Character Concepts - Red Locust

Its been a busy couple of days; not long before returning to uni now and I want to write as much of my book as possible. But that doesn't mean that I don't have room for drawing! <3
One old story of mine that has been left pretty undeveloped for some time, is Red locust - a compilation of short stories about a space hacker. It needs a lot of work but I felt like redesigning the characters anyway. Hey, not many stories get a look in at the moment with the Morgan Trilogy going full pelt. Page 900, anybody?
I photo shopped all the characters into a group photo but the girl didn't fit, so I shall put her in separately. I used copic marker for these ones, but I shall definitely be photo shopping now thanks to my new laptop! <3

Cuddles!

One thing i love almost as much as typing and drawing is making dolls. It might sound odd, but its a great way to do something tactile and create characters in your own stories; they are easy to do and i have had great fun over time making them for requests, birthday gifts and for my own collection. My favorite characters can sit on my desk and smile at me after a hard day! The name 'Fugly' doesn't need explaining. I think you all know what it means, and it comes from my earliest creations which were, lets say, worthy of such a description - and it made me love them even more. A few of the Fugly's I have here are the group of misfits from my trilogy, 'Morgan', which include vampires, witches and one eyed dogs - and an avatar tribute I made to celebrate the amazing CGI movie. All you need is cotton wool, felt, a needle and thread - and a lot of love! <3

A day at the zoo

Although it may not look it, i have been a busy bee drawing non stop - everything is being painstakingly painted and prepared as i go about my daily practise, and so there are a fair few pictures waiting to be uploaded, including some home-made Pokemon me and some kids designed ^^ Almost time for uni again and i can hardly wait - i just got my new laptop (his name is Mush) and am hopefully getting a scanner, printer and lightbox very soon! now all obstacles that have thus far made photoshop difficult are soon to dissapear; and soon i shall also be 20! hip hip hooray!
These are a few old pics i did at Marwell zoo, but i was really pleased with how they turned out. Especially the fluffy anteater - it really helped me understand the texture and feel of these animals, it was like stroking them with my pencil seeing as the fence somewhat hindered my ability to stroke him myself) i like to think he was soft - probably rather bristly, actually. handsome fellow, hope he wasnt too bored in there.





I love Giraffes. They are like these weird beasts from another world; i know its easy to say its like this animal patched with that, it kind of has the head of a deer, or walks a bit like an elephant - but the truth is they really are unlike anything else. The same could be said for kangaroos when i went to Australia; they were kind of like donkey-dog-rat-rabbits, but really, they were just like kangaroos, and completely unique. It took a fair few pages to get the face of these creatures right. There is a frank beauty about them: they are as nature made them, not delicate or fragile, but gorgeous all the same. They are strong, outrageous and bizarre; and they look upon humans with contempt as they batter their long eyelashes. They have got to be one of the best animals i have ever seen :)

Layout work!

My quest is not only to learn photoshop, but also Maya, and layout too. I've normally concentrated on creating character designs and getting proportions right - my books I write are basically one big preproduction plan for animations I want to do one day, so I guess its go figure that most of my drawings are preproduction drawings for my stories! If I can get the hang of creating fine-art pieces with backdrops, I'll be a very happy girl. This is the layout I did for my first year of animation, and was one of the only layouts I have ever done!! I was proud of myself that day; I have a new respect for layout artists that I never really thought about before I tried it myself. Think characters are what I will stick to, though! x

Kangaroo Island

A copic marker picture for Kenneth: good times in Oz!
Alex x

Welcome!

Well this is certainly something new to me! Before i came to university i was a bit of a techno-phobe, living out on a farm like a country bumpkin. All my pictures up until this point had been watercolours or inks, and the world of photoshop and Maya still baffles me now: but no fear! I am trying very hard to learn how to use these things to my benefit :) so ill kick off with my first ever photoshop creation: a superhero, i designed with my little brother. woo!