Updating the Brand - Shop Vorgus

I always liked the original picture I had used for my Zazzle shop, Shop Vorgus, but it's pretty old at this point and was just quickly and poorly cropped to fit in place as a banner and profile image. The shop has been getting a refresh and I decided it was time to refresh the branding as well. New banners, new logo, new products and on and on.

Below is the original logo artwork. I liked the colours and the theme, but this picture was originally just me experimenting in photoshop with brushes and settings. It doesn't properly fit the dimensions of anything so it was always cropped oddly when I used it.

The original Shop Vorgus artwork.

Like most things I began to sketch out some designs. I wanted something similar to the original, but simple, and useable on the interwebs. You can see the designs I settled on circle below.

Tried making it a little cutesy, but also mysterious in a way.

Here's the final artwork! I like the ocean ripples and I think I captured a cute but mysterious look by making it small with short little tentacles and leaving the eyes as two simple white dots.

This can be used as a profile picture

This is the main banner image, which can easily be adjusted to fit various dimensions.

Thanks for checking it out! If you'd like to see what sort of things I'm selling follow this link to Shop Vorgus on Zazzle. Below are some of the collections of various designs and products I have listed there. Check them out if there's anything that catches your eye, thanks!

Unique Artwork
by Vorgus

Under the Sea
by Vorgus

Fun with Stickers
by Vorgus

Fun and Games
by Vorgus

Texture Bliss
by Vorgus

Some Doodles to Fill The Space

I've been pretty busy with life and with getting my old Zazzle shop, Shop Vorgus, up to date. It's getting a new coat of paint and a lot of junk is being removed. The goal is to tidy it up, and then finally start getting some new things on there - including the recent hypnotic octopus designs I created. Eventually I'd like to expand to other platforms like redbubble and society6. Doing that all at once is daunting - so baby steps! In the mean time, whenever I get a spare moment and have a pen and paper nearby I try to doodle down the ideas in my head. Here's some stuff!

I've got a couple ideas for future projects as well a cool archer girl I was inspired to draw.

At the top are ideas for a building I wanted to make in Minecraft, and below are ideas I have for various other projects including a new board game!

More Minecraft plans mingling with random head doodles and terrible hand practice.

Gestures of the Week 2020-09-14

Things have been a little busy lately so the gestures have been light. These ones below are even a bit old now and I just hadn't go around to putting them up. I'll share what I've been busy with shortly! Take care everyone.

Hypnotic Octopus over Shipwrecks

The deep sea hypnotic octopus has steered many ships astray - pulling them down into the depths and feeding on their crew. It calls this graveyard of shipwrecks it's home and nestles within the mechanical guts and bones. Here, a deep sea expedition has stumbled upon this majestic menace and are transfixed as they step ever closer to their demise.

Hypnotic Octopus over Shipwrecks

11x14

Copic Markers and Black Pen on Copic Paper

Gestures of the Week 2020-08-14

 I'm a little bit behind with drawing lately. Holidays, late nights, and new routines have set me a kilter, but slowly I'm hoping to get back on course. Here are some recent gestures.

Hypnotic Octopus over Shipwrecks - Process

Here is the final piece I'm making in this series of hypnotic octopuses. I've been trying to make them all very different while maintaining the central theme of the spiral like octopus in the middle. This time there are no fish around, but instead there are a few divers and their submersible lighting up the ocean floor. The large octopus is close, and so is the graveyard of ships that stretch out behind it. I went through pretty much the same process to create this one, but it's cool to share the steps from nothing to something.

It all starts with the idea. I've already had the idea for the hypnotic octopus, but I still needed to create the rest of the piece as well! I decided to go with shipwrecks because I though it would fit the them and look cool.

Here are some of the main references I used for this piece. All were important because I really didn't know how the diving suit would look, or a submersible, or a shipwreck! I had a feeling of what a shipwreck would look like, but I never would have got the shapes and details right without the reference.

Layout sketch always gets a few passes before it is turned into some nicer linework for me to work with.

Colours, the bane of my existence. I knew I wanted the background dark and the graveyard of ships to recede into the darkness. Also, I knew the submersible was going to be casting a bright light on the ships and divers closest. My wife helped me refine the colour choice to what ended up in the final piece.

Finally, here is the result of all that work!

I managed to this finish this piece fastest of all which surprised me because of how complex it is. There were numerous passes with different copic markers to get the colours I wanted as well. I think that just shows how the more you do something the better and faster you can get at it. I'm really happy with the way this one turned out. On to a new piece - I've got some ideas ;) Thanks for looking!

If you're interested in a poster print of this piece check out the link below, thanks!

Hypnotic Octopus with Sunken Ships Poster
by Vorgus

More Torso Stuff

Continuing with my refresher of Michael Hampton's book "Figure Drawing - Design and Invention." Just taking some time to go over some muscles and forms. I'll keep working my way through the body. Here I'm working on the torso and shoulders some more.

The trapezius comes down the back of the neck and attaches to each scapula. It kind of looks like a kite.

Abdominals are like a thick stretchy band that go from the rib cage to the pelvis.

Deltoids start at the collar bone on one side and the scapula on the other.

Obliques are similar to the abdominals, but are on either side of the figure. Watch for twisting, stretching, and squishing.

The serratus comes from under the scapula and wraps around the ribs.

Hypnotic Octopus near Arch

This hypnotic octopus hangs out near the ocean floor and mesmerizes it's prey with intricate waving patterns of its tentacles. Surrounded by ancient rock arches and flourishing foliage the victims arrive. Above, boats anchor themselves to catch a glimpse of this rare sight.

Hypnotic Octopus near Arch

11x14

Copic Markers and Black Pen on Copic Paper

Hypnotic Octopus near Arch - Process

My plan is to do three different pieces with the theme of a hypnotic octopus under the water. Here's the second one - mesmerizing fish on the ocean floor near some rocky arches. I had a lot of fun with this one and it's a deal more complex than the previous. Though it was more complex I was able to complete it a bit faster than the first. The overall process was very similar as well.

The initial idea was scribbled and thumbnailed at an exceptionally small size. I knew I want some kind of underwater arch in the background.

Gathering reference is always important. I found a picture with some fish I wanted to recreate and a great picture of an underwater arch. The reference photo also showed underwater foliage and I decided that was something I wanted to put into my work as well.

I did a layout sketch in a couple of phases. Got to start rough and then refine and refine!

I wanted to figure out a rough idea of what colours to use so I did a colour test. The final piece's colours are still different from this, but I used it to help inform my choices and work through some thoughts. My wife also helped me pick colours for the final piece as she's much better at that than me!

Here is the final piece!

There we go! That was my process. I learned some more this time around and I was able to speed it up a bit. I ended up spending way more time on the colour testing, but as this piece was more complex than the last that is understandable. One more in the series to do. Thanks for looking!

If you're interested in a poster print of the above piece check out the link below, thanks!

Hypnotic Octopus with Anchors Poster
by Vorgus