Wednesday, December 26, 2012

My life as a crappy artist - Lissa (Ashanti) Demon Variant

On Friday I shared with you the design and redesign that I created for the Lissa (Ashanti) Demon for the seventh season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There was one variation to this demon that went as far as the drawing phase, though I am not sure if it was ever shown to production, or if the design was killed in house. For this variant, I was apparently designing the Ood of Doctor Who a good 4 years before their time... OR I was simply drawing something with a face full of tentacles because I thought it would be neat. Whatever it was, here is the rejected Lissa Demon design...

RAWR! I am a rejected design that may or may not have been seen by production...
© 2002 Almost Human

Okay... it is a demon with a tear away face with drippy tentacles... and not a whole lot else going on... like interesting forms and details. As I have mentioned previously with my redesigns, the one big fault my old work (besides being old work) is that there was not a lot of time and thought given to the forms and details. Things feel flat and simple. Granted, I was still very much learning as I went in the less then hospitable environment with not a lot of time to actually get my thoughts onto paper. Not that I would ever make excuses for my old work, it is old, I have moved on and thankfully, I hope, I have moved my skill set along as well. Having made some time, I revisited this abandoned variant and came up with something... newer...

Taking the Lissa (Ashanti) Demon Variant back!
© 2012 Christopher Burdett

I will be completely honest, if production would have seen this new version they probably would have rejected it in second for it being 'dirty'. Oh well. They had a thing about things being 'dirty' or at least things being 'dirty' in their heads. No matter what the past would have said about this, I wanted to make something better for me now. Going back to the idea that since this was a severed head it could be anything tried to push it a little further with something weird and inhuman, while keeping the original face tentacle action in some way. I think... I HOPE it is a more interesting and weird monster. More time and thought was put into it this time around, no matter the case!

That is all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog, see you back here on Friday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

4 comments:

  1. Ok, IDK about it being dirty in their heads, cause that was one of the first things that popped into my head when I looked at it (does that mean I have a dirty mind :O lol). Quality wise I'm right with you, it looks wayyyyy more polished. I just received a few Dreamworks "art of" books for Christmas (I collect concept/behind the scenes books on animation). I have to say I was surprised at the varied levels of some of the concept/design work. Some pieces were as sharp looking as your Lissa Demon redux, while other "actual concept art" looked like a 9 y/o had been given canvas and paint and told to go at it.

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    1. Production saw EVERYTHING as being either phallic or vaginal... but most of the time everything was just phallic. You could send them a sphere and it would called phallic. Also with 10 years worth of time and experience, I would hope I could make something more polished :P

      Keep in mind when it comes to concept work that there is a WIDE range of things that need to be worked out with a movie, animation, or game. These concepts cane look really rough and unpolished. Working out color schemes and rough ideas can look crude to an outsider. Also, you can have a really good idea that is not polished and you can have a really bad idea that is polished. People will many times gravitate to the polished image... while those with the skill to see and understand will pick out what is working with the unpolished good idea. Concept art is a complicated thing and is not black and white, polished and unpolished.

      I fear that will make a really polished turd rather then a really rough diamond.

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  2. Yeah, the second feels alot more interesting.

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    1. Thanks! I would hope so... with 10 years worth of time between the original and the one I just did to improve :P

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