Sparky

Status

Life

Still looking for a job.  Job websites are a waste of time; the only human response I've gotten so far was when I emailed the HR department directly.  I'm now focusing on reaching out to my old contacts.


Sparky

A couple journals ago, I mentioned my My Little Pony Original Character, Sparky.  I commissioned a couple more artworks of her since then, so I figured I'd expound on her character, as well as comment on commissions in general.

I was originally inspired to create an OC after I saw this image



I originally envisioned the character as male, but after seeing Cenit-v's rendition, the character actually looked feminine to me and that seemed to be an improvement (and more fitting considering the inspiration behind the character).  The name "Sparky" is derived from the female protagonist from the movie Contact and many design elements are lifted from the game Portal (main characters are female).  For example, her limbs are inspired by the hard light bridges from Portal 2:



Sparky has learnt to live off the land: mining her own resources, observing the heavens, and generating her own rocket propellants and power.


Sparky lives in a house just within the Everfree Forest with her protégé, Borris, and pet snake (supporting characters not shown).  The water from a nearby waterfall is electrolyzed to produce rocket fuel (orange tank).  Sparky collects precision orbital data using her observatory and tracking station.  She acts as the celestial adviser to the princesses: providing critical insight into precisely when and where to move heavenly bodies to produce the desired results.

However, it's a miracle she ever sits still long enough to peer through a telescope.  Sparky is frequently found brazenly pushing the limits wherever she goes.  Having replaceable body parts compels her to go where others fear to tread.  It's typically up to Borris to reel her in from cliff diving, atom smashing or whatever new scheme she has cooked up... when he can keep up with her.  Borris was designed as a heavy lifter for hauling rubble; he's not terribly agile.


Before a rocket launch, the engines need to be tested... And there's nothing quite like sailing through the desert by the light of the Moon!

More artwork with Sparky can be found in my commissions folder:
parallellogic.deviantart.com/f…


Commissions

These past few months represent my first foray in the world of commissions and I've picked up quite a bit along the way.

During my minimal formal education in art, I was told that characters can be made more active by drawing them off-balance.  I was distinctly reminded of this fact when I gave my concept sketch to Skutchi.  My sketch had all the characters solidly rooted to the ground whereas his rendition immediately lifted them all up, giving the entire scene a new sense of energy


My mother periodically mentions how I'm "visual", see things "spatially", and that I get that from "her side of the family".  Currently that's the generic ruse used to explain why I became an engineer (as though I was genetically predestined to be one).  It's not completely ficitcious since I have been tested exceptionally proficient in spacial skills, but recently I had reason to question that assessment.  When I lay out the concept sketches for a commission, I often find myself choosing a very orthogonal viewpoint, where the subject matter is shown either head-on or directly to the side.  Sparky's house is a good example of this: my sketch uses a view to show things perfectly horizontally, whereas JackJacko-Eponymous uses a much more dynamic angle.

I find the commission process rather interesting.  To me it's a lot like doing homework and looking the answer up in the back of the book.  I have a concept in my head (by analogy: the homework problem) and I draw out a concept sketch (my answer to the homework problem).  I then commission a professional artist to render out the concept (looking in the back of the book).  I can then compare my drawing of the concept with the artist's (compare my homework solution with the back of the book).  I am frequently amazed by the nuances I otherwise would have missed.  I actually find this commission process more educational in a way since I'm forced to render out my proposal completely before handing it off to the artist (I can't cheat and look in the back of the book part-way through forming my solution), thus the difference between my rendition and the final artist's work is much more drastic.

Questions and Comments Encouraged