Octopus Vs Ship, In the Works |
 May 27 2008, 10:52 AM
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#1
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Have been debating whether or not to put this up until its complete, but ill post what I have so far and update it when its completed. This is a custom piece Im working up for a client. Didnt intend on taking the design phaze this far, or else I would have created a formal flash piece for it....but sometimes once you get going and get excited about a piece, its hard to stop!
 But here is my creation and interpretation. The guy wanted just an octopus at 1st, then wanted just a ship, then wanted both...so heres what hes getting The 2nd pic is an idea I was messing with for the clouds... as you can see the coloring phaze is far from complete, just testing ideas before I hit skin. I wanna keep it kinda dark and sinister. The steps I took was 1st just sketching out a rough concept sketch, then scanning it into photoshop and printing it out (so that I didnt have to hard line the original). Then I did the linework with a felt Indian Ink art pen. Scanned again, the started in on the color. I wouldnt have done (or been able to do) the scanning, printing etc had I intended to make this a formal flash piece, but since its purpose was a custom tattoo, I didnt wanted the ability to change and experiment without starting from scratch every time. All comments and input welcome.
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Replies
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May 27 2008, 10:55 AM
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#2
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Great work! I want to see it fully colored. Love those tentacles..
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May 27 2008, 12:52 PM
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#3
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Thanks man -
Sheesh I sent the design to the client... and he wants to change like 3 critical elements of the piece... looks like its back to the drawing board.... 1) He wants the ship more flat instead of tilted up - which I explained will take away alot of the motion and feeling that the octopus is taking that mutha over.... 2) He wants more lighning bolts, like 3 on each side... which doesnt sound like a huge task, but means I have to completely re-work the clouds too.... 3) Wants me to re-draw the octopus so that its facing the ship more... I can understand as the client, wanting what you want...its on your skin...forever... I just dont see thinking 5 years down the road..."Man I wish that thing faced the ship more...." Oh well...part of the biz.... back to pen and pad... |
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May 27 2008, 01:00 PM
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#4
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Really nice, clean work! Congrats, Toph. I would still use this version as a piece of flash. Why not color this piece in watercolor to get a feel?
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May 27 2008, 01:07 PM
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#5
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QUOTE (Simeon Longfellow @ May 27 2008, 01:00 PM)  Really nice, clean work! Congrats, Toph. I would still use this version as a piece of flash. Why not color this piece in watercolor to get a feel? Thanks man. I probably will end up doing this in watercolor. I dont really wanna color the existing one in watercolor because its on a normal 8.5X11 piece of paper... and been scanned, resized, etc in photoshop a couple times... technology kinda kills the whole vintage feel, know what I mean? I like this piece as-is, so Ill probably re-do this one on some stained watercolor paper for a piece of formal flash, and technologize the crap out of the clients piece.... I was hoping hed be in love with it at 1st glance, but what are ya gonna do? |
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May 27 2008, 01:58 PM
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#6
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Great design toph, i like it the way it is, but for sure you'll make another one to the clients wish, as good as this one too!!
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May 27 2008, 02:05 PM
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#7
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what a piece of crap...
hahaha just kidding muh man! at first glance this thing really hits you in the nuts. sweet! when i look closer i can see a bunch of small stuff i'd change to make it nicer, but i'll start adressing the clients requests. first off, try to convince him to drop the leveled ship idea. it will just look worse, it WILL. the lightning bolts are easy, just move the ones you have further in, and do the rest going outwards more, so the last one is almost leveled, if you get me. you won't have to change the clouds much at all then. making th octopus face the ship more is actually a good idea, and it'll benefit the feel cause you can get rid of one of the eyes (the left one kinda dissappears in all the linework now anyway, and it's a little small), plus you can get the "head shape" of the octopus more into play. my advice is redo the piece with all his requests expect the ship change and see what he says, and try to make him see that he actually doesn't want the image of an octopus gently fondling a ship on the high seas tattooed on him forever. he wants a shipwreck in the making! oh yes he does! now onto my other points, starting from top to bottom hehe... 1. i'd make the moon's points a little pointier. in fact i'd make them sharp points, and maybe put them a little closer together, narrowing the hole in the circle. 2. make the flag entirely above the sails instead of it dissappearing behind them, and work on the wind creases a little, it's kinda flat now. 3. create a smoother flow in the tentacles, and make sure the thickness evens out nicely, they get fat kinda sudden when they get close to disappearing behind a wave or the ship or what have you. the suction cups (?) may also require some work, or do you have a plan as to how you would bring them out colorwise? seems like there are A) a shitload of them, and B) most of them are to small to get color inside. maybe do less, and bigger circle-like cups? 4. see if you can get the jap waves flow better, they're a little stumpy and buldgy. all in all man, you're gonna do an awesome piece of work with this. you don't have to follow my advice, but read through and see if you can look at the piece through my eyes. you rocked the shading on the clouds man, do them in that style, the piece will be fucking MASSIVE surrounded by all the black, pow! you've done a great job adapting one of the classic motives. i'm really looking forward to seeing where this piece goes. keep posting! This post has been edited by Anchors down: May 27 2008, 02:09 PM -------------------- If I come off like a dick when critiquing it's because I have high standards, and I'm honest about it, so don't take it personally.
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May 27 2008, 02:17 PM
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#8
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Ya I was going for maximum impact to nuts... and minimum folding of the ship by the octopus... glad you were able to feel the impact of both of those.. put a bag of frozen peas on your lab and youll be fine
I really appreciate the input man, and Ill take all of it into serious consideration. I definitely feel ya on the suction cups on the tentacles... may need to simplify and get rid of some... as it is, I was planning on lining the thing with about an 8RL and probably needing to hit the suction cups with a 5 or so... but I dont wanna get super intricate on them, I want it to hold up and not get messy. Im also planning on doing pretty dark waves with black shading and dark to light gradient blue waves, then the Octopus in oranges with a bit of yellow highlights... should freakin POP off the waves, especially with the dark clouds. I wrote the dude and discouraged against changing the ship. But said Id see what I can do about the other changes. Im not gonna change the ship...Im gonna stand firm on that. I think thats a good compramise. I just dont feel good about taking the motion and tension out of the ship, Im not gonna bend on that. I seriously appreciate all the input... this kinda stuff helps me in HUGE ways! I hate being confined to only my own imagination... I like taking advantage of all of YOURS too!
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May 27 2008, 02:37 PM
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#9
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i love being confined to my own imagination, spend enough time inside your own head and you'll start seeing some fucked up shit coming out the pencil end hahaha!
if my printer wasn't stashed away behind the sofa i'd print out your stencil and go over it so you could see exactly what i mean, but you'll rock this peace anyway, i know it. i'd personally do the octo in a light orange with red shades, and the moon blood fucking red. yeah! -------------------- If I come off like a dick when critiquing it's because I have high standards, and I'm honest about it, so don't take it personally.
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May 27 2008, 09:05 PM
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#10
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Good one Toph, like the concept of this and what you're planning to do with it. Sinister is good. I'd go with Anchors, if someone can't be persuaded....sketch it up quickly (hmm says me, it takes me all day) and let em see it'll be pants.
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May 27 2008, 09:55 PM
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#11
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DONT lrvrl the ship!!
It looks great the way it is!! I personally wouldnt change anything on this one... |
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May 27 2008, 10:07 PM
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#12
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damn bro you never cease to amaze...this is an awesome piece...
i agree with the facing the ship more idea...but more lightning bolts...? that one is questionable...maybe 1 more...but not many more than that... seems it would take away from the piece... definitely love your work...looking forward to seeing this one finished... ur definitely gonna rock this one... chuck -------------------- SOMETIMES WHAT YOU LEARN...CONFLICTS WITH WHAT YOU KNOW ADD ME FOR MAFIA WARS |
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May 27 2008, 10:24 PM
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#13
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Thanks for all the input guys... truly appreciated.
Ok did some photoshop magic, added a lightning bolt to the right side (that was my compramise, didnt have to re-work the clouds a ton), made the moon bigger (another later request) but now he wants it skinnier too... bigger...but skinnier , changed the octopus to make it facing the ship. Told him I didnt want to change the tilt of the ship... so that we keep. Now Im really glad I saved this in Photoshop and scanned each stage... saved me hours on re-drawing 4 times... And Anchors - Ran the red moon by him... he really likes the idea, gonna run with that! Also Im going to refine the suction cups as you mentioned. looks ok as a drawing, but Im not confident about packing that many in for the tattoo. Gonna simplify. Again thank you all for the input!
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May 28 2008, 02:41 AM
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#14
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Looking great man, i still prefer the face of the octo in the first drawing , as for me it looks as in the second one he's missing something...but hey,that's just me ok? great design!
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May 28 2008, 05:55 AM
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#15
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QUOTE (kuroj-san @ May 28 2008, 02:41 AM) Looking great man, i still prefer the face of the octo in the first drawing , as for me it looks as in the second one he's missing something...but hey,that's just me ok? great design! Me too brother... me too Luckily I still have the original 1st draing to finish... might be a portfolio piece |
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May 28 2008, 06:55 AM
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#16
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Very nice Toph. Maybe you could show some more features of the octopus, I mean, to make it jump out from the water so we can see alittle bit more of its physical...appearance and...well...Am I sounding way too freaky? hahahhaa. Well, doesn't matter. Nice one, bro
-------------------- . : Ego sum quod sum : .
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May 28 2008, 07:12 AM
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#17
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This one looks good, but I still like the first one better..
I think the moon looks cartoony being that big.. Also, I thunk it flowed better with just the two lightning bolts.. I do like the new octopus though.. Still cant wait to see it finished!! |
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May 28 2008, 08:20 AM
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#18
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Ya the dude does want the moon skinnier now... so Ill be making that change. I too liked just the 2 lightning bolts... thats a compramise for the client
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May 28 2008, 10:40 AM
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#19
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QUOTE (Toph @ May 28 2008, 06:20 PM) Ya the dude does want the moon skinnier now... so Ill be making that change. I too liked just the 2 lightning bolts... thats a compramise for the client when you make the moon skinnier, adjust only the inner line and keep the points where they are, it will look wicked cool. like the crescent moon on turkey's flag for example. i should have explained it with this pic from the beginning now that i think about it haha 
This post has been edited by Anchors down: May 28 2008, 10:41 AM -------------------- If I come off like a dick when critiquing it's because I have high standards, and I'm honest about it, so don't take it personally.
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May 28 2008, 10:57 AM
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#20
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hahaha tentacles
-------------------- ][\][ (( )) ][\/][ //=\\ ][)).... says:
hahaha sifffffff im pure sex ☆ My Name Is Andrew ☆ *insert sadness here* ♥ Tattooing Is Life ♥ says: PURE BUM SEX! ☆ My Name Is Andrew ☆ *insert sadness here* ♥ Tattooing Is Life ♥ says: HHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHA ][\][ (( )) ][\/][ //=\\ ][)).... says: rofl |
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