On the way to battle
Illustration
Task
This illustration was a task by a new professor at art school. I had to choose the character, perspective and lighting.
I tried to use a realistic style and lighting with very dynamic perspective which made the sketch quite complicated, but I desperately wanted to create an exciting atmosphere and also challange myself a bit.
This scene is inspired by the story of Hannibal, who crossed the alps at 218 b.c. using 37 elephants to carry soldiers and their equipment. It’s still totally fictitious, I didn’t even picture a real elephant but a creature I designed one year before for another task. You can find the creature design at the concept tab.
Ideas
I started by gathering ideas and analysing perspectives.
Then I found a 3D-model of an elephant and took a shot with the right perspective to sketch over it.
After adding a few details and finding a color palette I began painting. I used a greyscale layer to activate and deactivate while painting to constantly check the values so the painting wouldn’t get too dark or flat, which worked really well.
Learnings
Never giving up!
As you can see a few images later, I repainted the whole illustration after the course was over.
I made this decision because the first attempt was not what I expected from myself. It was a frustrating process but my pride (and my friends as well) pushed me through.
So I learned to be frustrated, devastated for a few days and then take a deep breath and start over.
3D-Model
The elephant model is from the internet, the only change I made is cutting off the trunk.
Then I modeled the claw whith its golden rings and put it in a good angle, added a human character and a few rocks to simulate a mountain environment.
After that I added a light source to the scene because lighting could get very challenging from the crooked perspective. Then I just took a shot from the camera angle and sketched over it.
First illustration
This is the first attempt I did on this illustration. The process was exhausting and the further it went on, I got more frustrated.
So I just left it like this because time ran out and I had to hand the illustration over for the course.
At first I didn’t want to look at it for any second longer. But a few days later I decided to redraw the entire thing – because my pride and ambition couldn’t let me believe that this was the best I could do …
I gathered feedback from my professors and corrected the 3D-model, chose a new color palette and started over. This time it went better, I even had fun while painting.
And in the end it was worth it.
May 2024