DSG 344: Creature: Lava Insect

[dsg bot]

Today's topic is: Creature: Lava Insect

[Forge]

first post in dsg ! and first post for this thread...
more a monster than an insect, sorry... about 1 hour...

http://artforge.free.fr/images/jul.jpg

[guns1inger]

http://users.tpg.com.au/adslrotx/images/lavabeetle.jpg

First DSG post. Normally an incessant pen doodler, but I got my wacom a couple of weeks ago and wanted to play. Charcoal and colour is something different for me. About 20 - 25 minutes total

[nBT]

http://www.mattijsart.com/dsg/dsg344lavainsect.jpg
i actually found some time to do dsg. yay
gouache 10 mins

[m0rph]

Thunder, your pic's link doesn't work.

[Gumdrop]

Just a quickie today, but I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

Magma Tick
http://bluntedtaffer.50megs.com/DSG/DSG344_LavaInsect.JPG

Magma Ticks can generate internal heat which they channel out through vents in their carapace creating the glowing spots on their bodies. They use this inner heat to burn through the thick outer skin of the animals that graze on the lava plains, thus enabling the Ticks to reach the softer flesh beneath. Yum! :p

[silentbrain]

Forge- tight pencilling and lighting! I would wish for a core shadow and reflected light but it's not that important. Also dig the way you painted the cracks on the skin.

guns1nger- congratulations on getting a wacom! I like the imagery of the insect bursting out of the ground. It seems as if you started drawing from a white surface though, perhaps you might try drawing on a toned surface next time?

nBt- gouAUUUGGGHHHHHHche! real nice colors and watercolor handling there, and in only 10 minutes o_O

Gumdrop- I dig your story for the bug, that makes sense. Textures are also great! Must be a tough little bugger to generate so much heat that light is produced as well. o.o

(I wonder if William B Hand will return for this one. o_O)

So, I saw the topic and started thinking "the balrog from the Lord of the Rings movie", and it kinda went from there. Had a lot of fun with this one, more than usual, but again the balrog probably doesn't read that well.

http://venimarolka.com/dump/020504-dsg-lavainsect.jpg

last dsg for a few days while I crank out my tdome master piece [of crap], I will keep watching the dsg and look forward to all you folkses' pics. :D

[plaf]

http://www.skjoldbroder.dk/gfx/24bit/lavainsect.jpg

juuuust a quick'un. nice topic though - good stuff so far. i've been away for a while, working like a madman finishing the game we're working on here (Gangland)

sigh... must find more time to sketch =)

all the best.

[kaptah]

Orange; propably the best color in world. :beer:

http://www.sannahellstrom.com/cg/lava_insect.jpg

[merd]

Forge- Welcome to dsg I like your picture, but maybe you should have worked out the background a little bit more?!

kaptah- your pic rocks i really like the colours!

hope to see some more stuff, as i won't have time for dsg today
:)

[Hesse]

http://users.pandora.be/hesse/lavainsectdsg.jpg

[Forge]

thx Merd (do you know in france your pseudo want to say shit ??):p
but u know i've been doing this really fast, just for fun... i'm afraid to don't have enough time to be a regular poster in dsg...

[Cybot Floor]

silentbrain: what is that thing in the bg? on first look i though, an exploding dinosaur...
kaptah, beside green of course ;) hot picture!
gumdrop: nice one - i`d like to see something more back/underground...

i used a limited palette (11 colors) this time (thx railboy, good idea) and did it completly in painter8. (no references)
http://www.arcor.de/palb/alben/44/555744/640_3531393839336438.jpg
edit: adjusted the constrast a bit...

[Railboy]

Eh... no pressure, right? :) Every one of these is great so far... This topic is obviously picking brains.

[m0rph]

Hopefully I can come up with something creative, this will be my first DSG (YAY dsg are my initials :D). I'll get started when I get home from school.

[Beatnik]

cool creature forge



http://www.zmans.com/misc/dsg_344.jpg

[young paddy1]

http://img6.photobucket.com/albums/v19/youngpaddy1/dsg/scorpion1.jpg
my little 20 minute lava scorpion

another 10 minutes for a background

[MindCandyMan]

http://www.mindcandyman.com/jons_uploads/dsg sketch1.jpg


He has no legs because he can't land...he just drags his tendrils along the surface to get ash nutrients (I'm not a scientist haha)

[bbwolf]

It´s not even summer and here´re allready the worst heat bugs.

Forge: Okay it´s a monster but a damn good one. I REALLY dig that lizzard he´s caring around. Nice pencilworks.

Gunslinger: Respect for using charocoal. Is that this strange paper like with really short furr? I can´t work like this. Sound gives me the creeps.
Is the beetle really emerging? The whole is a bit small- Looks more like he´s enjoying bathing his behind, hehehe.

nBT: Nice fer ten min. Doesn´t look hot though.

Gumdrop: Gotta agree with silentbrain.

Silentbrain: Got the same thought, a-he. But you got it totally right. The dreaded balrog-mosquito. Word. The big looks like he´s wearing shades. Does it?

Plaf: Real cool hot charocoal effect.

Kaptah: Eeeuch! It´s hideous. That means good. Real strange head. Any story behind that one?

Cybot Floor (Wie kommts zu dem nick?): A magmabutterfly. Awwww. Ain´t that cute.

beatnick: That perspective rocks. Nice stram of lava, too.

Young Paddy: How about sum bg? And why not take the ref to the max? Add the claws and move the eyes onto the back. Nice idea though.

MindyCandyMan: Nice Magmafly. Ash must be mighty nutrius if it can fly all the time with those tiny wings.
The texture is ps filter, right?


Okay, here´s mine: Wanted to twist the subject a bit. hehehehe



The Lava-Bug

-the rarly seen insect which is strangly drawn to the Mathmos Lava-Lamp only. Do not disturb em. Leave the light on and move. Maybe to Kansas. http://www.highlight-comic.de/conceptart/dsg01/lava_bug.jpg

[Dementist]

http://mbnet.fi/zenbie/uploaded/dsg-fire-crab.jpg

Watercolors, done during painting class.

[Cybot Floor]

Originally posted by bbwolf

Wie kommts zu dem nick?


(=what does your nick mean?)


If you SPEAK it backwards, you`ll get my real name... ("speak", not "read")

@your pic:
Had a similar idea, when i searched for lava in google *g*
Nice, to see it realized :)

[m0rph]

my first dsg, don't be too harsh on me :D. It's just in pencil, I hate/suck at coloring. This is just a 10 min sketch.

http://www.ganoff.com/m0rph/art/sketch_lava-bug.jpg

[SABRE]

HEY REALLY GOODS ENTRYS TODAY!!!LAMENTABLY I CANT POST A IMAGE TODAY!!

DAMN!! SILENT BRAIN YOU MADE IT AGAIN!!! THATS GREAT!!

@FORGE: NICE MIX!!

@guns1inger: LIKE THE INSECT, BUT....LAVA?

@SILENT BRAIN: WOAH......:batman:

kaptah: GOOD INSECT DESIGN!!

@Cybot Floor: DAMN, I HAD SOMETHING SIMILAR FOR TODAY

@ALL: GOODS WORKS!!




SEE YA!! :D


CHAUU......................

[Hunger_Artist]

Kaptah- orange is cool...er hot.

always good to see new artists here!

http://members.tripod.com/carlbeu/762d7460.jpg

[brawkstake]

:eek: terrific work all .. silentbrain, sweet!!!
struggling on trying to learn painter.. quick one
http://img9.photobucket.com/albums/v24/brawkstake/lavainsekter.jpg

[Hanuka]

nice nice nice

all the way good coloring and stuff. dont be shy, morph :P just keep posting stuff. i like your idea. rather strange :)

so here's my attempt (15 minutes open canvas )
still learning :/

http://hanuka.250free.com/lavafly4.jpg

c&c welcome

[guns1inger]

Great ( and diverse) work everybody. As someone who doodles constantly, but has never had any formal drawing instruction, this place is an inspiration.

SilentBrain - I think I need to recalibrate my monitor. The background is actually cream, but the whole image is much darker on my monitor at home. I have just seen the image here at work and it is very washed out in comprison.

bbwolf - I finished the pic just before midnight, and didn't have time to keep going on it. It should also have a stream of lava spewing out of the mouth-like orifice, as if being sucked out of the ground from one end, and ejected out of the other.

[nBT]

http://www.mattijsart.com/dsg/dsg344lavainsect2.jpg
reprise. i hope its 'hotter' now. around 50 mins. gouache. the trick with washes is to work fast. so the colours blend.
thanks for the comments silentbrain and bbwolf
hanuka: use a biiiig brush for the background

[Hanuka]

just reworked that nBt, thanks. accidently i messed up the wings while doing that and as open canvas 1 is lacking of a decent undo-history i had to copy the wings in paintshop ... u see the border... what the heck. im going to put more effort into it tomorrow or so. good night.

btw. good one nBT. lacks of a darker back maybe?

[elevenrequiem]

hunger - love it! how the hell do you get that "dirty/stained" look??
mindcandyman - bangin textures, excellent idea.
forge - thats the most beautiful bug i've ever seen! my fav for the day.

http://www.bigamericanproductions.com/2-5%20lava%20bug.jpg

[Railboy]

http://www.atomicagedog.com/art/dailysketch/lavainsect.jpg

Huge and deformed - which end is up? Who can tell? :) Another limited pallette piece (10 colors), took about 1 hour in PS 6.

I had a real problem with depth on this one, so crits in that area are welcome...

My favorite so far is Forge's - welcome to the DSG.

[Sapphire]

I used ref pics for the lava and for water skippers.

http://img11.photobucket.com/albums/v35/Sapphire8400/lavabug1.jpg

[GraphicMaster]

I'm still busy adding color with prismacolors to my sketch from a few days ago... Underwater Witch Doctor.

I missed yesterdays, so I thought I'd get something up today.I only spent about 20mins on this sucker in photoshop.
I feel like a cheater using the computer... but it was quick.


http://www.graphics-lab.com/sketch06.jpg

[nBT]

hanuka: you should divide the insect into easy shadable shapes like cylinders boxies and spheres. the musquito? now looks a ... eh flat musquito. it looks all smokey so you can 'hide' the ack end in smoke so the front end stick out more clearly.
rialboy: ima try that too <10 colour palette. perspective is a bit off and the segments arent too consistent. maybe the hole in the ground should be lower so you see more 'bug'.
sapphire: ooh i like them brush strokes

[Iotrez]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/simon.davies/LavaInsect.jpg

Really cool, Railboy

[BlkCelebration]

http://9doublebass.homestead.com/files/newart/alavasoto.jpg

Railboy: loved the way you used the brush to color this.

Sapphire: great idea, the lava looks cool with the bug leaving a trail.

[Sapphire]

BlkCelebration : Thanks! I love the bold reds and oranges you used in your picture... lava's so neat-looking.

nBT: Also thanks! I thought your buggy kind of ended up looking like your avatar. Very cute...

[stormy]

well.....eh. I couldn't find my oil pastels, and chalk and watercolor just don't have the same effect.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/oldstormy/lavabug.jpg

[Sbomb]

Long time lurker, fist time poster... very nice work everyone. thought I would try and join up!!! C&C are always welcome.:chug:

http://studiodimensions.com/shawn/images/de.jpg

[riq]

http://www.creativeion.com/riq/works/lava%20bug.JPG

[Vely Bad Man]

http://www.jimwoo.com/dsg/04.02.05.jpg

[riq]

forge-great picture; even though you didn't incorporate lava into, it looks like it could be a lava insect. Or a lava scrooge.

Gunslinger- I like the picture, and I like the texture. Next time you use such a unique tool, take advantage of it's qualities.. If I used a brush with this much texture and stippling, I would have just made everything very spatial and undefined, and with lots of atmosphere, letting the colors mix together naturally. I think the highlights are out of character with the grainy feel of the rest of the drawing.

nBT- I really like the colors you used, and your insect is interesting. My only problem is that it looks more like a sea creature than a lava creature. And the painting is a little too rushed. Think twice as much as you paint. If you're doing a quick sketch with gouache, try to focus on one particular aspect of the picture such as light, value, texture, design, brush strokes, or color. If you try to do everything really fast it starts to look messy. And it's so hard to do a quick painting, especially from a new concept you've created in your head.

Gumdrop- The brush you've used is nice!! Great concept. I'm not smart enough to think all that stuff through.

silentbrain- wow!! that's tight.. I can't quite make out exactly what's happening, but what I can see is amazing. I love the main bug in front. Great atmosphere too!!

plaf- I can't quite make out where your bug is.. But I actually like the design of the piece.. Could be fine art in a way.

kaptah- sweet. Your bug is all that. One of the best lava bugs I've seen in the thread.. Great concept.

hesse- Pretty daring interpretation. I like it. Great design, nice colors, and excellent drawing.

Cybot Floor- how sweet. you shame everyone with your naturalistic peaceful interpretation. Great feel.. I like the flowing background. I would have make the tree in the foreground standout more though; right now when you squint, it merges with the background and the picture looses a lot of depth.

Beatnik- Nice.. Cool design.. I like how you've drawn this; all of the lines have a lot of energy.

young paddy- nice drawing; I like the reverse lines.. I don't like the ground though, because you've already established a unique style with the drawing of your scorpion. I think the picture would be better, and more consistent if you carried the drawing style from the scorpion into the background, and even your sky.

MindCandyMan- Nice rendering.. I know it's a quick sketch, but your bug is place right in the middle of the page. Static compositions. And an easy addition would have been a volcano in the background.. You'll see some part of the ground unless you're looking almost straight up.

bbwolf- I like it.. funny.

Dementist- I like the energy of the painting, but you've overloaded the paper. And you've drawn the shapes more than you've established values and forms. And plan out where you want to leave some white space.

mOrph- nice sketch.. is he farting? Just kidding..

Hunger Artist- So far yours is my favorite approach. I love the concept and the colors and the drawing. They're all excellent. And great use of textures to give the pictures such a cool feel.

brawkstake- I like the concept and the drawing. I think the picture would have more depth if you the make the distant his as dark as the one in the fore ground. And I would've use more of the ambient light to describe more of the forms of the rocks. and a quick thought, how about adding a lot more of the flying bugs.. You could just make small red and orange dots to represent them..

Hanuka- I like the palette you're using. You're drawing looks unsure though.. Try and just draw the shapes next time.. Think of cylinders, spheres, cubes, planes, cones, and everything else. It's something I'm forcing myself to do lately, and it's helping me a lot.

nBT(2nd pic)- this one is better.. I love the energy that you've established. The fire coming of its pores(?) look really good. I still think you haven't quite switched your mind into painting mode in some places, namely the background; you seem to be drawing and outlining more than establish forms and values.

elevenrequiem- I love it.. It feels like there's a great story behind this picture. My only crit is the cloud in the background. They're a bit overworked; and where are the yellow highlights on the clouds coming from.

Railboy- This is really good. Great concept. You did a good job with the depth.. If you added some hill or rock forms in the far distance( using a very muted subtle color), I think the background would feel better.

Sapphire- cool idea. try avoiding grays when you're painting. Choose a dominant color like red or blue; I think that might add more energy to your pictures.

GraphicMaster- I just got it! some secondary lighting would help to convey the form a lot better. Cool bug.

Iotrez- I haven't. I love the thought you give every picture you do. They all have so much personality, and this one even more than usual. Great gesture. I think the ground is a little ambiguous, but a swish here a touch there, and that would be quickly solved.

BlkCelebration- Very sinister.. I love the color treatment. cool interpretation too.

Stormy- Nice drawing and concept. I think it would be even nicer with a background.

Sbomb- nice drawing. If you throw in a few shadows he wouldn’t seem to be floating about.

Vely Bad Man- Now that's a lava bug!!

[eyebooger]

whoa Riq talk about commenting on other people stuff =).
I really like the loosenes of your piece

heres my chaotic mess. Mines look hella confusing. I had hard time seperating the beetle from the lava. I think I made the lava to distracting :( . I don't know this one gave me a headache :eek:

http://img12.photobucket.com/albums/v31/eyebooger/lava_beetle.jpg

[Antilight77]

YEa i agree..quite a comment...

wel here is a firey little thing... maby not a bug..bug its all the same right ?

http://www.digitalmack.com/Pages/TempPostings/fireinsect.jpg

[merd]

lotrez- very funny pic
bad man- looks like some lara croft adventure story but the insect is very cool
railboy- reminds me of dune and these sandworm just in lava

forge- well i had a few years of french in school but actually Merd is a nick name for Martin in franconia where i live.

nice work everybody :chug:

[shadoman]

Great work today from all. This was a very cool topic.

Sketched in pen during lunch at work, colored in Painter with a mouse. Total about 2 hours.

http://www.shawnadomanis.com/dsg/dsg344.jpg

No time for critiques today... lucky you!

[Mad Giraffe]

some more practice with corel painter8(photoshop is not working properly..it does not reconize the shape dynamics with my wacom:mad: ). Sorry for being so late guys.
hope you like it:p.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~rfriet/peppo/images/peppo_fire-ant.JPG

[JeniThus]

Little bit different. I know he's not IN the lava, but he's around it.
http://www.squidartjen.com/bug2.jpg

[Sapphire]

Wow riq, that was a load of comments! Thanks for taking the time to do that.

I used the colors directly from the photo of lava that I had pulled from google, because I really liked them. I love how lava gets that gray skin over it and then this really bright orange-red breaks through the cracks and spills out, so I wanted the effect of the brightness contrasting with the gray. I hope it's not too dull!

-Sapph

[Forge]

yeah bbwolf you're the only one who see the lil lizard :chug:
merd, sorry if I hurt you... this was not my objective ;)

[Cybot Floor]

thx, riq! thats really something you wanna hear :)
btw: your bug looks pretty bored... isnt swimming in lava just amazing? ;)

[riq]

Hey Sapphire,

I understand about grabbing colors from a photograph. But remember, until you are fairly advanced, beware of photo-reference, especially when you're grabbing elements,such as color, directly from them.

Photographs are never correct, almost always distorted, and seldom have colors expressed artistically.

Use photos to understand what you're drawing, when you don't have time to see it in real life. But remember live is the best way to start.

BTW, Photographs are composed of grays, and seldom have any true colors. It's the job and skill of artists to add that element in the interpretation of what they see.

Before you begin to improve at painting you'll have to learn some fundamentals about color theory. Choosing your colors is half of what painting is about.

I recommend finding some Andrew Loomis advice online. Try to find Andrew Loomis' "Creative illustration", and look at the sections on color and using photoreference.

And Cybot, you're right.. I wasn't to happy at the goofy eyes my lava creature has.. I may go back and give it a more sinister appearance.. Right now, he looks like he's been smoking some doobies.

later.

[Sapphire]

Thanks for the advice, I do totally agree. I would have used less of a reference, but I'm having a bit of a problem that I can't seem to fix, and nobody's yet told me how. I don't know if it's because I have a laptop, or because the proper setting is grayed out (I checked), but my saturation is completely inaccurate. I will make something and think it looks just fine, and then when I view it on somebody else's monitor, it looks far too saturated to the point where it's painful. I thought maybe using a photo that was already online might help to ease that problem for now... but it probably didn't work. SO very annoying. I guess that's another reason why I like traditional methods and colored pencils.. you know what you're getting.

I'll keep what you said in mind for my next dsg, for sure! Thanks for taking time to answer and comment.

-Sapph

[nBT]

sapphire: fuck the tft screens. cant get any colour on em. you can try can calibrate it but use a *real* monitor as a reference. and about using the traditional meduim. yaeh thats great. but if i want my piece to be about the same colour and intensity as the scan i need 10 mins of colour correction. (+ everyones monitors is different)

[Steph Laberis]

JeniTHus: I'm guessing this was digital... and it's an awesome extension of your color skills with the caran dache! I'm really struck by the complimentary colors and overall pallette on this one.

My only suggestion would be to add some kind of BG. ^___^

-Steph