Storybook Project... Take 2!?

So after seeing "Where the Wild Things Are" this past Monday (I really liked it by the way) I've been once again inspired to work on my storybook project from last year. Though I loved where the project was going, the images were a bit sloppy and generic (in my opinion) and the way everything unfolded deserved to be fine-tuned a bit. Anyway, it's been on my mind so today during painting class and drawing class I did a shit-ton of doodles, basically redesigning the main creatures. I liked all of their basic shapes (besides snake, which looked terrible imo), but the original impression I had of them was lost in the execution of the assignment. So, I tried my best to hold on to what I wanted them to be and then just experimented with different looks.

Bat was first. I always saw him as a more sleek creature then I originally designed him. I also figured he would be pretty shy, and would use his multiple wings to hide behind. I still wanted big ears though, and I wanted the mouth to still be huge when he actually opens it. (Think of those anime cats that have cute small faces, but when they yawn or whatever their mouth gets REALLY BIG! Like that.) I'm also thinking of changing it to a she... hmm.

Dog was second. I actually liked Dog's design a lot, but kind of wanted to incorporate a little bit of turtle onto him. I'm not sure why, I thought it'd make him even cuter or something. :) (Plus, people seemed to really like the first design so I didn't want to change it that much!) Anyway, now he'll have a spiky shell-butt for his lower body, think like a Map Turtle: http://www.redorbit.com/modules/reflib/article_images/11_6a7a9731fef1787b7556bf9fe3b301dc.jpg

I did a fair amount of work on Tiger (who might now be named Cat) but I couldn't quite get expression down I was trying to go for. The biggest thing about Tiger (Cat?) is that he has fingers that are constantly touching things, sort of pressing in to himself and twirling about themselves. That plus a lanky look was hard to pull off, but maybe I'll have more luck in a few days.

I also wrote a lot of stuff about what I find interesting in my own artwork, just so that I could understand why I like to draw I guess! I want to post that here too, but it'd make this blog too long so I'll just slap it up in a day or two instead. Otherwise, enjoy, and lemme know if you have any suggestions of your own.

Cockroaches. Yes, cockroaches.

So, you know that time in your life when you want to breed little insects as food? You know, like crickets? But, as you research what you have to do to make your own colony, you realize they're smelly, loud, and can escape their cage like no tomorrow? So then you go searching, trying to find if there is any alternative to crickets. Something meaty, not really tough, you know, something docile that won't do anything but sleep and eat and make babies?

Well, I've found it. Cockroaches. Tropical cockroaches. And after a month of troubles with ordering them (turns out it was just a simple misunderstanding), they've arrived. *deep breath*

THEY'RE CUUUUUTTTEEEE!!!

So the adults get about an inch to an inch and a fourth long; that's a picture of me holding a female while it just chills out on my hands. They remind me a lot of big fat ants to be honest; their head (which you can only see if you look underneath them) looks exactly like an ant head, although they lack any sort of little mandibles or anything. To be honest I don't know how they survive so well in the wild. They can't really climb, they can't bite, and they're afraid of pretty much everything including sunlight and slight movements. They also can't tolerate cold temperatures and if it gets below 70 degrees they refuse to make babies, so essentially if one gets loose it'll just scavenge around for a while and then die.

The males look a lot different then the females and they're not quite as fat; as you can see they have some big wings but no worries, they can't fly. In all truthfulness they are pretty much foolproof in terms of raising them, just keep them warm and give them food and they'll poop out babies with no trouble at all.

I hear that if you keep the conditions right they'll make more babies then you'll know what to do with, so maybe I can use that as an excuse to get another pet... *cough* beardeddragon *cough*

Oh gees, otherwise, a lot has been going on. School has been kicking my ass; I have a few cool art projects I want to get uploaded to DA though as a result so that should be popping up soon. I do have a few rough previews of what I have waiting, most of it is still in the works but here are a few crappy phone pictures anyway:

This guy is something I've been working on between painting projects; sometimes I think the assignments are retarded so to vent my frustration I work on this since I actually like it. Very controlled, pretty normal; for some reason a girl in my class really likes it, heh.

Also unfinished, and I'm not sure what I think about this guy yet. I'm not going to lie, it's like 90% taken from that flying machine monster in the movie "9." That bad guy made the movie worth seeing in my opinion... but you all know me and flying critters.

This one is actually complete, just not properly scanned or anything. Very different then my normal stuff, and I did a ton of color layering. I tried to do that thing where you slap on a lot of different colors and have the end result actually look cool, and I personally think it worked out. The picture obviously does not do it justice, but hopefully my final DA scan will be closer to what it actually looks like.

I have more stuff I could say, and I could go on another thought rant no problem, but I'll save that and maybe update again next week sometime. For now, I'm gunna go play with my buggies!