Jack Eaves Art: World Building Week 3: Surreal

Initial Thoughts // References // Inspiration

Surrealism is something that I've never really attempted so i'm not as comfortable with the process. Usually i like to approach my concept art with believably and good function and purpose. However surrealism is really the opposite of that.

I'm not too sure where to start with this, but i remembered that i used to use a tool called 3CH which is a random word generator created by steambot studios for speed painting purposes. I remember that the scenes that it comes up with are often very surreal so i thought that it might be a good source of inspiration for some sketches.

Above the image(s) are the descriptions from the 3CH that i used as the theme for the sketch.

Also for my good friends birthday last week i painted her - she is also an artist and has much more of a surreal style as she focuses on the meaning of her work above all else. This meant that i tried to push the more surreal aspect of the present i painted for her. I thought i would include it here as its one of the more surreal pieces that i've created, it has also sparked an idea for my own surreal portrait for this weeks theme.

Here is my reference sheet so far:

My idea is that i want to paint a self portrait - using Jeff Simpson's portraits as inspiration. I would be at the center of the scene twisted in a painful pose - my lower body would be merged into a landscape that is spreading out from me - lots of mountains, lakes, little castles and maybe floating rocks and waterfalls - the types of things that i paint most often in my concept art. The idea is that painting and creating worlds is my life - its almost like a drug, it is becoming me. I thought about giving myself a long wacom pen arm which is drawing parts of the landscape however i'm not sure if i should go this literal.

I had the idea of perhaps having parts of mesh show through the paint in some of the landscape - to show an area that i'm wanting and starting to explore - as I've just been starting to teach myself Zbrush i thought it might be a good opportunity to actually do this, start with a zbrush base for some parts and then paint over them, showing some of the mesh base below.

Here are some quick thumbnail sketches, i'm still not 100% on the composition but this is a good start.

And here is a little mountain that i created in zbrush and a very quick paint over to suggest how this technique may work. However after testing it out i'm not sure if i will use it, its a bit too blobby and doughy and its tough for me to get good lighting on it without taking it out into max or maya - i think i may be able to produce better results by painting it as my painting skills are much better than my zbrush. But i was worth a shot.

Today i decided to jump straight into the final, using my references to come up with the start to a scene. I've had a bit of an art block at the moment so i feel this is best.

I recorded the process but only thought of it after i'd already got most of the base down - so there's not much development recorded. I tried out the self portrait idea but i wasn't feeling it so i painted over the sketch of myself and added in a giant koala coming from the mist, it needs another one to balance the composition as well as some other elements to reinforce the surreal theme. However i'm still not sure if i while keep with this direction.

Below is the final image and another recording of the rest of the process. I had a bad weekend which has effected me this week so I've not been on top form, which shows in my end result. The initial concept is now that the land has been grey and dead for years, until now a local tribe - or what is left of them - have discovered a lost plant that used to thrive in the area, the eucalyptus leaf. They noticed that wherever these leaves called home the ground in the nearby area flourished and came back to life, back to its former glory. A wise, old and somewhat crazy tribesman uprooted one of the largest stems and with the help of the tribe they stood at a tall peak looking over their lands, with the leaf rising above them. To their amazement colossal ethereal creatures appeared at the horizon slowly working towards them. As they walked the landscape around them flourished and was given life, it was restored to its former glory. These creatures were Koala Bears, who for thousands of years had called this land home, until they became extinct - along with the landscape.

It needs a lot of work especially on the composition and storytelling elements - the idea isn't put across too adjectivally at the moment, there should be a starker contrast between the 'dead' landscape and the 'restored' landscape.

Also it's not very surreal... so i've kind of failed this weeks task. Lets hope i start next week off better this time so i can get back on track.