The A.T.T. - Part 2 - The Maquette

At Goodwill you can get a "grab bag special," which is essentially a clear plastic bag for two bucks and as many broken toy parts you can cram into said bag. What you see on the left is the chaotic mess from one of these fun and hand-sanitizer-required-afterward expeditions.

James Gurney has been preaching about maquettes and their usefulness on his blog for ages. Although I had known about them in school, I'd never actually tried building one. With each new concept, I worked, re-worked... and kept re-working an illustration trying to capture something that I just could not translate without seeing it in the environment I was trying to illustrate. Using the maquette saved me a lot of valuable time because I could easily visualize what each shadow, or ray of light would look like because the photo reference for it was right there. Each illustration required less tweaking and I was able to complete them much quicker than with no reference.

When it came time to create the maquette of the A.T.T., I used the opportunity as another "sketching method." I still was not absolutely set on a design, and since I was creating it from scratch I had free range on experimenting. Using the interesting shapes of old toy parts, foam board, and other random materials, I was able to create my own Frankenstein of an Automated Torque Telegrapher. Once it was completely assembled, I painted it flat grey to make it appear more seamless, easier to capture shadows, and reflect light in photographs.

The fun thing about building maquettes is that you can be as precise or uncomplicated as you like. The ultimate goal is to get the information you need out of it, whether it be a certain pose, the perfect angle, or most importantly, how lighting and cast shadows fall on your subject. I've gotten quite a few miles out of just this one maquette. I've used it for several panels in the web comic as well as faux newspaper articles, and eventually I might make a "blueprint style" poster of the Automated Torque Telegrapher. Until then... it rests happily in my studio with all the other clutter of maquettes, books, and scribbles just waiting for the day I need to draw the A.T.T. once more.

In the next post, I'll share a few of the finished illustrations/designs that I have referenced this maquette for.

Until Then,

-b

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You can view the A.T.T. in action in the

Apparition Abolishers webcomic

See the sketches of the A.T.T. - HERE

For some of the very best tips and tricks of illustration art,
visit James Gurney's blog - GurneyJourney,