Need your help - Sea Monster

Tyler Koh

I am very desperate to improve right now as a very big and important contest is coming up. If the theme of the competition is "sea monster", how does one get an interesting concept? I also think that my composition and design are very amateurish. I am planning on taking the "Creative Composition 2.0 ", "Creative Environment Design", "Visual Storytelling Technique with Lee" and "Create Unique Character Design", should I add more or should I only focus on these? Honestly, any advice that will help me is very well appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Sabrina Gosselin

I'm rather new SVSLearn so re: courses I wouldn't be able to offer too much in terms of suggestions (although your choices sound like good ones to me!)... in terms of the piece itself, I'm thinking maybe having his tentacles doing more? Perhaps having one wrapping around/crushing the boat under the water? And one coming out of the water behind the unawares fisherman about to grab them? They seem a touch static right now

Melissa_Bailey

@Tyler-Koh really interesting concept, and you've totally nailed the "sea monster" prompt for the contest!

A few things to consider as you're refining your composition:

Is that his snout breaking the water? Why is it doing that? If there's no good reason for it, perhaps have the monster totally submerged -- adds to the feeling of danger since the fishermen seem to be totally oblivious to what's going on.
The big issue for me is that the monster is almost completely vertical. Is it resting on the seabed? Could it look more fluid or sinuous? If his body was more tilted or had more curves that might improve your composition and give more "life" to your monster.
Are those his tentacles in the foreground? If so, why not amp that up a little bit more? Bringing the tentacles toward us, into the foreground, will add to the sense of space and how huge the monster is. If you do this, the composition might work better without the little fishies and sunken boat.)

Of course, this is just my opinion on what would take a really cool concept to the next level. Please show us more in-progress shots as you're working on this piece.

s1h0k

@Tyler-Koh Looks pretty cool so far, the top of the kraken coming out of the water looks abit weird though. If its coming up from bellow the surface I don't think you'll get water splashing away from the body at 45 degree angles. I would maybe check out pictures or videos of a whale tail or submarine breaching the surface of the water. I think you'll get more of a wave or ripple effect moving away from the body rather than a big splash.

Tyler Koh

@s1h0k now that you mention it, it is kinda weird...
I'll fix it or maybe start a new but similar piece
Thank you!

Tyler Koh

@Sabrina-Gosselin Yes! I totally agree, it definitely makes it more interesting!
I will fix it soon. Thanks!

Lisa Clark

I think you have some amazing insight from previous commentors but I wanted to add that I really like this concept. It's fun! You've done a good job of exaggerating how large the giant sea creature is compared to the boat! I like that.

Tyler Koh

@Melissa-Bailey-0 Yes! Thank you very much, the pieces of advice are great!
I'll fix them soon.

Tyler Koh

@Lisa-Clark said in Need your help - Sea Monster:

ght from previous commentors but I wanted to add that I really like this concept. It's fun! You've done a good job of exaggerating how large the giant sea creature is compared to the boa

Thank you! Yep, I was trying to make the creature look bigger by adding the put there as a scale like you said.

Debra Garcia

The fishing line lines are beautiful, especially with the similarities and contrast to the monster. It kind of makes me think that if the monster had never seen a fishing boat before, it might see the boat with the scary hooks like it's own idea of a sea monster. Lol

Tyler Koh

@Sabrina-Gosselin
@Melissa-Bailey-0
@s1h0k

Like this? Or maybe this?

The wrapping around the boat concept is kinda hard to pull off with my lack of skills rn, so I just added a tentacle approaching the boat

Melissa_Bailey

@Tyler-Koh really like the first one! If you want to heighten the tension, try moving the kraken’s mantle a little closer to the boat and see if that makes a difference.

Looking really good! Excited to see how this turns out!

Tyler Koh

@Melissa-Bailey-0 The perspective made the foreground tentacles look weird and POV was kinda hard to imagine so I came up with an underwater piece