JamesOne's Zodiac Sketches

jamesoneart 2019-02-18 05:11:03 UTC #1

Hey, guys! Just wanna share my 2-hr sketches on the Eastern Zodiac animals. I'll crank one per day or two days. This is my first time creating a personal topic, feel free to throw in some feedbacks! 😬

You can support me here at:

My Facebook
My ArtStation
My Instagram

jamesoneart 2019-02-18 05:20:28 UTC #2

First one I did for this sketch series: Cat! In Vietnamese culture, we use Cat as the fourth guardian instead of Rabbit in Chinese culture. Admittedly, cat is much cooler, no? FYI, The model for this piece is actually my cat, and studying him has always been a pleasure.

jamesoneart 2019-02-18 05:32:01 UTC #3

The second one in the series: Pig! The popular opinion is that pigs are dumb and they are totally not. In fact, they are ranked one of the smartest animals on Earth (top 7), beating cats and dogs! In this piece, I want to convey the pig being a malevolent medieval knight and a schemer. What you guys think?

jamesoneart 2019-02-18 05:42:57 UTC #4

The third sketch: Water Buffalo! Real dedicated, this one! I want this Zodiac guardian to stick to his Asian heritage, so I did some research on ancient Chinese royal garment. Bada-bing, bada-boom! Now we have an 18th Century Emporor!

jamesoneart 2019-02-18 06:18:37 UTC #5

Here is the Fourth Guardian: Dragon! Within the circle of the Zodiac, dragon is the only imaginary, man-made creature. Hence, I put a customized crocodile helmet, with pair of antlers, that ressembles a dragon, onto this girl warrior. My thinking process here is that our imagination is the very exaggerated ressemblance of our thought,

jamesoneart 2019-02-20 17:31:18 UTC #6

The fifth one in the series: Mouse! She is a Victorian-era princess. Despite her size, the robot she is on is quite a fighter. Also, I attempt to make her stare evil and scheming.

jamesoneart 2019-02-21 17:58:04 UTC #7

The Sixth guardian of the Eastern Zodiac sketch series that I did: Tiger!
I was thinking religion, then Christian, Catholic, nuns, priests, pope, etc. out of nowhere, and decided that this very Asian Tiger will be some pope. And he has a visitor to entertain...

cedricgo 2019-02-22 15:12:33 UTC #8

I really enjoy this serie you're doing. The cat and mouse ones are my favorites so far

jamesoneart 2019-02-23 13:46:27 UTC #9

Thanks a lot, man! I'm glad you like them.

jamesoneart 2019-02-26 17:07:04 UTC #10

My seventh sketch for the Zodiac Guardian series is here: Snake!

This one is a dragon snake, one of the most badass species of snake I've ever seen. There are actually a bunch of variations of this type of beast, but I picked this Indonesian one. At the same time, I was looking into some Indonesian indigenous tribes and decided to add some tribal props onto the snake.

Evidently, I did this one super-quickly and roughly. Some may think I'm an idiot for picking such a complicated breed of creature to paint fast. Personally, a challenge a day keeps the doctor away! And my mission for this sketch is to figure out the fastest way to render the scale as possible.

Anyway, thanks for being patient with me doing this sketch journal!