Oro Iwin: Iya Korin

This character was actually done in the 100 demons scroll section, but I decided to redo her with better execution and an actual explanation of who she is. She is the 'singing lady' or Iya Korin (in Yoruba), who was cast out of her village somewhere in old Oyo because of an age old transgression; She gave birth to twins, which according to old Yoruba customs meant that the mother had an affair with a man besides her husband. She was cast out of the village into the forest of Irunmale where she roams to this day, singing an agonizingly dolorous tune trying to allay the perpetual screams of her unfortunate children.

Oro Iwin: Fere Baale

This fellow was a fun one to illustrate and his name literally translates to 'Flute Landlord.' He is similar to the Pied Piper except that instead of mice this Iwin Oro leads humans deep into the forest with his his ethereal tune to be transformed into one of his enigmatic race. All that hear his mesmeric tune never leave the forest again.

Oro Iwin: Madame Koin Koin

Here is a lady Yoruba Oro Iwin for a change. Her name was Headmistress Ina Kere (small fire) and she stems from an old tale that most Nigerian school kids know, but here is my telling of the old tale.
She was once the headmistress of a prominent school in the old Oyo kingdom in Yoruba land. She was of course very strict and puritanical, as her name implies. So on a hot day the students of her school grew tired of their Headmistress' wrath and hesitantly dared one amongst them to retaliate. It turned out to be the headmistress' little son who was instructed to steal his mother's shoe. Unfortunately, he was successful and all the students knew this when they could hear cries of pain. The hot afternoon ground scorched the Headmistress' feet as she looked for her stolen shoe. It turned out that hearing his mother's cries the headmistress' son fled into the forest nearby for fear of a swift and painful reprimand. In time the boy did not return, and a determined and angry Headmistress Ina Kere followed in search of her lost son all the while calling out.
They never returned, and it was said that hunters and travelers over the years could hear cries of anger slowly turn to cries of sorrow. Till this day kids in Nigerian schools (especially kids in boarding houses in the middle of nowhere) hear the spirit of Headmistress Ina Kere, (which she came to be known as) calling out to her lost son all the while the eerie, paralyzing 'koin koin' sound ringing from her one shoe as she slowly wanders through the night. Today she is popularly known as Madame Koin Koin.

Wireframes

Here are the wire frames my brother requested earlier. They are screen snapshots so please excuuse the quality. The wire frame is overlaid over the normal map.

Test normal mapped artisan head

These are normal map tests for the previously shown model. The final normal map will be sculpted in zbrush. This was just a quick test to see if I could pull of normal mapping successfully on the character (it being the first time I've used the process). Any comments or crits are welcome.

Oro Iwin: Baba Itaniro

Here is the newest edition to my list of Iwin Oro characters. His name is Baba Itaniro (Father of stories or the storyteller). I realized while working on this guy that I'm facing the same dilemma I encountered when I was doing the 100 demons scroll. The demons that were myth- related in the scroll were a great challenge because there is such a lack of visual information on what Yoruba mythological creatures and deities look like and also the literary accounts vary, or are very sparse, however I believe this is why I enjoy creating them so much. I am able to infuse the character and visual identity without much of a preconceived mental fog, I also believe they look a little more unique than say if I would have referenced a design from some established visual source or the other. That said though, when I do look for visual info I look to Yoruba sculpture (Ife, Benin, Nok, Oyo, etc), a lot of character can be derived from those iconic looking sculptures.

As a reminder here is one of the original concept sketches I was shooting for with the model. I made some changes to accommodate his appearance from many angles, particularly his profile which is what I enjoy most about the character.

Test Renders

Here are low polygon renderings of the artisan's head which I created in 2 days in Maya. I'm about to build a higher polygon model with more detail which will make him look more like he's cut from rock. I just wanted to show work in progress and they are not the highest quality renders because of time. I'm hoping that he will be able to emote sadness and contemplation with an idle look. Let me know what you think.

We begin again.

I have recently been working on a character here at the studio and I just wanted to post the concept sketches... He looks familiar because i'm working on the Oni Ise Owo animation like I said I would... I will post story boards and the plot synopsis soon. For now here's the character.

Normal blogging resumes: Oro Iwin

Ever since the end of Illustration 3 I've been in Salt Lake City, Utah in a video game company called Sensory Sweep as an art intern... I've been familiarizing, settling in and getting organized, which is why I haven't posted anything in a while. I, however, have done some work while in Salt Lake. For instance, here is one image in a set of a creatures I'm working to realize. He is a creature of the Forest of Irunmale called an Oro Iwin (from the book Forest of a Thousand Demons by D. O. Fagunwa) . Oro Iwin are neither deity nor spirit and definitely not human but share characteristics of all of these beings. This particular Oro Iwin enjoys dancing and playing his shekere (maracas) while annoying hunters with the odd ribbit sounds made with his frog-like neck sac. Which is why I called him Opolo Baba (Father of frogs)Expect more soon!

Word/Picture relationships

Visual Metaphor revisited

The platypus is the key to mammalian genetic evolution

Original piece here

Tesselation Revisited: Sustainable Energy

Old tessellation

Visual Rhyme Silhouettes Revisited

Corinthian Fish

Cactus Kid

Lettering Studies

Insect lettering study

Burnt toast lettering study

Blind contour lettering study

Negative lettering study

Scribble stick (3 foot) lettering study

Visual Metaphor

Duck-billed platypus; understanding evolutionary mammalian biology.

Artist Research: Nicolas Bouvier

Bouvier is a French illustrator/concept artist that now lives and works in Dallas, Texas working for ID software. He traveled extensively when he was young and perhaps this influenced his love for landscape, architecture, and various cultures. He has worked on several projects including Alone in the Dark 4, Prince of Persia 2 or Ubisoft, for Darkworks-Studio that have collaborated with Namco and Capcom. He has also worked in Montreal to work for Ubisoft on Assassin's Creed. He has also been illustrating book covers in France and England throughout hi life. Examples include: Lou Anders and PYR publishing. I find his work intriguing because he is able to depict the most complex and otherworldly scenes effortlessly and still imbibing the illustrations with energy and life.
his blog
his site

Artist Research: Sam Weber

Weber is an American Illustrator born in Alaska, but grew up in Ontario, Canada. He attended the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary and then moved to NY for graduate school at the School of Visual Arts. He worked as and assistant art director for the OpEd page at the New York Times for two years after graduating. Right now he mostly does freelance illustration. He has published work for Atlantic monthly, New York Times Book Review, Time, Rolling Stone, SEE magazine, Business Week, The New York Times, Playboy and a host of other clients lining up for him. Weber's use of ethereal imagery and realistically depicted figures is an interesting combination that seems to evoke thoughts of individuals that are trying to fit into their place in an environment. His use of flatly rendered graphic elements and rendered elements also works effectively representing unsettling and uncanny looking imagery.
his site

Artist Research: Murray Kimber

Kimber is a Canadian illustrator and graduate of the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1988. He became a freelance illustrator for subsequent years working as a children's book for packaging, billboards, postage stamps, etc and then began teaching for 5 years until 1997 when he moved to Mexico with his wife. He returned to British Columbia, Canada in 2001. His clients include the Vancouver Opera, American Express, Canada Post, GM, the U.S. Tennis Open. His work seems built for the iconographic/ communicating ideas in a deceivingly simple manner of stylizing forms. He has a great manner of oil application and his color choices always strongly emphasize the emotional tone of his illustrations.

Artist Research: Kevin Michael Dalton

Kevin Michael Dalton is an American freelance illustrator born in 1983 in Detroit Michigan. After high school Dalton enrolled in the College for Creative Studies and tutored under David Chai for 2 years learning animation and character design. He now works on commissions and freelance illustration like Flight volume:4 comic. He lives and works in North Hollywood, California
His working method is a such:
"I tend to use regular white copy paper 8x11 for starting things out or Bristol if I'm trying to be extra fancy or selling work. I ruff out the drawing pretty hard in red col-erase, go over it with pencil or ink, I knock out the red in Photoshop (this saves for lightboxing), then I use Photoshop to color mostly since it’s the fastest. But whenever I got the time I like to use prisma color markers, watercolors, and any other traditional medium that suits the mood. That’s where the real fun is at, sitting waiting for things to dry, smelling the paints, getting it on your hands, it really touches your inner child. I tend to now more than ever just color digitally using gradients, cuts, and the airbrush tool. Since my work is mostly 2-dimensional I think this way fits it the most." source
Dalton's character design and color usage are his strongest attributes I think a lot can be learned from his working method too. His characters hold a lot of personality and visual interest which all illustrators strive for. His style of drawing also translates into animation which is a quality I'm very interested in too.
his site