Last week I shared with you the return of some of the monsters I did for the Numenera RPG. Upon posting these monsters again, I was reminded that I have never shared the process and steps that went into making them. Granted, I do not have a lot to share for these. I was working on all four at once, and I was moving very quickly through them and did not take photos of the paintings taking shape. What I do have are the thumbnails, drawings, and a false start for one of them. Initially, I did not think I had enough time to paint these traditionally and was going to work on them digitally. After starting the first one digitally, however, I quickly lost interest and was not being artistically sated by the experience. I decided to double down, make the time, and do these all traditionally, and boy, was I happy that I did that. While I wish I had photos of these paintings coming together, I am much happier that I made the deadline and that they all turned out how I wanted.
To start things off, I have all the thumbnails that I did for these. This assignment was a bit different than the usual job. I was asked to just come up with monsters with very little perimeters. I was assigned four monsters, and they just needed to be aquatic and fit with the Numenera look and feel. So, I just sat down and let the monsters take shape. I worked fast and loose on these and just tried to get as many down and then worry about editing and changes later. Here are the twenty final concept thumbnails that I turned in...
Numernera: Into the Deep - Thumbnails
© 2015 Monte Cook
After turning these in, my feedback was as followed:
"2 (jellyfish with human brain! Yes!)
13 (freaky-deaky sharky kind of thing. love!)
And he could pick his other two favorites. The only one that might not work is 18, because it looks a bit too much like a normal squid"
Can't go wrong with this. After a brief exchange of ideas regarding the final two choices with my art director, the four monsters were selected. 9 and 19 filled the remaining slots, and I was good to work up the final drawings. If you are at all familiar with my work and process that I share here on the blog, you will know that my drawings and thumbnails are almost exact in their silhouette and major forms. The drawings address small issues and tweaks, as well as bring in all the details. I try to nail it in the thumbnails and finalize all the major forms and overall design. I was excited about all of these and was really ready to get started on the final pieces. Here are the final drawings for each of these pieces...
Rythcallocer
Numenera: Into the Deep
14 x 11 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Original - SOLD
© 2015 Monte Cook
Jybril - Drawing
Numenera: Into the Deep
11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Original - SOLD
© 2015 Monte Cook
Spiny Scishan - Drawing
Numenera: Into the Deep
11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Original - SOLD
© 2015 Monte Cook
Into the Deep Monster #4 - Drawing
Numenera: Into the Deep
11 x 14 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Original - SOLD
© 2015 Monte Cook
The drawings were approved without comment, and I was ready to start working on the paintings. While I was not necessarily thrilled to be working on these digitally, as I said, I did not think I had another option due to scheduling and deadline conflicts. I sucked it up and started on the first one on the computer...
Into the Deep Monster #4 - False start
Digital - Unfinished
© 2015 Monte Cook
It was like pulling teeth to start on this one. I was apprehensive that this whole assignment would crash and burn because I was fighting the computer the entire time I was working on this. I took a break, really thought long and hard about it, and decided that the best option to move forward was to start over and work on these traditionally. It did mean some frantic hours following this decision because I had to prep the drawings for printing, print the drawings, and mount them on board to start painting the following day. I lost a night worth of work time, but in the end, it all paid off, and I had four real paintings to show for my time and effort. Here are how the final paintings turned out; needless to say, they were all approved without comment...
Jybril
Numenera Ninth World Bestiary 2
12 x 9 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Original - SOLD
© 2015 Monte Cook
Rythcallocer
Numenera Ninth World Bestiary 2
12 x 9 - Acrylic and pencil on board
© 2015 Monte Cook
Spiny Scishan
Numenera Ninth World Bestiary 2
12 x 9 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Original - SOLD
© 2015 Monte Cook
Into the Deep Monster #4
Numenera: Into the Deep
12 x 9 - Acrylic and pencil on board
Original - SOLD © 2015 Monte Cook
That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...
