I’m still messing with Kraken. He’s a little longer and leaner through the body here and his arms are a bigger. I like the way the hands turned out in this one. Although I drew it on at the last minute, the more I draw him without the mask, the more I like him without it. I find he looks more menacing. I’m still debating over what he should be wearing. He has the feel of a character that would have a cape, despite how unoriginal they are.
I’m itching to draw larger. I’m sketching in a black DeSerres, hard cover, 8.5×11 book right now. I had been using 9×12 pads for a while but I don’t find they’re hit or miss with regards to standing up to the torture I put them through. The last one I bought was a cheap piece of monkey crap! It had an orange cover with “Biggie” scrawled across it in black. It’s now abandoned, with a bull clip holding the loose pages held together. I have the same problem with books that have perforated pages. They don’t take my abuse very well. Does any one have a particular kind of sketchbook they like? Know of a book that stands up to the wrath of an animator? … While I’m at it, what about pens, pencils and markers? Favorites? I’m curious now! I went to Loomis the other day and picked up a couple of blue Promarkers. They’re not bad. They bled a lot in this sketchbook, but the paper isn’t really meant for markers.
I finally found some time over the holiday weekend to work on this character a bit more. The more I draw him the more complex he seems to get. I’m still messing with proportions. The development is kind of taking it’s own course right now. I may have to dumb him down a bit in the end. I think I’ve stumbled upon a name I like… Kraken. It came up on Dictionary.com when I was looking up words like octopus and squid to see if there was anything that jumped out at me. Kraken refers to a giant, many-armed sea monster “more horrifying than any other sea creature”. Jake posted a comment suggesting the name “The Leviathan” which is essentially the same thing only historically, it has more dragon like qualities. Leviathan was also used relatively recently in Disney’s Atlantis. I had completely forgotten about Kraken until tonight. The first time I heard the word was when I was a kid and I rented Clash of the Titans. I usually have no trouble naming my characters. The names always seem to jump out at me. If they don’t at first and I have to dig a little for inspiration, when I do finally come accross a name I like, it sticks. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Jake!
He’s obviously got a bit of an aquatic feel to him but I’m trying to mix it with some serpent qualities as well. I have another sketch I hope to be posting soon… I’m still messing around with the details.
This is my very first blog. Great Caesar’s Ghost! I just lost my blog-virginity! (Yeah, I saw Superman Returns last night!)
This is a character I’ve been toying around with in my “spare time” for about two weeks. The design is part of a series of sci-fi characters called Warped I’ve been developing slowly over the past few years. I’m sure I’ll be posting more pics of them as time goes on. They’re really fun to draw. This guy is the villain… I don’t have a name yet, though my buddy Paton, Animator & Doodler Extraordinaire, suggested Squidward. Hmm… pretty sure that’s taken good buddy.
That’s it for now. Blog-virgin no longer. Who wants to give me a high-five?
