#krovendraekk

[vannjaren]

Ok, so I may have mentioned to a few people that I’m re-making the 3D Krovendrakk sculpt from scratch. Because I’m an art-masochist apparently, ha...

But anyway, in accordance with the updates to the species’ anatomy and my improved understanding, the old model irked me A LOT. Even at these very early stages I can see a big difference with this one.

Muscle details are still very basic here esp. on the hindlegs - but the major muscle groups are at least blocked out. His head is already sculpted as in a previous post, here he really just needs feet, a tail, and more details on his body - though the basic shape is correct and done.

Partly posting this to prove I’m not 100% dead...

For those unfamiliar with Krovens, see my deviantArt gallery on Krovendraekk.

[vannjaren]

An unexpected WIP drop...

So, long story short - as I’ve been too braindead to paint lately, I have still been working on some things - the Kroven animations for one, but I’ve also kinda dropped back into Sculpting a bit with Sculptris. ^^ Have decided, amongst a few other thingies, to re-do my Kroven model afterall, the old one was just TOO outdated and inaccurate, plus as my first sculpt, I had no real idea what I was doing then. XD 

(I still don’t, but my flailing is at least somewhat more competent 8′D)

Anyway, whilst I haven’t re-made the full-body model (YET), I have re-sculpted the head pretty much, using the old one as a base (though I sculpted over so much of it that I almost may as well have started again from scratch :’D).

He doesn’t have ears yet - I took them off the old one since they were distracting and got in the way of re-sculpting the head, and it wouldn’t take much effort just to make a new set of ears. Also, I think this could be kinda useful to, to see without ears and get a clearer view of the headshape maybe. So yeah, given the updated anatomy drawings I’ve been doing lately, I figured now was as good a time as any to remake the face - neck still needs work and this isn’t 100% finished, but the head is pretty much accurate now (and actually has freakin’ facial muscles that are correct, unlike the old blobby rough sculpt which also had fail-proportions/balance... like way too much difference between the forehead depth and muzzle depth.) Also hopefully now the not-a-dog status will be clearer. XD

So have some WIPs of the new head, compared to the head of the old model... the full-body will be redone eventually as well. This is a fairly standard Kroven, not of a particular clan... sorta Rheinon-y with a hint of Renvor perhaps but good for facial structure example of the species in general. 

[vannjaren]

Time for another Krovendrakk gait animation! Well, another WIP at least - and a rough one at that. *for those unfamiliar with Krovens - my species, see the Kroven folder in my deviantArt gallery for more info. And NOPE, these guys are NOT canids - much as I like canids I don’t like Krovens being mistaken for them.*

This one gave me a fair bit of bother plus I didn’t have my tablet over the last few days and won’t have it for another week since I’m at home now. So had to do some of the last parts and tweaking etc. with a mouse - so not exactly the neatest. ^^’ Will clean up later anyway... and make the proportions more consistent and correct etc.

Still, here is the animation of right and left lead double-suspension rotary gallop - one of the faster gaits though in this case still not sprinting - that will come later - and is basically the same gait but faster and more extreme in extension and contraction.

Though even here when not sprinting fully, you can get an idea of the stride-length and ground-cover here, the legs may not be “swinging” that fast but you can follow the paws and stride going rather quickly indeed...

Next to come will probably be foxtrot perhaps... yeah, a lot of moving wiggly noodles on my Tumblr now. XD

[vannjaren]

And now the next WIP (well, technically WIPS) of my series of Krovendrakk gait animations. (for those who don’t know Krovens - see my dA gallery and my tags here on Tumblr. Partly alien predatory vertebrate species *typically not headless or tailless like here. :’D* They have some superficial similarities to mammals since they are partly derived from a since-extinct therapsid, but are not mammals - and most certainly not canids. In short - #notafeckin’dog)

Anyway, this is an early WIP of transverse canter - right and left lead. (ha, I could have been lazy and just flipped after drawing the first one, but I want for all of the animations to be facing the same direction when I make the big compilation, so I did it this way). 

Still very early, and this one gave me quite some bother in the process for some reason (ah, symmetrical/mirrored gaits are so much easier XD), I need to sort out the inconsistent proportions and of course add a lot more detail and add the muscle definition, so for now is just the movement - but hopefully not looking too bad.

Canter is sort of a medium-speed animation - strides are somewhat longer than those of a horse with a slightly longer suspension phase (3 frames out of the 16 here are fully airborne), so still covers a fair bit of ground despite looking fairly slow in motion. Certainly not a sprinting gait etc. but decent for travelling longer distances fairly efficiently.

Will work on this more in future... and also will hopefully start work on the dreaded double-suspension rotary gallop, haha, that’ll be “fun”... *explosions of legs everywhere*

Any suggestions for improvement are VERY welcome in this initial WIP stage! ^^ (better now than later when I get to adding more detail)

That’s it for now then, have some cantering dressage-worthy(hopefully :’D) noodles...

[vannjaren]

Ok, kinda random...

... but I've been wondering lately if it's possible for Krovens to acquire vitiligo or something like it. I've never seen an albino and I don't know if that is possible in Krovens, but I'm not sure if acquired depigmentation could be possible. Kroven eyelids, lips, noses etc. are typically black, occasionally liver-brown(like Kiri) and sometimes blue-grey(like Morwen) - but NEVER naturally pink. But I wonder, perhaps with a vitiligo-like condition... ? Have seen a glimpse of an individual that's otherwise dark but has a mostly white face (irregular and asymmetrical white bit) and appears to have a pink nose. O.o Not sure if they'll stick around or if I get to know them, but it certainly raises the question...