This is my working process on painting my latest commission "Beast
of the Bottomless Pit" ordered by
@QuantumKonar. Since it involved quite a lot of studies I thought it would be
fun to document the process.
Apologies to @QuantumKonar if the commission took longer than usual, glad that he's okay with lose deadline - because when a client orders a ~$100 work, I'll do my best to deliver ~$1,000 of value and s.o. (10 times its worth)!
So if you, dear my either loyal watchers or curious visitors, are interested reading sit back, relax, grab your coffee and enjoy!
When I googled it apparently the creature "Grootslang" was quite a
challenge. I rarely draw creatures, I had to collect many references
before I started.
Wikipedia Description
There is a cave known as the "Wonder Hole" or the "Bottomless Pit".
Supposedly, it connects to the sea, which is 64 kilometres (40 mi) away.
According to local legend, the cave is filled with diamonds.The
Grootslang is also said to live in warm rivers and lakes.
In Benin, it is said to be a huge elephant-sized serpent. Also according to the tale, Grootslangs covet gems, particularly diamonds, and despite the creatures' lust for cruelty, victims can often bargain for their freedom by offering a Grootslang enough precious gems. While searching for treasure in the richtersveld of South Africa in 1917, English businessman Peter Grayson disappeared after members of his party were attacked and injured by lions, prompting legends that the Grootslang had killed him thereof.
In Benin, it is said to be a huge elephant-sized serpent. Also according to the tale, Grootslangs covet gems, particularly diamonds, and despite the creatures' lust for cruelty, victims can often bargain for their freedom by offering a Grootslang enough precious gems. While searching for treasure in the richtersveld of South Africa in 1917, English businessman Peter Grayson disappeared after members of his party were attacked and injured by lions, prompting legends that the Grootslang had killed him thereof.
From Other Source
According to an South African legend, the great and terrible Grootslang
was one of the first creatures the gods ever made. When man was nothing
more than a primordial ooze waiting to be formed, the gods created a
massive, powerful serpent, larger than an elephant and smarter than any
man.
It was a mistake. The gods were new to the art of creating life and they didn’t yet understand the dangers of making something as powerful as this great snake that could coil its body around any creature and crush the life out of it in seconds.
It was a mistake. The gods were new to the art of creating life and they didn’t yet understand the dangers of making something as powerful as this great snake that could coil its body around any creature and crush the life out of it in seconds.
They tried to correct it. The gods tried to exterminate every
Grootslang that lived. They split the powers of the Grootslang and
dispersed them across two species: the elephant and the snake. But one
Grootslang managed to escape. She became the mother of a whole species
of mythological creatures that the gods themselves called a deadly
error.
When the first Europeans moved into the Congo, the natives told them
that the Groostlang still hid in the recesses of their lands. These
mythological creatures lived in bottomless pits and great caves that
extended 50 miles across. Most Grootslang clung onto hoards of
glittering diamonds and guarded them with greed and envy. Perhaps
natives used the myth of the Grootslang to ward off colonizers.
Today, the best-known Grootslang, it’s said, hides in a cave in
Richtersveld, South Africa. There it lies in wait for anyone foolish
enough to stumble onto its domain and passes the time by luring in
elephants, crushing them, and swallowing them whole — making this one of
history’s most terrifying mythological creatures.
- Dark grey reptilian skin
- Most of the body should be that of a snake.
- Towards the end of the body a pair of legs should emerge. The legs should be thinner than the main snake body and will end in claws capable of holding a weapon such as a spear.
- Those legs should be connected to a sort of torso so they seem as shoulders. The legs are not used for travel but only for combat.
- Atop the shoulders should be a snake-like head should hold two rows of sharpened teeth with a set of fangs on the end like a snake.
- From the top jaw a spiked trunk like an elephant would have should emerge and from either side of the trunk should be a slender tusk.
- The snake body is described as wider than two men lying next to each other (so over 10 feet wide) and the legs are thinner than the body.
- The body itself is hundreds of feet long, I have no set distance in mind so you've freedom to play with that.
- He's coiled around the hole with the snake part of him while the torso
would be rising up over it.
- He should look as though he was formerly resting but now see prey off-screen and so is rising to go after them.
@QuantumKonar 's Commission Details
:: Commission type: Full Body
:: Number of characters: One
:: Character's info/sheet:
- Most of the body should be that of a snake.
- Towards the end of the body a pair of legs should emerge. The legs should be thinner than the main snake body and will end in claws capable of holding a weapon such as a spear.
- Those legs should be connected to a sort of torso so they seem as shoulders. The legs are not used for travel but only for combat.
- Atop the shoulders should be a snake-like head should hold two rows of sharpened teeth with a set of fangs on the end like a snake.
- From the top jaw a spiked trunk like an elephant would have should emerge and from either side of the trunk should be a slender tusk.
- The snake body is described as wider than two men lying next to each other (so over 10 feet wide) and the legs are thinner than the body.
- The body itself is hundreds of feet long, I have no set distance in mind so you've freedom to play with that.
:: Scene description:
- A cave large enough to comfortably hold him and ideally there
should be a black pit he's coiled around that you can see no bottom
to. Theoretically this would be a picture looking down at him to
include that.
- He should look as though he was formerly resting but now see prey off-screen and so is rising to go after them.
:: Background type:
Rock walls with small glittering jewels and gems scattered around in
them.
:: Additional info:
- If Grootslang
offers someone else a gem and they accept it he can perform a variety of
magics upon them such as invoking supernatural fear, speaking to their
minds, and even eventually claiming their Soul.
- Holds no allegiance
to the Dungeon he dwells in or those who share it with him- will willingly
kill even allies to get his way.
And for the best result possible I don't mind at all learning things from scratch from various sources. One source I found very useful is Skillshare, I just got free 2-month membership from a referral. I bumped into awesome digital painting courses specialized in creature drawing absolutely worth watching!
Skillshare Courses
Grab your FREE 2-month premium Skillshare membership with my link!
I also learned new painting tricks from Youtube, especially for the wet / slimy surface effect like you'd see in the tongue part and cave painting in the final artworks.
Youtube Tutorials
Application in the painting, close up:
Between tutorials I also did a series of studies by tracing & redrawing other creatures drawn by various artists I collected in my Pinterest board.
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| Grootslang Study 1 |
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| Grootslang Study 2 |
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| Grootslang Study 3 |
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| Grootslang Study 4 |
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| Grootslang Study 5 |
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| Grootslang Study 6 |
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| Grootslang Study 7 |
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| Grootslang Study 8 |
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| Grootslang Study 9 |
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| Grootslang Study 10 |
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| Grootslang Study 11 |
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| Grootslang Study 12 |
And finally I started working on the sketches and concept thumbnails only using monochromatic colors to make the values clear:
As @QuantumKonar chose camera angle #1 and creature design #2, I combined them in a composition below:
Then I kept on refining as I listen to the feedback along the way. The part that took me the longest was the details of the head, trunk, and spikes - the part when my left hand had to take over to rest my right one, haha.. But the hardest one to draw was the jaw, in the end I decided to give it a T-Rex-like shape after studying those of other similar creatures.
Finally I finished the artwork with a few variations!
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| v.1 Original |
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| v.2A Bloody |
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| v.2B Bloody, Darker Colors |
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| PNG Cutouts Preview |
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| Painting Process in Animated GIF |
There you go, do you find this painting process interesting? ^^ Critiques / constructive comments especially on how I could make this art becoming even movie-poster worthy would be appreciated. I mean I've tried with rule of third grid, toning the colors, tilting the view a bit, etc but I ran out of ideas for more improvement. See if you have some tips turning the final art into something like these below 'coz I want to create 4-digit $$$$ art! XD
Thanks
so much to @QuantumKonar for commissioning me and not deterred by my
new rate, haha.. Hope you love the result! This commission also serves me as
a good challenge which kind of in line with my Gothic
Illustration Project - now I know the process and resources if I have to
draw werewolves and the likes for horror illustrations!
Want to commission me too? Info is here:
Pet Drawing Commission 2020 (coming soon!)
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