Behind The Scenes: Breaking Bad Illustration (Patreon)

What I like to do in cases like this, is to challenge myself and make it not only about the content, but the techniques as well. So if there are things I'm trying to learn, or try something new, it's a great motivation tool to suddenly feel like doing the thing on the waitlist.

Breaking Bad RV van is one of those things for me. I love the show and always wanted to do my own tribute to the magnificent Fleetwood RV.  I was a bit dry on new ideas this week, so I thought I could try some Substance Painter stuff again, push myself a bit and create a new semi-realistic diorama.

Visit the full Pinboard here

The search for the references was pretty straightforward here. But at the same time, I had to go through a lot of references to get all the angles, versions and moods of the parked RV to get the overall look and feel reference I was going for.

It was nothing revolutionary, I knew from the start, that I'm going for parked and "cooking" vehicle in the middle of nowhere. But how does the middle of nowhere looks? Is is desert? Is there some grass, plants? Can I use cacti?

Other part of the reference search was some topology reference. I knew for sure, there are multiple artists, who already made the RV, so why not  to get inspired by their methodology. It's a great way to break from your modeling habits and again, try something new.

You might think, that the sketch is a bit redundant in this case, but I like to proceed with sketching even if the model and idea is crystal (no pun intended) clear.

First thing, I wanted to see in the sketch is overall layout and if I can make the scene work in diorama format. Maybe it will feel empty and I need to thing about a scenario, that would be more interesting and engaging.

The other thing is, when you draw something, you really get to know it. By recreating the RV, you get a glimpse of the potential geometry caveats and proportional issues. And you learn, where and how are all the details placed and it makes you think about their purpose, overall build and material.

Think of it as scanning the object into your mind in details :)

You can watch the process video on Youtube.
 

So that's it for the latest illustration and I hope it will help you with your own work.

See you in the next one! :)