Gentleman versus Dinosaur

I realized only lately (ok so I lie, I realized it multiple times then instantly forgot!) that I hadn’t posted the final version of this WIP.  So without further ado, I present to you “Gentleman versus Dinosaur”.  This piece marks a personal milestone for me, because it’ the first time I really looked at an artwork I’d made and said “Damn, that looks pretty good.”  Of course I then proceeded to check out other work on art sites and brought myself down a peg or two, just to keep me on my toes.   Hope you all like it!

Gentleman Dinosaur

“Well really, to think that all dinosaurs are uncivilized beasts is rather insulting!  I think I shall have a spinach quiche on the way home from the play to soothe my bruised ego.” – Zola Cotta Rex, after being called a voracious, meat eating monster while having his customary afternoon tea.

While drawing “Man versus Rex” the words “gentleman dinosaur” kept repeating themselves in my head, with a vision of a dinosaur in a dandy’s outfit.  I decided to draw him to get him out of my system.  About 90  minutes or so in Photoshop.

Edited: Felt he deserved to be cleaned up proper, so spent 30 or so minutes polishing him up.

Man versus Rex WIP

I’ve been checking out a lot of art blogs lately, and this man’s take on the year he took his craft seriously really struck me.  One of the key points he stressed was that you always had to keep your blog active, because a blog that looks dead tells an art director that you’re not doing a lot of work (ie no one’s hiring you).  Now I try to update this blog at least once a week but I’ve never really been good at that, and oftentimes I’m working on things that I can’t really show off, so I never know what to post.  I’ve resolved (ha!) to change that however, and so I’m starting with this piece up here.

This started out as an entry to a Frank Frazetta tribute competition.  Whilst everyone was drawing Frank’s barbarians and buxom ladies, I thought I’d be clever and draw something based on his sci fi material.  Clever me forgot to read the instructions though, which stated specifically that this tribute would focus only on Frazetta’s more well known fantasy barbarian archetype.  Nevertheless I felt like I had a good thing going here, and it’s been a while since I’ve really fully gone and made a showcase artwork for my portfolio; something that shows my level of talent and the kind of direction I want to go in.  Mostly, this was because of fear.  Fr the past year or so I’ve been drilling myself into getting work and working on the basics of illustration instead of focusing on showy pieces that would only highlight my lack of skill.  I was always afraid of coming out a year later not having improved one bit.  Based on my previous work I’d have to say I’ve come pretty far, but it remains to be seen how this particular piece will ultimately turn out.