“Petal Power.” (c) 2015 Michael J. Barnes. (click to view full sized image)
To my regular followers, I know, I posted a similar image last year. I made a decision to redo this image. I decided to brighten it up, push in more color, and basically give it a more “painted” appearance. Petal Power is the first of a series of images I am developing that I have called the Gang of 8.
Here’s the story: I’ve decided to create a series of images involving ultimately eight child characters (five boys and three girls). These child characters will live in the same neighborhood, and decided to form their own group named “The Gang of 8.” Their mascot, a friendly purple octopus named Fred. Through this, and future images, The Gang of 8 will go on a series of adventures – both real and imaginary. It is my hope that these images will help promote imagination, If anything, it’s helping me reconnect with my imagination.
In this image, a little girl (who I have named “Jenny”) is simply taking her puppy and dolly for a bike ride.
I am currently in the process of reworking the second image of this series, Radio Rocket Flyers, and will post it later this week. Keep a lookout for future illustration in this series as I will be releasing them as soon a I complete them.
Thanks for your time.
Petal Power. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
I decided to try a different tack with this piece, hopefully to display a little diversity in my illustrative style. Petal Power shows a little girl giving a ride to her puppy and dolly through her neighborhood. And, yes, that is an octopus tugging at the end of his leash and snarling at the mailman (because its a well-known fact that octopi are the sworn enemy of mail carriers — at least it’s well known in my head).
The characters were created and rendered in Zbrush. The background (houses and such) we produced in Sketch-up with texturing and rendering done in Bryce. All elements were brought into Photoshop and Viola! (or voila) Petal Power.
I have decided to work up a couple more images based on this theme. I have four ideas in mind, with the next piece including a rocket-powered wagon.
Girls Bike. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.
I know I’ve been throwing a lot of wips (works in progress) updates recently. The fact is that I am working on three different illustrations at this time (I just wish these were commissioned pieces) for some self-promotion pieces. Since working up the PALS logo last week, I find myself with some extra time to do up these drawings.
My latest WIP will have a little girls bike in the illustration. This model (seen above) I worked up over the weekend – about eight hours total time. I know it doesn’t look scary, or mystical, or fantastical like many of these 3D sculpts that are usually posted… but it came out so much better than I hoped that I had to share it.
In actuality, it is a very scary, evil, demon-possessed bike that will transform the rider into a hellchild that will torment her parents for many years. Okay, not really. I’m not going to go to much into the future illustration. Like I said, I liked the way this turned out and wanted to share. Hope you like it.
Girls bike sans texture. (c) 2013 Michael J. Barnes.