(special thanks to my buddy Zack Giallongo for the name idea!)
It’s been a packed summer of camp workshops, A2CAF, and events surrounding the Facing Feelings: The Art of Raina Telgemeier exhibition (curated by my wife Anne!). So I’m slowly catching up on correspondence and getting back to drawing.
Most of you know that I love using the utterly mercenary toy marketing of the 1980s as a design constraint. Especially Hasbro toys like the Transformers and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. I was sketching Count Fishravin the other day and thought about those Robot Cuttlefish I drew some months back:
And it occurred to me that I might adapt this design to be one of the smaller vehicle sets you’d find in the G.I. Joe line, like Serpentor and his Air Chariot, Destro and his Despoiler, or Zartan and the Chameleon. Maybe Count Fishravin could drive a similar vehicle based on the cuttlefish designs above?
I took this as an opportunity to try learning Blender a little more. This vehicle was designed on paper, constructed as a 3d model in Blender, then imported into Clip Studio Paint. CSP’s 3d tools allow you to import an .obj file and manipulate it like you would any included 3d materials. So once imported, I was able to position the model in any angle I want–then copy the rulers to a penciling layer.
I penciled more details onto the model and printed them out on watercolor paper. I inked on paper and took the drawings back into Clip Studio Paint for coloring.
I thought it might be neat to include some electric (ELECTRONIC) eels for the tendrils on front of the cuttlefish. Though I’ll admit this does evoke a bit of the design of Sky-Runner, the main villain’s vehicle from SilverHawks.
It was a fun experiment that led to more Blender skill acquisition. I might use this in a future story, I might not. But I know I’ll be building more environmental elements in Blender going forward.