Newbie's newborns

[Leighton]

Hi all

First time posting and first time entering a contest here. Been watching from the sidelines for a while admiring everyone's work but thought I should get posting some of my own stuff. So here goes.

Had a few ideas going on at thumbnail sketch stage but narrowed them down to two. First one up is the Manhattan Project as giving birth to the nuclear age. It cam out of drawing new born babies and suddenly seeing this mushroom cloud image in their form - which I thought was an interesting contradiction.

Reading up on the history of the Manhattan project it turned out to be a more appropriate image than I thought, as many of those involved saw the first successful test as the dawn of a bright new age and celebrated as you might at the birth of a baby. Weird in hindsight. Tried to get this feeling of celebration into my second stab at the composition. Also tried to go for a WWII propaganda poster feel.

Not sure if its still a bit too dark an idea really. Working on something else too which I'll post soon.

Any thoughts on this one would be more than welcome.


Edit: Below you can also see the idea I finally submitted and how it turned out.

[FourTonMantis]

I like the second one a lot more. It fills the space better and has a lot more personality.

[Nickillus]

Excellent that you're doing this Leighton. Having read a fictionalised account some years ago called The Accident', about what happened to some of the scientists working on the atom bomb, I was tempted to do something with this gravitas. My more whimsical style doesn't lend itself to serious matter though.

Your approach is a great way to tackle it. Wish I'd thought of it. Go for it and with good luck.

[Leighton]

FourTonMantis - Thanks for taking a look. Yeah the first one was just a sketch really. Not sure if the second one reads properly though - its supposed to be a montage sort of thing with the characters in the foreground as a separate illustration of the same event, from a different angle. Looking at it again it seems like they are turning away from the mushroom cloud and my perspective is all out.

Nickillus - Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm not sure I've ever thought of your style as whimsical, and you certainly seem to be tackling the darker side of things with your excellent famine themed submission. I'm not sure my style is up to this subject matter either so I'll be posting some other ideas soon just to ease my nerves.

[Leighton]

Here's my second (more lightweight) idea - robot lady and human man get it on and manage to bring something new into the world. Not really original, know there are a lot of newborn baby drawings out there and some android babies too, but not sure I've come across a baby droid combo yet. Well here's the first sketch of the happy family...

[diissar]

hi,i like your second image,the one with explosion in the shape of a babby!
good luck with the rest

[Nickillus]

Your robot baby idea is another with real possibilities Leighton. It would make another cracking image.
Looking at your drawing ability, I reckon you could make a stand up job of the nuclear one, even if you don't feel confident about it at the moment. Just go with the one you fancy doing most, and you'll probably be making the right decision for now. You can always pull thhe other out at a later date and it will still stand up on its own merit, without the challenge theme to explain it.

[Leighton]

dissar - Thanks for taking a look. I like the second baby mushroom cloud too but I'm not sure I'm going to have time to give the figures in the foreground the attention they need.

Nick - Thanks again for your comments, youve made it easier to make a decision. Like you say I can always come back to one or the other in my own time. Cheers.

[dwenkarikatur]

Hi,new bie here..seen the last sketces looks like Bicentanialman movie.

[Leighton]

A bit of a wip dump here. I started a colour test on the happy family pencil sketch above. With adding colour I realised I wasn't so happy with the design of the baby, I thought he looked like he'd had machine parts attached to him post birth.

I wanted to make sure you know hes a real hybrid of flesh and metal. So I thought I'd try an approach where he had a completely metal face but the face showed very human expressions.

The first version I tried I gave him a painted face - trying to make him look like a vintage tin toy, but I thought this just ended up looking a little weird - you're not really sure if its metal or not. My second approach was to give his face a highly reflective chrome look. I think this one works a little better, but I'll have to do some more work on my reflective effect.

In order to see more of the baby's features I'm probably going to have to go back and alter the composition too. So I'm just off to do that. Hopefully post some more updates later.

[Leighton]

A scanned pencil drawing, taken into Painter and modified slightly. This is the latest and presumably last stab at the composition (considering the ticking clock).

[Leighton]

Finally added some colour. Worked out I wasn't too happy with the father's face - that chin looked dangerous. So I've started to alter the face - still not happy with it though, or his hand behind the baby's head.

[Leighton]

Today's progress. The father got a new head, but lost a hand, the baby got a metallic face and the mother got a new lick of paint.

[Leighton]

Well here's what I was able to come up with in the time I had. If nothing else I got a lot of inspiration from seeing everyone else's creations and came away with a few new ideas of my own to work on in the future. Thanks to everyone who commented and good luck to everyone in the contest.