Final Image - In Progress

 I had the pose idea from the beginning really as I was sure that I wanted to look horrified in a 'don't look at me!' kind of way. I had looked at a few 'how to' blogs and I realised I struggled with drawing in the Z axis; I always draw either side or front on. So I decided I wanted to make it more dynamic and add some drama to it. As previously mentioned, I had thought about using extreme angles like Jenny Saville, so I chose to angle it from underneath. In order to get a good idea of how this would look, as well as being an effective way to figure out the lighting, I got a bit of help posing a pre-rigged character in Maya. Being able to position a character and reposition light to get the effect I wanted was unbelievably helpful as I'd imagined this pose for a long time but been unable to replicate it on paper or photoshop.

This is the model in the position that I liked. Made to look fatter and the fingers have been lengthened.

I then drew over it roughly on photoshop but making it more walrus-y. Here I joined the feet together to make a tail, but the whole thing looked a bit like a sleeping bag :/ also, hair = bad. Was supposed to look wet/ falling out/ half balding...

Then I decided to make a mash up of all the pictures I'd taken/drawn/found to give me a better picture of how to make it work. It slightly helped, but I did end up making A LOT of adjustments, such as curves in the back/bottom area, as well as the flipper and tail/feet. Also, I didn't want it to look like I was 'ripping off' the picture used for the tummy, as I'd always wanted it to be just like an obese disgusting woman walrus thing.

This was my first final outline. I didn't like the little tuft of hair, and the bum was TOO big and the perspective I was trying to achieve didn't really work on the arm reaching to cover the face. It looked too bulky down that side and the flipper wasn't easily identified as a flipper... Also, the feet were making me frustrated as no matter how much I warped them or moved them, they never quite looked right. I tried a few different combos but ended up resorting to a tail, which was okay really as it was kind of lacking in the walrus-ness.

This is the finished outline. I'm very pleased with it. By changing the flipper, it has much more depth and it is more recognizable as a flipper now. The tail looks like a good inbetween of a tail and a foot. The curve of the general image works much better thanks to moving the boob and decreasing the back/bottom curve. I really think drawing over a photo of my face has helped to make it look more like me, as well as capturing an accurate emotion. I want to show how horrific the transformation is and how gross and painful it can be. Hence the expression, bones bursting through the fingertips and blood dribbling from where my teeth have extended into tusks. Through the shading and colouring, I intend to add more skin ripping apart and other painful transitions.

One thing I was unsure about was having the 'private parts' exposed...? I think it works and it's not like people haven't seen them before, but it just might be a bit awkward when I have to present it! any suggestions? or shall i just keep it there? [i do have a layer in the photoshop file with some pants! haha]

And finally this is the initial blockout.