
