The BUZZ-INN wip

lizardillo

Hiya,

I'm loving everyone's inn wips at the moment. So much creativity going on. Looking forward to seeing the finished concepts.

Thank you again for the feedback regarding my bee (the poor thing is still without a name - Buzzbee? Barnabee?)

When I started the traveller brief last month I was planning on using the theme of the three prompts to try and make three coherent pieces to add to my portfolio. In my mind I already had a story for him and an idea of where he lived before he was finished.

I really like the inn prompt - I already had some hive/home visions that seemed ok but now it's come to creating one, none actually work.

As my brain is writing cheques that my skills can't cash at the moment I have gone right back to the basics and started just looking at ref and drawing shapes.

I know I would like:

called the Buzz Inn (buzzing)
honeycomb for the inn rooms, like a Japanese pod hotel, visible on the outside, (slightly rounded hexagons? with numbers on doors or just curtains)
an outdoor bar area - such as a window box of flowers/beer taps being fed from flowers because bees drink flower nectar (would be nice to have this but not essential)
hanging from a tree branch like a natural hive
hive-like appearance with bits sticking out
hexagons/rounded shapes (although need to think of a way of combing straight and curved shapes)

I think I'm going to have trouble shoe-horning all of this into one building but I'm going to have a good go at it just to see if I can actually do it without it becoming a big jumbled mess. I may run out of time to do it all.

Here is what I have come up with so far. It's not much as I can only do bits and bobs in the evenings due to work (non illustration) so I think it's going to be a very slow process.

Could I ask one question please? Are B&Bs (Bed & Breaksfast hotels) just a British thing or are they in all countries?

Feedback always appreciated.

Thank you
Liz

chrisaakins

@lizardillo We have bed and breakfasts here in the states!

I love your ideas. The rendering of the silhouettes of the inn is such a great idea. It seems obvious that we should all be doing that now that I see yours haha! I can't wait to see your final product.

lizardillo

@chrisaakins thank you I wasn't sure if B&Bs was one of those things we have in the UK and nowhere else would get the (not actually that funny) joke. I kept trying to draw details of honeycomb on a shape and failing miserably so went back to the drawing board and drew some blobs. I recommend it, it has helped. If in doubt - draw blobs

Melissa_Bailey

@lizardillo Love your mood board & initial sketches! And I agree, the structure silhouettes are such a great idea.

Georgios Christopoulos

@lizardillo I am afraid to give you my opinion..
Just kidding!!these silluettes are so so good!Cant wait to see what you come up with!

K.Flagg

Great idea with the Bee & Bee thing lol. I can't wait to see where you go with this!

lizardillo

I have had a bit of time to work on this today. After a while of messily sketching all sorts of mess I have found out that the classic beehive kind of image is actually more like a wasp/hornet nest. I am still trying to go for that recognisable kind of beehive look so I am hoping no-one notices it's not 100% accurate ! I'm still non the clearer of any design yet. Sticking with round shapes before I tackle any technical hexagons. Please excuse how rough these are.

Kim Hunter

We have B+Bs in the states too. I think spelling it Bee and Bee would be fun.

ajillustrates

@lizardillo The one with the outdoor bar is amazing.

lizardillo

A little more progress today. Still a long way to go. The ideas are there but need to work on making it clearer and play with the angle (like the rounded ones, ideally you should be looking up at it a little as its hanging from a branch). Theres a lot going on but these are really small sketches so everything is crammed in. Plus hexagons are difficult!

I do like the rounded versions but I think hexagons say 'bees' a bit more, and I think wasps nests are round. Honeycomb is very regular and uniform by it's nature but I am trying to break that rule a little. If I can get a bit of the life of the rounded shapes into this I'll be happy but it's whether I can do it is the question!

I wanted a sign above the door saying "BEE-ENVENUE: (Bienvenue).
But I don't think I'm going to do it as it's mixing languages a bit.

Thank you for your feedback.

Jacy13

@lizardillo Your ideas are great! So much detail you have in there. Can't wait to see your final image

lizardillo

@Jacy13 Thank you I love coming up with the little details, it's the best bit. It's all fun and games when you are drawing little scribbles. I'm guessing I will be wishing I had followed 'less is more' when I try to draw the real thing.

Jacy13

@lizardillo Haha, I feel your pain. Detail can be fun for the sketch, not so fun for the final render!

lizardillo

I have been in a whole world of hexagon hell with this. I think mapping it out on a perspective grid has sucked quite a lot of life out of it, I've overdone the hexagons a bit now. I think I need another pass with some more organic shapes mixed in, with a bit more variety of size and a bit more imagination further than hexagons.

I know bees are busy but this is all far too busy now! I also need to find a better way of attaching it to the tree.

I think I'm going to be down to the wire again!

Feedback and suggestions always appreciated. Thank you.

demotlj

This is super!

KevinTreaccar

This looks great!

ajillustrates

@lizardillo This should win Critique Arena based solely on the 'b' saloon doors.

lizardillo

@ajillustrates Thanks. I wondered if anyone would spot those

KevinTreaccar

I really hope this inn's slogan is "You can Buzz Inn, or you can buzz off."

lizardillo

@Kevintreaccar Love it!