Imaginism Workshop Day 16: Creature Design = No Sleep!

Finally, we started Creature Design! This is the first assignment we've had to show case our creativity. The only catch is that I've been painting from 6:30 pm until 5:30 a.m. the next day. So please, be patient with my loopiness!

Thierry Demo-ing a character design. He knocked out and awesome painting
in just a few hours.

Here's the step by step submission and work flow for character design.

Step one: Gather inspiration and come up with 5 different rough ideas. (30 min)

I chose to paint a sapling sprite. 

Step 2: Pick one of the ideas or your favorite elements and draw 5 rough poses. (30 Min)

The idea for this guy was that he's a little forest sprite who's a courier between
the Tree Spirits. He catches the wind in his leaves to fly around.

Step 3: Do textural studies for the individual elements of the character. (30 min each)

Ginger

 Acorn

Tonight I learned that Acorns are a bitch to paint.
I was really only concerned about painting the cap

Step 4: Refine your character sketch. (30 min)

I wrote a whole back story in my head while on my afternoon jog.
This Forest Sprite's name is Timmin, and he's a total badass.

Step 5: 5 contrast studies of your refined sketch (30 min)

It's important to note that these don't define lighting or even
 value necessarily. They describe path of the viewer's eye.

Step 6: 5 Lighting studies of your favorite contrast study. (30 min)

At this point, it was about 4:30 in the morning, and there was a beautiful mist over the lake

It was surreal to peak out of our studio cave to find
  the sun up and the birds chirping

Step 7: Final Render of your favorite thumbnail

Timmin

This whole process took my about 11 hours to do. T said that at one point in his career, he was painting 2 of these a night for a month. I swear, he isn't human! (Also, he works incredibly fast.)

My Art Book of the Day is Chris Sander's Sketch Book #4. I haven't really payed attention to Chris until now. Man, everything he does is either adorable or sexy, and usually it's both. I instantly bookmarked his blog.

More of Chris Sander's work can be found at his blog