Strange Behavior (Illustration) Entry: Harris Ejaz

#1

Harris Ejaz is entered in the “Strange Behavior Challenge” update: View Challenge Page

Latest Update: Line Art or Model: wartoy

#2

Hello all.
A week or two ago i started on my concept for strange behavior as a doodle. Abandoned it halfway due to drawers block, but now i’ve forced myself to enter the contest so i will have no choice but to finish!
Anyway, The concept here is inspired by Haris Durrani and other friends of mine. She’s nobility, used to sneak into the ruins of the old city under the Palace as a child. She found an obsolete Warbot which ended up becoming her plaything.
She’s grown up now, but still sneaks away to play with her childhood friend.

#3

I was on an obvious Tsutomu Nihei kick while designing the monster. At this point I was unsure what to do with the princess, which became the source of much anguish later.

I just knew I wanted them to have some sort of a close dynamic there… like girl tend to for thier overgrown teddys.

#4

Deliniating mechabotman.

#5

As you can see I just went at the canvas with colour at this point. I’m usually pretty weak with colour but with this I felt a strong green/red vibe coming on.

#6

Standard brushes used. took soft and hard brushes (with opacity controlled by pressure) and attached the pixels.

#7

Redrew the girl. She looked good but i Seemed to lost some of the intimace of the earlier pose. So yes, she gets redrawn too.

#8

so yes. girl redrawn. At this point fed up of her.

#9

Went to work on Bot’s definition instead. And this is where I left the piece.

Since the colour distribution is pretty much decided, I’m going to upres to 3000px x 4000px and paint the shit out of this if it kills me. I’m not getting up from this seat now.

#10

Hi Harris, sorry but so far there is nothing strange about it. If she was a princes all dressed up with smudges from grease all her face and clothes from fixing some relic robot in the junk yard that might be strange enough but i bet you can do lot better than my idea.
Well good luck you still have a lot of time to come up with some bizarre idea.

#11


So, I thought this little detail might be useful to go into things i’ve done that aren’t just conventional painting.
The texture: I scanned in some paper, desaturated it and adjusted its brightness till it was about 50% gray overall, and put it in an overlay layer on top of everything.
The tatooing also is my drawing with a hard brush in an overlay layer and selective erasing.

#12

My God.
I’m so tired.
And all the reds hurt my eyes.
Anyway, this is more or less complete now.
I changed her face because it was beginning to resemble an ex-girlfriend, added some tatooing and paterning for interest.
This I think is more or less complete. i’ll be tweaking it according to crits.

#13

Did some clean-up and general tweaking.
Also, a preliminary write-up:
When she first found the ancient war machine as a child, the ArchShahni Ghuzz’l was terrified and fascinated.

There she was, in the forbidden catacombs under the Palatial Megalopolis, holding court to an amnesiac Noface. The Nofaci were responsible for the sacking of the Old City centuries ago, and the Megalopolis was built over its ruins. Ghuzz’l was a rebel, and to her the forbidden status of the wasted city was a glaring invitation.

Overcoming her fear, she eventually found a fulfilling playmate in the Noface LXIX.

Time Passed, and Ghuzz’l became adept in political mindgames and palace intrigue, but she never stopped sneaking into the wasteland to see LXIX.
And now she is a woman, Heiress Apparent to the ArchShahi, ready to assume her responsibilities in earnest.

And she has an ace up her sleeve.

#14

Beautiful work! I love the details in the Noface’s neck, and just the rendering all over. It feels as though if the red light behind her is so strong, wouldn’t we see more red on Noface, especially his screen-right arm and face where she’s not blocking the light at all? But either way, really great work! Good luck!

#15

Really nice looking work, Harris.
Walrus has a point I think, also wouldn’t the red light cast a shadow on the bot of the girl?
But I’d understand that adding more reds could dominate the piece too much.

#16

I like the piece, :thumbsup: for me I prefer the pre-visual where the woman has turn her head more to the camera, it engages me more!

Chris

#17

Guero: Yes, I think you may have a point. I was going for a more subtle approach. I may have gone too far.

Walrus, Art: Art had it right; while i was working on the peice the reds nearly drove me blind. But I see your point and i’m going to give it a shot.

Artisan-hawks: Actually, for that same reason i like that previsual too… and i think i would have made a more visually interesting picture if i had taken that route… but like i said, i was going gor a sort of protective intimacy which was not that strong in that previsual.

#18

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