Finally returning to the draw prompts to finish up those pics! :U

In my first draft of this art, I focused mostly on capturing the basic idea of a pouty fox kit and a hoard of stolen cookies. There wasn't a lot of context in the scribble. For example, WHY is she grumpily returning the cookies? Are they spoiled? Is she bored and wants to steal them again? <w<

The concept of having to return stolen cookies is rather abstract, indeed -- making it a great art study. Revisiting the piece, this time I tried to tell the story with more depth and intent!

I made the environment more like a den or cave than a castle dungeon. The smol foxxo didn't necessarily dig this herself, (actually she probably stole the cave too...) but it's a handy place to store a lifetime supply of cookies. An earthen den feels more likely to be inhabited by a cookie-thieving fox.

By making the foxxo smol and the den vast, it helps sell the idea of an excessive number of cookies. The cave tunneling into the background helps add some wonder and mystery. How many rooms of cookies ARE there? The cookies, boxes and cart tracks get smaller as they fade into the distance. So do the lines used to draw them.

Compositionally, the cookie piles generally slope down, pointing at the smol foxxo. The piles themselves are massive, so the full weight of the smol foxxo's crimes is bearing down on her. I used the negative space of the ground around her as a rest area to help frame her as important, and to trap her in her circumstance. The basket of cookies is a particularly dense pattern, helping attract your eye. The somewhat regular patterning of the cookie piles mixed with cookie boxes at odd angles adds visual interest while keeping the eye moving. I'm intending that your eye should move between the deep part of the cave, the sign board, and grumpy smol foxxo in a little triangle.

To add more depth, I included cues that show a passage of time. The smol foxxo is loading a mine cart at present, while a full cart is shown further up the tracks, implying she already loaded that one in the past. The full cart is spilling cookies, adding a sense of motion. The signboard and quantity of cookies implies the smol foxxo will still be busy loading cookies far in the future. The todo list says something about Vixel's plans for the even more distant future... <.<

Other storytelling tidbits include the boxes of cookies, nibbled and munched cookies, and the train signal pointing toward the exit to help define where the mine carts are going. The sign posts are pointed like spears to imply the Official Decree will be enforced, and the sign is bigger than the smol foxxo, implying it's stronger. But don't underestimate her - she stole ALL these cookies once, surely she can steal them again! >:E

Here's also a version with more cookies, some brights and darks, and a cavey blue color filter. The lighting got a little muddy, but it still adds some atmosphere. I'd like to clean it up later so it's not so splotchy, but first I want to wrap up the other draw prompt pieces!

Over the holidays I started exploring a new technique using 3d models as a foundation for my 2d art! :O

Made a few images of this cute yeen boy for a Christmas art exchange on one of the fursites!

Many sculptors and architects start with a simple model, known as a "maquette", as a foundation for exploring and visualizing a design.

I copied this idea and made a virtual 3d maquette of this hyena character using Blender and Daz Studio!

First I used morph dials in Daz to shape the approximate body proportions. (Default human male shown for comparison.)

Then I exported the model into Blender, and did a custom sculpting pass, refining and stylizing the body.

Next I imported the model back into Daz Studio in a special way to preserve the rigging. This way, I could freely pose the body and attach clothing!

I composed some cute poses and mixed in a few props in Daz.

Then in Photoshop I did a rough rotoscope (loose trace) of each scene, choosing which shapes to keep, discard, emphasize.

Finally, I played with proportions in 2d, did detail stylizations like fur floof and painted in a few more props.

This '3d maquette' approach works great for nailing down tricky stuff like perspective, anatomy, and clothing. It's right in the middle of my other techniques for workflow efficiency and quality of results. Not as organic as sketching from imagination, and not as clunky as trying to cherrypick details from photo reference. If used to establish the base foundation for a pic, I'm can change whatever details and stylize to my heart's content once I have the rotoscope ready in Clip Studio or Photoshop.

Used this same technique on the pawplay artwork earlier this month, too! :O So it's feasible for ferals as well!

Still playing around with the workflow. Excited to see where this goes! :}}