Reconstructing Chirostenotes

My reference sheet and orthographic drawing of the oviraptorosaurian Chirostenotes pergracilis.  I've been having a lot of fun reconstructing this guy.  I based his proportions primarily off of a skeletal reconstruction done by Scott Hartman, an amazing paleo artist whom I reference a good deal when I'm doing this type of work. There are also many other skeletal drawings of not only Chirostenotes but its relatives in addition to photographs of actual skeletons.  There are a lot of bird references mainly Emu and Cassowary, I used these to help get a feel for the face and crest of the dinosaur as well as its feet.  I think the most challenging part of this whole drawing was finding reference for the dimensions of the front and top of the animal.  There are plenty of references for the side views but images of these dinosaurs from the top and front are few and far between I found.  This was pretty frustrating considering that knowing these dimensions is essential for the sculpture I'm preparing to make of him.  In the end I had to make a series of educated guesses using what I could find of other oviraptorosaurs, similar therapods and birds.  The ortho still isn't finished, hes featherless right now showing just the basic reptillian skin texture.  The feathers will be added as an overlay so I can experiment with different degrees of coverage.  

Artwork © Raul Ramos All Rights Reserved.  

Vampire Concepts

These are the initial concepts for a design challenge presented by CG Hub.  The challenge is to take a classic monster werewolf, mummy, vampire, or frankensteins monster and re-imagine it.  Im trying to stay as far away from the traditional interpretation of the vampire as I can taking cues from blood feeders in nature as well as many other aspects to inform my design.  The upper left concept is probably the most familiar.  The anatomy is overall humanoid however I have taken some characteristics from the gliding draco lizard and the celebes crested macaque to separated it from other more beast-like vampire interpretations.  I imagine that this creature would hunt human sized prey hiding in the upper canopy of forests then gliding down for the kill.  To the right of this is a concept based primarily on the anatomy of a flying lemur.  the facial structure was inspired by the nose leaf structures found in bats.  The lower left concept is based on blood sucking insects like mosquitos and ticks.  The final value study is based on the leech as well as the sea lamprey.  I was quick to dismiss this concept initially but I think it presents some interesting rendering opportunities.  I imagined that its body would be semi transparent allowing the viewer to see through the veiny outer tissues into its blood filled stomach much like the abdomen of a mosquito after it has fed.

Direct Painting Practice

This quick head study of some sort of alien creature was done primarily to practice a more direct painting method.  I usually begin my paintings and concepts by doing a detailed value under painting achieving a colored version by glazing color over the top using layers set to various blending modes. This image was a departure from that process starting with a loose sketch and working up values and colors simultaneously. When I'm practicing a new technique I try to do my best to focus only on the skill I'm trying to learn.  For that reason I choose subject matter that I'm very comfortable with like creatures because it requires much less brain power for me.  If I were trying to paint some crazy new design my attention would be divided between the design challenges presented by the image and the method I'm trying to master.  I have found that doing this, for me at least, really complicates things.  It compounds the problems essentially stacking them on top of each other which can result in a frustrating mess.  I of course would like the creature to look interesting but the design of it is not my primary concern.  Though a design may not be the most innovative thing you've ever done I think what is more important is that it provided an interesting enough subject to use while learning something new.   

2 hrs

Photoshop CS5, Intuos 5 Tablet

Character Portrait.

Just some painting practice.  Started in gray scale then used soft light and multiply layers to add color.  The majority of it was done with the round brush.  There are some touches of some kind of grunge brush in areas but I tried to keep it as minimal as possible. I always feel that photographic brush textures look funny next to hand painted ones.  Maybe I need to find a different way of integrating them.  Not too sure what this character is supposed to be, wasn't really trying to make it anything just practice like I said.

4-5 Hrs

Photoshop CS5 & Intuos 4 Wacom Tablet 

Icarosaurus Ortho

This is the orthographic reconstruction of Icarosaurus that I will be using as the basis for my sculpture.  It took a while to gather all of the references I needed, some of the details still don't feel quit right mostly the skin and scale patterns, but as far as starting my sculpture is concerned I think this will do.