Strange Behavior (Illustration) Entry: Stephanie Lawrason

#1

Stephanie Lawrason is entered in the “Strange Behavior Challenge” update: View Challenge Page

Latest Update: Concept Sketch or 3D pre-visualization: Getting there

#2

Well hey I guess, some short notes before I start posting later on today. I’m looking forward to having an AWESOME time doing this challenge. This is my first challenge, and so, I’m also hoping I’ll do this correctly. (A little nervous…)

Within this challenge I hope to challenge MYSELF greatly as well, and I plan to take on a style I haven’t done in years. Well, 2 years, back when I was 16. I hope to use extreme, yet simple detail to get my point across, and try my hardest to develop new techniques in the process aswell. I look forward to posting my works in progress and also getting critique. I hope to do a busy piece, that is still suttle, hopefully, this will work out.

Any critique throughout this would be appreciated so much. I am only in the early stages of my art career and any help, pointers or comments are always appreciated. Wish me luck, and I wish you luck as well! :slight_smile:

#3

My first milestone.

Well, I’ve been walking around with this idea for quite some time, and I suppose I’ll explain where this is leading before I continue jabbering about how my idea has changed.

This entry will be based on a few “strange behaviors”. Some disturbing, some funny.

Inspired by several “tales of the Trade” this particular piece is inspired by Little Red Riding Hood, and The three Little Pigs. Although, I’m still not exactly positive how I’m going to present this, this simple sketch is a start. (A very rough start)

So imagine a 5 star restaurant, “Little Red’s”, and her classy customers. Dressed in $1000 suits, drenched in cash and ready to blow a suite’s worth of cost on fine dining. Because the theme of this restaurant run’s off the owner, Good ol red riding hood, her waitresses/waiters are obligated to dress in her renown style, of a hooded cape and skirt while remaining classy and professional.

But what do you get when a finely dressed wolf enters with his clients (3 pigs) in order to discuss a business propaganda? An order of Little Red Riding Hood, of course! And how pleased one of her workers is to actually serve her boss (Little Red) on a silver platter to a Wolf, 2 pigs who are perturbed, and 1 who may just be interested in taking a bite himself.

So when i originally thought of this I immediately imagined the table centered in the picture, and bustle going on around (the first sketch) but then, after sketching I realized how mis–um-- misthought it actually was so I tried bringing the table closer, more focused, and having the bustle in the background (bustle that will also be full of strange behavior!). Im still not sure about how to prop any of the characters in their fields (the chairs, the table).

Now that i have this down Im going to begin deciding upon, how I want the work uniforms to look, the expressions on the pigs and the wolf, and of course, the position of Little Red in teh middle of the table!

#4

Don’t know what to say, that’s a fast start!

This is one of my favorite concepts so far. I think it works great as an image and as an idea, the last time I watched something that weird was Titus with Anthony Hopkins! Which is a great movie by the way, very artistic… Your piece will have the perfect eery feeling this topic needs, the perfect paradox. I didn’t think the fantasy concepts could go as strange so far, but there it is, this one’s got it!

My first comment would be:

I read your concept first, then I looked at the image. When I read, I saw the 3 pigs being considerably small compared to the wolf, and sitting on the right side of the round table next to each other. And the wolf, being pretty big, covering most of the left side of composition. I think the most important thing in this image will be the expression on the little red riding hood’s face, it’s important like the ending of the story.

Your sketch style is very good, and feels like you’ve got the concept very clear in your head. I wouldn’t worry and work hard to get it perfect, it has so much potential. good luck…

#5

Thank you so much for the comment! It really helps me, I am pretty nervous about this, and you just gave me quite the boost. So thank you. :slight_smile:
Your visions for this piece are extraordinally close to mine, so I guess that’s a good thing!
Thank you so much. :slight_smile:

#6

i like the smile on that girls face it looks funny! it will be interesting to watch as this image develops.

#7

Well, I’v been dillydallying in what I’d like the wolf’s character to be like. More big and serious, or more lanky and pretisgious? I seem to be leaning toward the prestigious more after this, mostly because, I don’t want the wolf to end up looking like one of the pigs. I want him to be unique (I want everything to be unique!) So as of rgith now, lanky… and prestigious.

As for little red, im still trying to figure out which expression I favor most for her (after all she will be on a silver platter), so I certainly want her to look perturbed, but I’m not sure if I want her to be dainty or not. Still sorting that much out.

We’ll see where this concept goes.

#8

Beena delay since I last updated, i’ve been thinking really hard about what i want these business tycoons to be thinking.

And so far I’ve decided to put most of the expression in the wolf who’s extremely curious as to why the waiter is so extremely pleased to serve her boss (little red riding hood). My guess ias it’s going to be one of those teenish girly cat fight matters… but we’ll see how I can weasel the back story in there.

Over no the left side of the wolf though we have his hungry pig friend who is rather stupid. Upon discussing with myself I decided the businesss these 4 would be discussing was a certain blue print for a house that was to be built by one of their clients. While waiting for their food, they argue whether or not the house should be made of straw, sticks or cement. I figured the one pig who wanted to build the house out of straw would certainly be a little … mental, so i figured he would be the one to be into eating Red.

I’ve still yet to put red in here because I do want a break before officially deciding what I want her to look like in this picture, she’s a very important element, and i’m still thinking on it. We’ll see.

My main concern right now is the business of the table. I’m going to have to find places to stick blue prints and general mess of the meeting, splattered out among the table crushed under little red who is… in quite the struggle. Again, we’ll see where this goes.

As for this, very sketchy, very unfinalized. I highlighted their eyes mostly for my benefit because I want to really get their expressions down before I do the main outline… But down I’m going to fiddle around with the background and look of the restaurant. Get some atmosphere. Wish me luck :stuck_out_tongue:

#9

Alright, last update before I throw Red and some candles in there, to really throw the lighting. I want to make this challenging… so the tables going to be a mess -I hope- next update.

And hopefully by then I’ll get some critique and such to see what you guys think, and get a second opinion on the direction I’m going. :slight_smile:

#10

the look on the face of the pig it seems like hes looking at a very delicious food. is that girl suppose to be the waitress? or shes with them? i think your vision for this piece is great. what goes on the table will be the focal point.

#11

:slight_smile: i like the idea mate, nice concepts so far, keep up the tempo

#12

Looking nice so far. Weird concept, but you have a good start on it so far! :slight_smile:

I think you could probably tweak the composition a bit so that all three pigs are visible (instead of looking at the back of the one pig) but I suspect you’ll need to do a lot of rearranging things after you add the entree to the table. Given the size of the waitress, the main course is going to be rather large and you’ll need to make room for her.

As for red’s expressions, I really feel that the top left one works the best. The ones with the mouth open look like she’s in a lot of pain, which, frankly, is just uncomfortably creepy to watch. At least with big, bulging cartoony eyes, there’s more humor in the scene. (At least I’m presuming you want this to be funny and not horrific, i could be wrong! :slight_smile: )

The wolf’s expression reads well as confusion, for for someone who hasn’t read your write-ups (and your piece should visually stand on its own, without our needing to), it just looks like he’s confused about why he got this as an entree. If he orderred it, why would he be so surprised? Perhaps anohter expression - similar to the hungry pigs - might be more befitting? Or a knowing smile shared with the waitress? (“Oooh, you’re gonna get a good tip tonight!”) Anyhow, just some ideas… Good luck!

#13

Thank you very much for the comment and the critique, greatly appreciated.

Yes, haha, I did realise after fitting in the chairs the size of the table would be extremely small and so, this sketch will probably… be… resketched that’s all. Easy peasy, didn’t take me long. And yes, I would absolutely LOVE to show every pigs face… though… i can’t figure out how I would do it without losing the “natural look” of the subjects being diagonal from one another.

As for humor in this piece, I’m going for both. I want it to be twisted- yet humorous but I completely agree about red’s face. Thanks I was having a hard time picking one. I may go with your opinion.

Once I get Red on the table and start getting my background nice and settled in, this picture will need no reading for sure. I really just wanted to put it down in writing first to even help myself. It helps me when I can write down the ideas-- like I’m discussing with myself. Once I get the suits on these guys, get the blueprints on the tables and the expressions just right (thanks for the critique on those too by the way!) this picture will need no explaination. I want to go for plain sight.

I do have a feeling though this will have to be stretched out quite a bit… make the table longer. This is certainly a rough draft, hopefully it’ll be more down pat once I throw Red in, which i’m working on right now.

Thanks a bunch.

Also, I absolutely LOVE the idea of having the look on the wolf’s face being more “ooo nice tip for you”. Its been bothering me what in the world I should do with his face, and i certainly am going to consider this. Maybe he could be tucking a little napkin in his shirt ;D we’ll see.

#14

Soon, there’s going to be a Little Red Riding hood on a platter on the table. He’s going to be looking at her. :slight_smile:

And thank you!

#15

Hey that’s nice update! you can make the fg pigs bigger, which would give the scene more depth. and/or you could put the waiteress to the right side of the wolf, thus turning all four customers on the table a little bit counter-clockwise, so that you can reveal the face of the 4th pig. If that creates an unsual distance between the 2 fg pigs, making them larger like I mentioned before shoul solve the problem. anyway, just some ideas, plus I liked your idea of revising the format of the image, I think it’d help you for this story. Nice work!

#16

liking the concept alot. cant wait for more

#17

Like it. I think before I try adding Red in Im going to try sketching up some concepts of all possibilities, this will definitely be one of them. Thank you :smiley:

#18

very funny and I like the lighthing ! Waiting to see more .

#19

This is sooo cute =)

I like the idea a LOT!
And the characters are great (the top left Red is the best in my opinion)!

But maybe you should really try and make the 3rd pig visible just a bit… maybe move the chair a tad around… otherwise he’s only blocking the view… =/

well… just my thoughts…

I’ll definitely check in with your proggress again.

Keep it up!

#20

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