Transportation WIP

[smceccarelli]

@nowayme Yes - I have just read an article talking about the "slash-generation". Apparently it is becoming increasingly common to have dual careers, either at the same time or one after another. So are born the "journalist/ex-lawyer" and the "coach/financial advisor" and all other "slash" combinations. I would be an "author/illustrator/art director/ex-scientist"

[Diego_BioSteam]

@smceccarelli and @NoWayMe if you search for some great personalities of the past as well as current ones, most of them had more than one job or at least area of knowledge. Leonardo da Vinci was an artist (both in painting/illustration and sculpting), architect, engineer, botanist, anatomist, cartographer and more. Kenji Miyazawa was a chemist, astronomer, poet, children book author and teacher. Antoine de Saint-Exupery was an aviator, poet, journalist and illustrated his own children book (The Little Prince). Hayao Miyazaki is an animator, director, screenwriter, author. The emperor Akihito from Japan is also a fish taxonomist. Somewhere along the way it seems that Industrial Revolution allowed this idea of specializing in only one kind of job to spread and several companies (i.e. schools/universities) took advantage of it and fortified the idea. And now that everyone is highly specialized, it is becoming a differential when you are a master of more than one skill (when actually it was always like that). Always reminds me of the phrase said by the villain boy in "The Incredibles": "Once everyone is super, no one will be super".

[NoWayMe]

Here is the final sketch!
Any comment before I start colors ?!
Thanks

[tombarrettillo]

I like it, but the original body and head looks better (your second, right facing, sketch). Looks like you might be trying to make a swooping movement, but it seems out of place when compared to the other birds in the picture. And I would lower the left wing, and maybe pull it to the right, so it is more in line with the other wing and looks attached at the proper place. And I like the thicker string holding the basket on in the original.

[NoWayMe]

Thanks @tombarrettillo!

I was aiming for a swooping movement.. I felt like my first version was too stiff. Maybe I ll try to change the other bird to have them fit and keep the new version since I like the feel of it more... Good call for the wing - I'll change that!

Any thoughts on the color scheme I chose ?

[tombarrettillo]

I like the color scheme so far... nothing specific to add yet. : )

[NoWayMe]

I need help with lighting... my idea was to have the bugs kind of in a "ray" of sunlight, while having the background looking like a cool fall day. This is what I have so far. (this is just a rough lighting study - I will try to do the final piece in soft pastel) Is it reading well ? If not, any tips on how to improve it ?

[Elaine B]

@nowayme I like your idea and I hope this helps! I cooled down and lightened the background to push the duck forward.

[tombarrettillo]

@nowayme Not sure the lighting will read correctly with no reference as to why there is a shadow and where it is coming from. In a tree, you can usually see some of the branches and leaves (like in your previous tree house illustration) to relate where a shadow originates. In a flight/sky illustration, clouds are usually so large, that including one for shadow's sake would be very difficult. If you want the viewers eyes to focus toward the bugs, maybe change the color scheme of the duck to have darker wing tips that get lighter toward its body. Or, since you are placing the setting during Fall, I would make the scene a sunset, with the sun setting at about 10 o'clock in relation to the duck, and have yellow orange highlights placed to draw the eye to the bugs. And, now that I think about it, I would make the main duck larger in the scene, with it's tail overlapping the city. I did a rough paint over to show what I mean. Hope it helps.

[NoWayMe]

@tombarrettillo Thanks! It really helps! I will continue to work on it but I like the direction your going And I like the bigger version of the bird