The Key Moment That Solved My Art's Story Puzzle - "Snack" Process Video + PSD File

Hey everyone!

Some thoughts about the process of "Snack".

Concept

For this process, I wanted to try an original idea that I could support visually with animals. My idea initially was about a big old character working while a small one was in the same room. This is an idea that has been in my head for a few days already, at the beginning was about a mechanic and a pilot, pretty cyberpunk. With that in mind, I searched for a few minutes for references that could fit the narrative, that's when I found the "sea lion" picture, heavy and full of scars, interesting in my opinion. I was not sure what to pick for the second character, but I knew it needed to be from the same environment, eventually, I chose this particular penguin based on its very distinctive shapes and colors.

Once I chose the references, the next issue to address was the action or story occurring in the illustration. The mechanic/pilot thing was cool, but I could not come up with a visually interesting story to tell, besides the two of them just minding their own business. I like characters to interact in a way, I needed an excuse for them to talk, discuss or just react, something evident that bring life. So I asked many questions in order to push this narrative, one of those questions was "what kind of jobs these two would have?" They both like fish, so fisherman was one of the main options, and since I've never approached this subject I think the two of them fishing in a very cold environment will fit perfectly with the animal reference and also I could justify a very old big fisherman and a young apprentice.

The idea ended up clicking the moment I painted the big guy eating, while exploring some shapes. I know this is part of the execution phase, but sometimes concepts unfold at random points in the process. I thought it would be very odd if he straight up ate raw fish from the bucket, like a very experienced fisherman from my universe would behave after years of struggle, and of course, the young character would be horrified by this behavior, I thought it was kind of funny and justified the both character interaction, not directly talking but at least connected by a single event.

Let's make these ideas simpler by using the formula I'm lately working with. The one I shared with you last week in this article 3 Fundamentals of My Art Style Illustrations - Bet Video Process + PSD File

• Ref Energy: Big old guy (sea lion), small colorful young character (penguin)
• Action: Fishing
• Costume: Clothing and props for fishing in cold climates (overalls, beanie, jackets, hoodies, gloves).

These points help me cover what I consider "enough" information in my compositions so I feel more sure I'm not wasting my time creating boring pieces or pieces that end up "lacking" something.

Execution

Some pieces are very difficult, but some are just "nice" and by nice, I mean with a few strokes I kind of feel comfortable enough to move forward into the next step. I would say quick solutions are "nice" as well; it's not always the case that an idea in my head comes up straightforward to the canvas. In the first 30 min of the process video, you will see how these strokes convey the idea beautifully.

After strokes, I use lines to define gesture, anatomy, and costume. Gesture and anatomy are roughly decided while playing with strokes; the work of the line is to refine these decisions, costume and cloth on the other hand need some kind of support from external references as I don't feel sufficient to come up with more complex shapes, especially if I'm not familiar with the fisherman's costume. Nothing that a quick search on Pinterest could not solve. In case someone could miss the "fisherman" concept, I throw a few props around, props you will find in their work setting, such as fishing nets, buckets, and baskets with fish.

For colors, I went a little bit out of skin tones as for the big guy; I kind of want him to be grey, even purple, human but not human really, this would create not just a resemblance with the sea lion but also a supernatural vibe, something I'm enjoying lately in my pieces. For the penguin, I played around with the tones it had. I often have two opposite tonalities for characters, like one black, the other white, but I wanted these two to share the same outfit in a way, making emphasis on the dark only on their skin or cloth from the top, just to try something different.

As for the values, I struggled for a bit. I wanted to make like a sunlight scene, similar to the sea lion reference I used, but at the beginning, the shadow was too dark and the light too saturated, shadows did not correspond to the light in terms of colors, often you will find purple but bluish shadows and that was not something that matched the colors I used as a base before values. So, I spent some time making adjustments as you can see in the video. The trick was to desaturate everything including the light and then adjust with filters to pop that warm light sweet spot. Check the PSD to see how the selective color is settled and let me know if you have any questions.

Conclusion

This idea behind this piece initially was different but lacked connection, story. In the past, I would have done that idea without hesitating, but lately, I really want to push my pieces into deeper narratives through very simple moments. So it does not feel like an excuse to draw pretty pictures but pretty pictures with several layers behind their beauty. While I come up with what I consider interesting, I'll share my exploration process.

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