'Discover' - Inktober 10/2

Notes on the design

Inktober 10/2 - "Discover"

Day 2 of the @jakeparker Inktober Challenge.

4H pencil sketched, inked in Sharpie and Micron pens on bank paper (digitized in Procreate.) Monoline and stippling are probably my two most go-to illustration styles.

When figurative drawing I've been practicing more with the 'glass mannequin' technique to help visualize the flowy shapes and proportions of the body. I feel like I end up with a semi-realistic, slightly exaggerated form that conveys the pose without being overly attached to accuracy.

The story behind the piece

I wanted to play on the idea of how much of our universe and consciousness is still hidden behind the curtain. Will we ever discover an answer to our most existential question: why are we here in the first place?

I was going to develop a story for this character but the anonymity and lack of detail creates the thrust of the idea: the 'endlessly curious but scared shitless' nature of humans to sneak a peek into the void; being called by the deep, darkness of space (literally and metaphorically.)

The figure has a robotic appearance that hints towards the future of our collective intelligence, and perhaps the spawning of a new one in the evolutionary tree.

The concept for this piece is inspired by past work from a couple of my favorite illustrators, @muretz and @markconlan.