Slytherclaw's Treasure Feature #11

Just happy about my new, personal, DIY Everbook! The smooth, doft genuine cow leather.. I feel like I've become somewhat a different person with this milestone of a journal, haha..

Everbook is a way to organize my projects in a loose way, so far I found this the most effective & efficient non-digital method for a random brain like me to keep up with everything. Aside from me haven't bought another smartphone after it's stolen almost a year ago I also prefer to have an analog system, handwritten journals for this, just love the feel of it.

If you're familiar with Evernote app you can see the name was derived from there. The creator of the system is apparently a busy pastor who's got lots of things going LOL. I found this when searching for some best journaling methods on Youtube. Really love the simplicity and efficiency, not to mention the slick-antique-rustic look of the leather cover, aaah..!

But you can replace the leather cover with anything else works for you. You can create for yourself if you want, the instructions are here:

Moar photos of mah "Captain's Everlog"!

 

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Slytherclaw Bites! #6

By all thundering cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes, sharks underwater volcanoes ^%#@!! Didn't expect myself to be this annoyed - writing a journal in Eclipse UI is so much pain!!

. When the internet is down just for a second somehow they removed the last 2-3 characters OF BLOODY EACH AND EVERY PARAGRAPH HECK NO EVERY. SINGLE. END OF A 'LINE'  I've written + THEY REMOVE SOME IMAGES TOO, can't save properly! - HAPPENING BLOODY RIGHT NOW TOO!! SUPER MOST ANNOYING!!!

. No preview function.

. No autosave function..?

. Can't add non-standard emoticons between texts, must be in an entirely new line.

. No option to make the text smaller (subscript).

. HELLLLLL NO SEARCH FUNCTION in the journal / Post section AT ALLLLLL???!! - MOST ANNOYING!!

. No option to view journals in 100% LIST mode like in the old DA!! - ALSO MOST ANNOYING!

I've got 250+ logs of mah EPIC 'adventures' here in DA & beyond and the list mode had been extremely helpful whenever I want to find a specific entry and very useful for linking and organization - now I just realized I had taken that for granted WAAAAARRRGH..!!

Maybe it wouldn't be as frustrating if they at least include a search function but NOOO they didn't bother apparently!

Maybe it's a deliberate move? Maybe it's because they want to make DA's function super focused in art?

But then maybe I'd just move to Art Station?

Maybe I'm overreacting but having experienced the old wonder of amazing degree of freedom when it comes to journaling in DA as well as submitting art, this is absolutely a LET DOWN!

GODDDD.. now I'm gonna need to take note of all my journal links (and maybe art submissions too as well 'coz there's still no page number system in the gallery??!) 'coz I don't want my epic logs (AND artworks!) DROWNING in the depth of DA's current messy organizing system abyss!!

Art Process - 'Beast of the Bottomless Pit' was the first journal I wrote using Eclipse interface and I had to write it all first in Blogger before copying the texts & pics one by one to DA journal to avoid further frustration.

My experience with Blogger is awesome, no nuisance at all except the preview button doesn't work when you're in the editor (gotta click it via the dashboard).

So my dear beautiful watchers & curious visitors if you're interested reading this artist-philosopher-pirate's rants I shall write my logs in Blogger more and more. You can follow the updates via my Facebook profile.

If you're only interested in my Artist's side, the alternative is my Black Clover Creations' Blogger blog and you can follow the posts via its own Facebook page though there are still many things to update..

I do hope they're still improving the Eclipse journal's features but why am I feeling pessimistic this time? Hope it's not a valid hunch..

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Deviant Art post:

Slytherclaw Bites! #6
Original date: July 18, 2020

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Art Process - 'Beast of the Bottomless Pit'

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.

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.

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.

@QuantumKonar 's Commission Details

:: Commission type: Full Body

:: Number of characters: One

:: Character's info/sheet:

- 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.

:: 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'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.

:: Background type: Rock walls with small glittering jewels and gems scattered around in them.

:: Additional info:

- Loves gems and jewels- cannot refuse them if offered.

- 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.

I started working of course by also collecting visual references using Pinterest board:

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

Creature Painting - Design and Render Like a Pro by Hardy Fowler

How to Improve Your Creature Design Drawings - Step by Step by Robert Marzullo

Drawing and Designing Creatures, Monsters, Aliens, & Legends by Ed Foychuk

 

Grab your FREE 2-month premium Skillshare membership with my link!

▶ https://skl.sh/2MzEH ◀

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:

I even watched other artist draws the creature just to get the sense of the forms:

Between tutorials I also did a series of studies by tracing & redrawing other creatures drawn by various artists I collected in my Pinterest board.

Grootslang Study 1

Grootslang Study 2

Grootslang Study 3

Grootslang Study 4

Grootslang Study 5

Grootslang Study 6

Grootslang Study 7

Grootslang Study 8

Grootslang Study 9

Grootslang Study 10

Grootslang Study 11

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!

v.1 Original

v.2A Bloody

v.2B Bloody, Darker Colors

PNG Cutouts Preview

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:

Character Drawing Commission 2020

Special Illustration Commission 2020

Pet Drawing Commission 2020 (coming soon!)

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Deviant Art post: (link coming up)
Original date: July 3, 2020

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