ART WAR 5 | 2D Submissions | Art World War | The Moon Belongs to America | stewart.mittnacht

stewart.mittnacht 2020-12-28 18:12:36 UTC #1

20 July 1969. The Eagle has landed. Tranquility Base has engaged with multiple hostile bogeys. Operation Apollo is a go: X Day is here grunts! Oorah!

stewart.mittnacht 2020-12-28 18:24:29 UTC #2

SPESS MEHREENS sounds like a fun theme to tangle with. Hopefully I can make the parody/satire elements come forward because I personally don't like out of control nationalism/jingoism. Spending first week on thumbnails/ideation - should have an art post soon-ish.

stewart.mittnacht 2020-12-30 19:32:34 UTC #3

Reference Drop - Atomic Era Space Stuff

I live for reference materials - expect lots from me going forward! Got to love the "Atom Punk" genre!

midnightmoon-shortline 2020-12-30 21:06:54 UTC #4

One of my favorite Era's! I love anything to do with space/space exploration! Good Luck!

stewart.mittnacht 2021-01-02 19:51:25 UTC #5

Thank you very much!

stewart.mittnacht 2021-01-02 19:55:49 UTC #6

Got to admit, bit tough finding my mojo after spending the winter holidays in quarantine, but did manage to get a sketch in at least. Anyone else struggling? Hoping 2021 at least feels more normal. Love and peace!

As for this sketch/design: I'm not married to it just yet. Some issues I'm having with it include a poor silhouette and general lack of exaggeration. He doesn't quite pop as a character yet - maybe the design is too busy too, with a lot of superfluous decals and that odd air hose sticking out. Advice or ideas appreciated! So many amazing artists on here, I'm sure you all will have ideas that I'm missing! Cheers!

midnightmoon-shortline 2021-01-02 21:11:46 UTC #7

Im right there with you, quarantine is a bitch. But holy hell that looks like its gonna be awesome!

maximrybinsky 2021-01-02 22:03:18 UTC #8

I love astronauts! I was drawing one for art war 3. But didn't finish him(

midnightmoon-shortline 2021-01-02 22:14:06 UTC #9

Dammit, Now I want to do Russia haha, so I can do a cosmonaut

stewart.mittnacht 2021-01-04 19:25:48 UTC #10

Went back to basics with some thumbnails - I think taking it into a much more "pulp sci fi" direction paid off pretty well. At least I had a lot of fun doing these, instead of trying to stick to a more "realistic" design for the space suit.

Right now I'm leaning mostly towards #2 because it feels the most "action hero" like, but I like the elements of all of these guys for different reasons. Wanted to test out some more mechanical/stormtrooper looking suits (borrowing a bit from Star Wars and Fallout series with the looks on #6 and #1 especially), and also some designs that were more lithe or used rounder, more soft forms.

Any favorites for me to develop further?

midnightmoon-shortline 2021-01-05 05:09:20 UTC #11

out of all of them, 6 and 7 were the ones that immediately caught my eye.

stewart.mittnacht 2021-01-09 04:44:52 UTC #12

So in light of recent events, I've decided to change my entry. I just can't see myself drawing a gun-toting, action hero type character with an American flag slapped on their shoulder at this time. So instead of a space marine, I decided I'm doing something else - probably a scientist, or some other non-combat oriented character. I'm just not sure how to depict the "combat" requirement of the competition though with this change in direction. Maybe playing some kind of sport could count? I'm just not sure I like the idea of drawing some kind of gun-toting grunt in a space suit shooting at aliens at this time, after seeing the violence that poured into the Capitol building just a few days ago. Any suggestions for how to proceed are appreciated.

alinabeska 2021-01-15 21:25:29 UTC #13

Maybe you can show him defending against some kind of alien monster? Defending with science, or a forcefield?

stewart.mittnacht 2021-01-19 19:24:19 UTC #14

So after a long think, I've decided to take the following steps - I'm aging down the character, and instead of aliens there's going to be a robot dog. The astro-boy is a scrappy treasure hunter who makes a living salvaging old parts from broken down space hulks, and the robot dog is a feral machine that also wanders around the old ship graveyards looking for replacement parts to keep it functioning (like a certain Pixar robot). The two are going to be depicted in tug-of-war over some old flag they found on an ancient lunar lander (the "combat" portion of the contest - and yes that would be the american flag from the Eagle lander), but ultimately they are more friendly rivals than sworn enemies. Here are some silhouettes of the boy to establish the basic shape language:

stewart.mittnacht 2021-01-25 18:47:55 UTC #15

And here are some more silhouettes, building out the robot dog rival. I am leaning more towards the middle design because at least to me it feels the most "retro-futuristic" of the bunch, but not so sure about all of its moving parts - especially all the chords and other small "fly away" elements that stick out from the main body. Basically might try to make the overall design sleeker, but wanted to put this out there as a way to test the waters and see what folks think of the overall shape language.

stewart.mittnacht 2021-01-30 19:30:35 UTC #16

A color test and a moonscape thumbnail. Just two small steps in the overall process, but wanted to share because I'm hoping for some advice. My main issue with the landscape is that it tends towards very monochrome colors, and I was hoping some folks with more experience drawing such things might have some advice for making it pop a bit more. Maybe try using darker blues instead of pure blacks? Any help is appreciated!