Term 2 - Week 3 - Lava Monster

In the lesson we had all painted over the same photo of a clay sculpture of a rock monster and added lava effects using a simple Layer Style trick. Our task was then to design a lava monster ourselves. Now I wanted to create a monster which was a bit different from the average 'rock' monster, as I already designed a rock monster in a previous week. I wanted to design a monster which would not be made of rock and lava, but be capable of surviving in that harsh environment instead.

I looked at studies of monsters which were not made of rock necessarily. I also remember hearing about an idea where instead of carbon based lifeforms, due to the similarity of the elemental make up, scientists has theorized that somewhere in the universe there may be silicon based life forms. Silicone is made of mostly silicon and it is resistant to heat even at extreme temperatures. So I wanted to create a believable looking creature which may have evolved to live in and around lava, made of some kind of silicon. The first thing I wanted to do was sketch some random creature shapes to see which would be believable in this kind of environment.

Looking back it seems as though I started off with the rock concept but dismissed it quickly. In these designs I thought of maybe some streamline design, or possibly the idea of some exoskeleton made of silicon. When I sketched the ferret looking one in the bottom right I knew I had my idea. It looked hydrodynamic enough to travel through lava, but needed some evolution to become believable. So I took that sketch, made multiple copies and very quickly made some alterations to each one to see which looked good.

I liked a few of the ideas. I wanted it to have a powerful tail to push it through the lava. I also wanted it to have some kind of armour along the front of it's face to protect it a little. It also needed powerful limbs to climb over rocks. Below is the amalgamation of those ideas.

Next I had to sketch that in a nice design and pose. I wanted it perched on a rock over lava so went about the process of creating that. This took quite a long time to get right, but pleased with the results. This is the cleaned up version I used to paint over.

Added a background colour and base paint.

Added the ground and lava (using the technique from the lesson).

Then I added all the light highlights which the lava would create being a light source.

Then I added some different hue shines to some parts of the skin, to show the silicon-like nature of the flesh. Finally I added some atmospheric effects, a backdrop and altered the overall light/dark range and also the contrast. So here is the final piece.

I was fairly pleased with how this turned out. To start with I was really worried I couldn't create a monster that I would like the look of. I had many more sketches than the ones shown, I didn't show them because they were just awful. But in the end the flow and shape of that final idea looked okay enough to run with. I was really proud of 2 things in particular however: the time it took and the overall pose of the creature. Usually I take AGES doing something like this, but this time I managed to complete it fairly quickly. Mainly because I spent less time painting it perfectly and just got general tones and strokes to give it the form. Also, the other thing I often find difficult getting a realistic and good-looking pose. Even though this one is not perfect (the back legs are a bit weird) it's much better than I usually do, and actually the sketch was the part I spent the most time on this project and I think it shows.