Plesiosaur Illustration

 One of the main features on the infographic will be the reconstructive illustration of the Plesiosaur, so it is really important to me that I achieve a good quality representation. 

Last week I attempted this illustration, however it was not going the way I wanted it to. I think every artist can relate to the feeling of drawing something where nothing seems to be working cohesively, no matter how much tweaking, fixing, and solution brainstorming you do. In those instances it is best to walk away and let it rest and come back. I took a break from this drawing to work on the opal drawing which I think helped spark back some creativity. 

There are a number of reasons why I don't think this illustration worked:

  • The colour palette is very dull and doesn't have a lot of contrasting colour to help make it 'pop'
  • The texture is overpowering and too soft, need some crisper edges to give it dimension
  • Tried to make the body swim in a dynamic pose, however it still seems stiff (this may be because I hadn't added in the flippers yet. I really struggled figuring out the flipper angles, I was thinking about it too logically, rather than letting the creative side of it come through to create that dynamism).
  • The head shape also needs re-working (bottom jaw is longer than the top, which is not correct anatomically)
  • I was drawing in Photoshop, which I had not used since the end of last year. I had been learning ProCreate and using it for other recent assignments, which I really enjoyed. I think they both require a different frame of mind to use due to their different tools and workspace. 
Below are time lapses of this process for this first illustration:



As far as I got with the first illustration before putting it aside ^^ It took around 4.5 hours across both time lapses.

After coming back to try working on it again, I decided to start afresh and work in ProCreate, which I think was the right choice as the illustration is more in-line with the creative goals I had planned. I started by redrawing the outline, to give the body a greater curvature. 


I used a screenshot of one of the outline iterations I had in the first attempt, and used a warp tool to bend the body shape into that curve. A lot of this creative process was re-using elements and using program tools to help physically warp it into the desired vision, and that not all attempts and ideas are worthless. Screenshot of the outline I re-used from first attempt below. I warped it and roughly stuck it on the background to see how it work compositionally:


From here I began colouring the illustration. This time I focused on pulling colours I had drawn in to the background I was working on over the weekend. Pulling those greenish cyans from the surface ice and using them as the main colour palette, thinking about how it would reflect around the Plesiosaur. I found this second attempt much smoother process wise. Even though ProCreate has its limitations with its layering system, it offers the same brush, colouring, and editing aspects as Photoshop. 


I then put it back onto the background to see how it was working colour wise. Once I finish this illustration, I then will add some more detail to the water, focusing on the light coming through the opening in the ice, and how it will affect the highlights and shadows on the Plesiosaur.


Second attempt process: 5.5 hours
First attempt process: 4 hours








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