Weightless Breakfast (click for DA version)

Excerpt from Shrike (monologue):

"Breakfast in zero-G comes with its own rituals. When tired and hardly awake everyone does it their own way.

Some line up their foodstuffs in perfect rows, take them one by one so as to keep tabs of crumbs and avoid having to think too much.
Others keep it simple - stick to just one pack of coffee and go from there.
Yet others do it sequentially - they take one piece from the locker, eats it, stoves it away, goes for the next. Very neat and tidy.

... I tend to use the "random debris cloud" method myself ... And I always wear my old red bathrobe too. People sometimes tell me that a long, loose robe is probably the most impractical thing you can ever bring into space. Only thing more impractical is having long hair...

... Bah. People have no sense of style."


Study (and text) from Shrike. Made for and inspired by a Deviant-Deadlines challenge with the theme "Breakfast" (link)

MyPaint + GIMP, some 10 hours or so.
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Griatch

Crap, and I thought my waffle sketch was good.

Nice work as always; damnit.

bravo! Good god that's awesome.

You need to tell her to fold her clothes next time Griatch. lol

Well done as always and thanks for sharing.

A zero gravity breakfast with style. Love it. Looks like fun!

I saw a video yesterday of a girl on a roller coaster.
She was puking in a bag and right at the moment of vomiting...she went zero-g.
Everything in the face.I laughed so hard.So did her boyfriend sitting next to her.

All kidding aside - this is a great image.The lighting is superb, and i get the sense of an opened door to the left?
Who is floating in?Perhaps it is someone wearing gravity boots, and walking in.

I love breakfast in bed! Though i would rather keep to the ground while consuming it.

Griatch as always an excellent piece of artwork.
Congrats.

Thanks for the comments! As maybe hinted at in other images of her, this character is really quite vain.

@demen, tstandiford
Thanks.

@lylejk:
Yes, weightlessness does give a different meaning to the term "messy room"

@Oregonian
Yes, fun but probably quite messy until you really learn the ropes. Imagine just accidentally getting into a spin in the midst of all that stuff ...

@Rod
Ouch, yes puking in zero-G is not a good idea I imagine! Although it would not come back in your face there though since you "eject" it with some force. Rather it would drift off like a large nasty blob and eventually smear on the walls of your cabin ...
It's intentionally hard to see details about her cabin, but it's an open drawer on her left. The whole cabin can be seen in this image here (the background is mirrored however in this image to make for a better composition, so her bed area drapery is on the right)

Griatch, you are just awesome! The image actually gives you the sense of weightlessness and that must be tough to actually capture in just one frame. Good job!

Unless you suddenly went from zero-g to not very suddenly.Which is exactly what happened.
It was essentially perfect timing on the roller coasters part.

Nice work, as always.

Just a little curious as to why you tend to use the same subject in many of your works of art. Is there a reason for that?

I'm glad to hear it! I had most trouble with the pose this time actually, that squat turned out to not be trivial to get right. :)
Hehe, yes that'd do it!


This is a good question. The various subjects I often reprise are parts of larger works and stories of mine. I grab scenes from them and make them into full paintings. Due to a busy life I don't often find time to develop many of these larger-scale stories in-depth at the moment, hence the images I do tend to show off snippets from them - usually things I can finish in one or two sittings. This way I can delve into these worlds and gradually clarify them to myself while not committing to the long time it takes to develop the continuous story. Shrike - references to humanity is for example a long-running sci-fi comic project of mine. Where Red Apples Lie is a novel I wrote more than a decade ago and which I plan to make into a graphical novel. The "Jester" series is originally from roleplaying scenarios, as are the dragons and trolls I've done over the years.

There is a more practical reason as well. Whereas referencing my own stories like this supply me with near endless ideas for images, there is a thought behind it training-wise. Using the same subject is actually harder for me than creating a completely new character. A new character is, well, new. Noone knows how they are supposed to look so you have near-infinite freedom. Redoing a previous character on the other hand adds complexity - it must still look (and more importantly feel) like the same person despite them showing a very different expression/emotion or being displayed as being in very different circumstances. I also try to do more and more complex poses so as to show the same character in different ways yet still remaining recognizable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's very good training nevertheless.

That's not to say I don't do one-off "concept" images now and then too. Or try new things. It's nice to work without limitations sometimes. But that's the best answer I can give to your question anyway.
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Griatch

That makes perfect sense now that you've explained it. I had wondered if some of the subjects were based on someone you know. I can certainly see how using the same subject could be more constraining than creating a new character.

I am very messy but she beat me i never was able to make my mess float and spread so nicely in a 3D space

Very well done, and quite original as style and subject

Wonderful, wonderful image! But I'm gonna make crits anyway.

First, standard warning for crits: I could not make better image, these are just observations.

Lighting to legs & feet come from different angle than to upper body. Feet are in a bit awkward position. I was going to mention strangeness in the face area also, but zero-g probably *would* have an effect to face too...

But, as it is, it is very striking and efficien image.

@Photocomix:
Thanks! Yes she's quite messy isn't she?

@GnuTux:
Yeah basing it on someone I know might be another way. I try to avoid that though, too many potential sources of headaches.


Great feedback, thanks!

Good point about the lighting of the legs, I added a light edge to her right calf to separate it, should have been a dark shade instead! Should hopefully be better now. I don't think I agree on the feet, she's basically rubbing them against each other so we are seeing a transitional position there - but I see what you mean, it's not the normal rested position. I also tweaked her face a bit based on other comments, take a look.

Thanks again kimppi, feedback like this is always greatly appreciated.
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Griatch

Even better! You remind me of my great "senseis" of computer graphics, neither of them is active in public forums, unfortunately. I wish I would have your dedication... But, well done, beautiful image.

I just love that sig of yours Griatch.

Just saw that you have tutorials too...That really makes me happy. I've been looking for someone to help me learn how to actually paint with gimp. You're a saint.

@kimppi:
Good to hear it looks better now, thanks again.

@Rod:
Heh, I sometimes get stuck waiting for her to pop up myself...

@tstandiford
I have made a whole bunch of tutorials over the years, hopefully you can find something to help you out.
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Griatch