Creature Design

#1

HI,

This is basicly almost the same topic as the one 'which dvd i should get?" but i thought to make an own topic of this one. Well basicly it’s like this, i’m not a good drawner, and i want to learn how to draw creatures i have in my head. So basicly i thought i should buy one from gnomon off course, but i want to ask you:
I don’t have lots of drawning experience, and i don’t know if i’m able to recreate the things on the dvd. I want to learn how to draw a beast, and then digitally paint it on my computer. I thought of this one:
The Techniques of Neville Page Volume 1:
Digital Painting - Fantasy Wildebeest
and with the
The Techniques of Neville Page Volume 2:
Digital Painting - Fantasy Wildebeest

Are those a good starting point? Or is this wayyyyyy to hard for a not so experienced drawner?

ALso i would like to know if you find it easy to recreate the instructor is doing, i mean isn’t it weird to look over his shoulder and have to press pause and draw it yourself etc.
Do you need special pencils, or just a normal pencil with paper?

I hope you understand me,
thanks in forward :slight_smile:

#2

Neville’s DVD’s are ideal, but don’t neglect further studies in general drawing. Most of drawing is about understanding the basics of form, contour, proportions and light. Colour theory helps too! This helps give a structure to build your ideas from.
Also, to get ideas of your creature on paper, think of animals or human characteristics that are similar to your concept and draw them from reference. Many fantastic creatures are merely a combination of human and/or animal forms. For example, if you wanted to draw a werewolf with bat-like wings, grab as much reference of humans, wolves and bats as you can and study the characteristics of each.
It’s imperative that you at least get a basic foundation in drawing. These first steps are often the hardest, but the most rewarding. Although Neville may help in that regard (he seems to go through some excellent techniques), it can’t hurt to learn more!

#3

First, thanks for your answer :thumbsup:

Well i think so too, but what dvd do you suggest for me to learn the form, lightning, color etc. basics? And have you watched analog dvd’s from gnomon, if you did, could you tell me what you think?

Thanks again :slight_smile:

#4

I can easily recommend Neville Page’s first volume for any beginner. After creating thumbnails of a creature silhouette he breaks down the form into simple shapes. Such as cones and spheres. He then renders those simple forms discussing highlight, core shadow and cast shadow. Those few minutes spent discussing those topics helped my drawing so much.

Good Luck!

Roger

#5

OK thanks, then i will probably give it a try. But do you know what kind of pencil he is using? I know that it isn’t really important but i just want to know…

Thanks :thumbsup:

#6

I think materials are important. Sometimes you don’t know how a piece of artwork was done unless you know the materials used. He uses Prismacolor Colored Pencil Black no. 935 and draws on Bienfang Marker Layout Paper no. 360. These two materials were born to work together. They are both pretty inexpensive. I pay about $1.15 Canadian for a pencil and about $9 CND for a 50 sheet 9x12 pad of layout paper. This paper is very thin but it’s extremley tough. You can erase and erase and erase some more on it. But keep in mind the black Prismacolor is hard to erase. Neville uses an electic eraser but a cheap pink pearl eraser works good too.

If you can’t find the paper locally (I have to order it online) just pick up a cheap pad of newsprint. I buy the Crayola Doodle Pad of normal gray newsprint. It costs about $2 for a pad of 60 sheets. The mark put down by the prismacolor will feel the same. But you can’t really erase a lot times before you get holes in the newsprint.

Oh, one more thing about the prismacolor. The lead is really soft. A few strokes and the point starts to get dull. The best way to sharpen a prismacolor pencil is using an electric pencil sharpener. You get a sharp point and most of the lead is exposed. I use to use a hand sharpener and the cheap ones will just break the lead. If you don’t have an electric sharpener try substituting the prismacolor for some 3B graphite pencils.

Roger

#7

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