Sky's Artworks

[joshua1127]

  Wowy!!! wow! wow!!!!    Those art work projects are very detailed and Creative.  

[Sky]

Alright, so I tried to draw a few ideas to solve my problems from earlier:



Let's see...

The picture on the top left was an idea I had in mind to 'remove' their hands and leave them with their wings only so they would look more like a bird. They could use the wings as hands instead, but I forgot that female wingtails have membrane wings and thus, cannot form a 'hand'. :/

The picture below shows the structure of the wing, just like your everyday bird you see (only with a hand included).

Below that is a little comparison between old and new.
They don't necessarily look different but the new ones look much 'bird-ier'. Notice how the new one on the top shows two eyes instead of one? If you've followed my gallery, you'll notice how wingtails only show one eye.

The frontview isn't that much of importance, but I've never actually tried to draw them at the front... xDDD

Now to the top right... hmm, the body is much smaller and he has a much longer neck. I also added 'tail feathers' now, an idea to 'hide' their so called 'pants' or 'skirts'. xDD It also makes them look more like birds, doesn't it? 8D

The probably most important part: Their legs!
Because of their legs, they look too humanoid and less of an animal. This was the hardest part to work on. I only have two ideas for their legs at the moment. I seem to like number two since that's how real microraptors are built. I also added even more feathers to their legs. XDD
The picture on the bottom right was an attempt to see how they would look like with those legs. As a result, he looks much more of an animal than I expected! 8D (still has some anatomical errors though XP xDD).

There will probably be more concepts and ideas in the future, but I guess you can judge it much better with a complete and fully colored picture...

That is all for now~ :>

[Pangaea]

Sorry for not sharing my input sooner (I haven’t been on the forum much these past few days).


Color markings:

I see where you’re coming from about the coloration of the “pants”/“skirts”; having them be one color in the front and a different color in the back (as in #1) does seem a little odd. Of the two alternatives you showed, I think #2 would be the better option; in addition to eliminating the “half-and-half” coloration issue, it matches the color patterning scheme of most of the other dinosaurs in LBT, whose limbs are the same color as the upper part of the body, with a different color for the underside (from the chin or throat to somewhere along the tail). I thought of another possibility, however; that instead of going under and between the legs, the underbelly stripe would go over the thighs, and everything below it would be the same color (the same pattern as Ichy from LBT IV). This would probably look better if the wingtails had a more forward-leaning body posture, as opposed to the vertical humanoid posture they have currently. I’m a little iffy on it, but I thought I’d bring it up just the same.


Body structure:

Personally, I’ve always thought of the wingtails as being either birdlike dinosaurs or “primitive” birds (the line between the two is really very vague). Either way, there’s really no reason to remove the hands, since the fossil record suggests that birds lost the dinosaurian characteristic of the long bony tail before they lost the claws on their wings. (I don’t know whether wingtails have teeth or beaks, but it doesn’t really matter since there were both toothed “true” birds and beaked dinosaurs.)

I have to agree with you that the wingtail body is rather humanoid, and I do like the idea of making them more bird/dinosaur-like (but I’m not big on anthropomorphic animal designs, so I’m biased).

As for your mention of possibly redesigning the wings, I admit that although we came up with a plausible scientific reason for male and female wingtails having such radically different wing designs, from an evolutionary perspective, it would make much more sense for them to both have feathered wings (it’s adaptationally impractical to have flight feathers overlying a membrane, since that negates any aerodynamic function the feathers would have).

[Pangaea]

New design ideas:

I actually prefer the old design of the head; there’s not really anything about the new concept that makes it look more plausibly birdlike to me (in fact, the more horizontally oriented eyes of the original design look more birdlike to me), and from a purely aesthetic angle, the deeper, more curved beak just doesn’t look as nice to me.

I do like the front view of the head, though.

I like the idea of the longer neck; I must admit that the traditional wingtail neck looks rather short both by bird and dinosaur standards. I’m not sure what to think of the new “tail feathers”; they’re interesting, but kind of look a little odd.

Personally I think the head size is fine. I think it would look strange if the wingtails’ heads were too small.

With regard to the legs, keep in mind that birds (and many dinosaurs) walk on their toes; the part of the foot corresponding to the heel and arch in humans is held permanently off the ground. This is the reason for the “backwards-kneed” appearance of many birds; the “knees” are actually the ankle joints. You have accurately illustrated this in the middle sketch on the right-hand side of the image (the one with the comment about the feathers looking like fur). In that drawing, the foot looks rather like the paw of a cat or dog; if you wanted to make it more birdlike, you could try giving the wingtails longer toes.

If you’re still troubled that the wingtails are too anthropomorphic/not birdlike enough, you can always compromise the argument of convergent evolution; that wingtails share physical similarities with humans (large head, short face, fairly upright posture, etc.) because they evolved to fill a similar niche.

That's about all I have for now, but I'm happy to give you further suggestions and opinions should you want them.

[Sky]

I actually prefer the old design of the head; there’s not really anything about the new concept that makes it look more plausibly birdlike to me (in fact, the more horizontally oriented eyes of the original design look more birdlike to me), and from a purely aesthetic angle, the deeper, more curved beak just doesn’t look as nice to me.

The head is not really important (just wanted to make a little comparison) as they will probably look different with each picture I make.  

Either way, there’s really no reason to remove the hands

Nah, I'll keep their hands anyway. And if I don't need them at some points, I could just hide them underneath their wings.

As for your mention of possibly redesigning the wings, I admit that although we came up with a plausible scientific reason for male and female wingtails having such radically different wing designs, from an evolutionary perspective, it would make much more sense for them to both have feathered wings (it’s adaptationally impractical to have flight feathers overlying a membrane, since that negates any aerodynamic function the feathers would have).

...

If you’re still troubled that the wingtails are too anthropomorphic/not birdlike enough, you can always compromise the argument of convergent evolution; that wingtails share physical similarities with humans (large head, short face, fairly upright posture, etc.) because they evolved to fill a similar niche.

Phew... you make it really hard for me to decide what to do next.
Preferably, I would like to keep major features from the old design. I don't want them to look too different after the new design is completed.

That's about all I have for now, but I'm happy to give you further suggestions and opinions should you want them.

Suggestions are always welcome. :^.^:

[Allicloud]

Heh, one bit of advice I can give is his:

Don't worry about it too much. If you're trying to make them look more realistic, remember. This is a cartoon character. Based on a children's series about talking dinosaurs. It's fine to take creative liberties.

[Caustizer]

I really like the new more birdlike design of the wingtails, but as for which one you want to make the official one I say its up to you.  I know from my perspective it is hard to get my imagination around the new designs, but I suppose it could change in time.

The new legs make a lot more sense though and are less human in appearance, and as well I'm glad you decided to make a headon drawing (which actually turned out looking pretty funny).

[Sky]

Alright, here is a much cleaner and colored version of the current wingtail design:



I have to say, I really like the current outcome.   Much more animal like.
But I'm not sure yet if I should keep them that way and I would also like to hear your opinion too. :^.^:

[Pangaea]

In retrospect, I’m glad I waited a couple of days before commenting on this; the new design does take some getting used to.

The legs and feet look much better this way; the pointed toes and angular joints are definitely far more dinosaurian. I also like the feathers on the backs of the ankle joints; they just look cool (and some of the more birdlike dinosaurs really were feathered all the way down to their feet).

As I stated previously, I think the slightly longer neck is a good change, too. And although the head doesn’t look too different from the image in your avatar, I think the little point on the beak does a lot to make it more birdlike.

I think you should try drawing this new design from a few more angles and in other poses (such as a default standing posture), and perhaps with a female wingtail as well, to make sure that the changes look good from all sides.

One more suggestion that I can’t believe I forgot to make earlier (which isn’t really relevant to this picture) relates to the wingtail…tail. If it weren’t so essential to the wingtails’ identity (both their species name and individual identification), I think the tail could easily be written off as insignificant, especially now with the new feathers added around the base; in the back view of a wingtail in the previous concept sketch page, it kind of looked like an afterthought, like someone had tagged a decorated and befeathered mouse tail onto the tail feathers of a bird. To ensure that the tail is not too overshadowed by the new feathers (if you decide to keep them), my suggestion would be to make the tail thicker at the base and tapering towards the tip, rather than uniformly thin along its whole length. This would make it seem more like an extension of the body. This might leave less room for the new feathers, though…perhaps they could be attached along the sides of the tail base?

[Caustizer]

I agree with Pangaea in that I really like the new design.  You should make a picture of Star too (and maybe Glide or Cloud ).

[oogaboo]

^ What they said.
And yes the pic looks much better than the older body structure.
I'd like to see what the female character looks like.

[Kor]

Very great looking character.  Think you may be happy with this version or do you plan on tweaking the look a bit?  And how about some of the other characters like females & kids of the species?

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
 The new design is much interesting, far less humanoid and more dinosaur-like. And that is very cool because you managed to keep the feel of the character.

 Well done, and I am also curious to know an answer to what Kor asked .

[Sky]

Glad you guys like the new design of them. I'm really glad to hear that. :^.^:

~

New picture:


It has been a month since my last upload. :/ This will probably be the last submission until end of June...

My current feelings are portrayed in this picture.
Great, not even Star can cheer me up~ >__<

Played with some effects on PS.

[Caustizer]

Even though it is really sad, I like this picture because it shows them both in a scene in their new form.  I do wonder why they are crying though, as the only thing bad enough that I can think of that would cause that would be if one of their offspring died. :sad

Keep up the good work and don't get too down... sometimes all it takes to brighten things up is to go to bed early and wake up the next day feeling fresh.

[Pangaea]

It has been a month since my last upload. :/ This will probably be the last submission until end of June...

My current feelings are portrayed in this picture.
Great, not even Star can cheer me up~ >__<

I'm very sorry to hear you're feeling so sad, Sky.

If it's any consolation, it's a truly beautiful picture. The expressions are done so well, and the anatomy of the characters looks fantastic. I particularly like how you did Star's wings and feathers; I'm also impressed by how natural the feathers forming Star's “skirt” and Sky's “shorts” look on them. Even the rain is nicely done. Ideally, I suppose they could look a little “wetter” (although Star's crest appears to be drooping slightly, as if weighted down with wateróthat could have more to do with her emotional state, though), but the lack of detail in that area is forgivable.

[Salvatore Blackheart]

Sorry man I hope you feel better soon, but good pic.

[Sky]

^I don't think that a lost gallery is comparable to a future life that might be done for...

[Sky]

A little bit of update:

Forget what I said above... I've overcome my depression and I feel totally happy and relieved now! A feeling I hadn't had for weeks!  
Gosh, I'm so happy right now. I hope to add some new artworks very soon~ :^.^:

On a sidenote: I fixed some broken links, beginning from pictures from 2010 (page 7). A few links are still broken though (like the pictures from the gang as teens as I don't have them anymore ) All other pictures can be found on the first page. ^__^
Thanks to Pangaea for pointing out.

[Pangaea]

Forget what I said above... I've overcome my depression and I feel totally happy and relieved now! A feeling I hadn't had for weeks!
Gosh, I'm so happy right now. I hope to add some new artworks very soon~ :^.^:

That's so good to hear. (Mainly that you're feeling so much better, but also the upcoming new artwork. )

On a sidenote: I fixed some broken links, beginning from pictures from 2010 (page 7). A few links are still broken though (like the pictures from the gang as teens as I don't have them anymore )

It's times like this when I feel vindicated for being a pack rat; as luck would have it, I have a habit of saving my favorite online pictures to my hard drive, and that includes every piece of artwork that has been featured in this thread in the last one-and-a-half years. So, in the interest of helping a great artist to share his full history of LBT artwork, here be the lost pictures of the teenaged gang:

From 04/02/10:


From 04/03/10:



From 04/05/10:


From 06/05/10:



From 06/06/10:


Since these are rightly your pictures, I thought that you could copy them to your own album and post them in the appropriate locations, after which I would delete them from my album. If there are any other images you are missing (I know that a portrait of Glide in his trademark "arms crossed" pose and a picture of Sky with glasses and a pencilóthe one that was once your avataróare not in this thread), I will gladly supply them.

EDIT: You know…what the heck? Just in case they are missing, I might as well share those pictures I mentioned of Glide and Sky right here and now.

EDIT 2: I have deleted the images from my Photobucket gallery now that Sky has reclaimed them.