ART CHALLENGE: JANUARY-JUNE 2020
Polar OPS Mission (work-in-progress)
Inktober 52 : January - June 2020
Something new for 2020. #Inktober52 Art Challenge.
Inktober52 - I am going to illustrate/write a rough story in 52 weeks.
A prompt each Thursday from Mr. Jake Parker for 52 weeks.
I am going to write/illustrate a rough story in 26 or 52 weeks. No idea what the prompt word is until Thursday and no idea where the story will lead. Wish me luck. Oh, and it is going to be a space opera starring a polar bear and penguin. This might be ridiculous and frustrating but what the heck. Maybe i’ll even tie one of my hands behind my back for good measure.
Music inspires my work, so I have added some of the songs and parts of the lyrics that I was listening to while creating these paintings.
You can see my #inktober52 artwork also on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/derekmoorhouse/
CHALLENGE UPDATE NOTE March:
After working on this challenge for 2 months, I have come to the conclusion that my weekly storyline may not be totally linear. At the end of the year I will have to edit the story narrative. Making sense of nonsense…still fun.
CHALLENGE UPDATE NOTE July:
Halfway point (6 months). I plan to continue this project at a later date. Too busy with other projects at this time but I would like to revisit Pol and Pen soon.
Rough lunchtime thumbnail sketches on post-it notes for Inktober52.
Pencil rough of title page. WIP.
Pencil roughs of Polar OPS Mission logo. WIP.
To help me visualize to rocket configuration little better, I decided to sketch out a rough of the ship and then build the rocket in illustrator as a reference element.
Rough sketch of rocket that I later scanned and built in adobe illustrator.
Adobe illustrator rendering of rocket ship from top, side front and back.
JANUARY
Week 1: flight
Captain P. O'Beare & Lieutenant Commander Penelope (Penny or Pen) Guin received their flight instructions from Admiral JP. The one year Polar OPS Mission begins.
“Oh starlight, star bright
You've got the lovin' that I like all right
Turn this crazy bird around
I shouldn't have got on this flight tonight”
1970; Writer/s Joni Mitchell
Album: Blue
Song: This Flight Tonight
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of flight. Capt P O'Beare & LCdr P Guin start mission.
Week 2: shadow
After leaving earth’s orbit, they headed to the shadow side of the moon.
“Oh, I'm bein' followed by a moonshadow, moon shadow, moonshadow
Leapin and hoppin' on a moonshadow, moonshadow, moonshadow”
1971; Writer/s Islam Yusuf (Cat Stevens)
Album: Teaser And The Firecat
Song: Moonshadow
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of shadow. Over the moon.
Week 3: brick
Plenty of fish and bricks of cheese were stored in the galley.
“Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road”
1973; Writer/s Elton John/Bernie Taupin
Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Song: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of brick. Brick of cheese and fish.
Week 4: snake
Capt O’Beare managed to snake around the space junk and…
“This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
She knows”
1969; Writer/s David Bowie
Album: David Bowie
Song: Space Oddity
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of snake. Snake around the space junk.
Week 5: balloon
…passed the lost balloon and kite coral.
In May 1966, Moon and Who bassist John Entwistle recorded the instrumental "Beck's Bolero" with Page, John Paul Jones and Jeff Beck. The track came out well, and they tossed around the idea of forming a new band. Moon allegedly said the band would go over like a lead balloon. Page remembered the joke two years later when he created Led Zeppelin.
“Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace
Like thoughts inside a dream
Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream
My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again
Sure as the dust that floats high in June, when movin' through Kashmir”
1975; Writer/s Jimmy Page, Robert Plant with contributions from John Bonham
Album: Physical Graffiti
Song: Kashmir
Pen & Sharpie. Lunch break rough thumbnail of balloons. Lost balloon and kite coral.
FEBRUARY
Week 6: hammer
The H.A.M.M.E.R. Lunar Space Station was coming into range. (Admiral JP is a little trick this week)
Hyper-velocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response (HAMMER) is a concept study by NASA on a spacecraft (8 tonnes) capable of detonating a nuclear bomb to deflect an asteroid, if it was on a collision course to Earth. The study is a collaboration between the National Nuclear Security Administration, NASA, and two Energy Department weapons labs.
Listening to Fleetwood Mac and ZZ Top when I created this painting. (FM) Tusk, Big Love, Dreams, The Chain, and (ZZ) La Grange.
Pen & Sharpie. Lunch break rough thumbnail of hammer. Hammer lunar space station or spaceship.
Pen sketch on watercolour paper for space station.
Week 7: dinner
The crew enjoys dinner time. It is a social event where thoughts and experiences are shared. Space is a fascinating place.
Pen & Sharpie. Lunch break rough thumbnail of dinner. Rocket passing through the teeth of a space creature.
Week 8: spider
Our crew headed for the Red Spider Nebula located near the heart of the Milky Way, in the northwest of the constellation Sagittarius.
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of spider nebula.
Week 9: wave
Just a light year from the outer edge of the nebula the rocket was caught up into a massive gravitational wave. Throwing it off course several light years.
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of massive gravitational wave.
MARCH
Week 10: elf
They are rescued by an alien race not to dissimilar from a mythical elf. A race of space elves living in a fluctuating ocean of gravitational waves.
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of elf planet.
Week 11: tower
They fly past the great tower of Alfheim in the distances.
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of elf planet tower mountain.
Week 12: elephant
Right pass an elephant-shaped rock outcropping.
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of an elephant-shaped rock outcropping.
Week 13: joy
The crew was joyful when they made landfall more or less intact.
Pencil. Rough thumbnail of crash landing.
During the work day, I sketch little thumbnails on post-it notes.
Elf planet environment thumbnail sketches.
Sketchbook layout of roughs.
APRIL
Week 14: green
A green plume of burning rocket fuel rose above them. They managed to land the ship but at what cost.
Pencil. Rough thumbnail for green (week 14) and red (week 15) word prompts.
This character may show up in the story something. He was a doodle on the rough paper.
More characters that may appear in the story.
Week 15: red
They were on the edge of a canyon towering over a red river.
Week 16: blue
The NavMonitor displayed a distant settlement many kilometres west of their location. The possible mouth the red river?
Pencil. Rough thumbnail for blue (week 16) and yellow (week 17) word prompts.
Week 17: yellow
The yellow desert lay ahead. This was going to take some time to cross.
MAY
Week 18: train
Lt Cdr. Pen trained her eyes on the surrounding terrain. Capt. Pol looked at the damaged ship. What could they salvage for their long journey to civilization.
Pencil. Rough thumbnail for train (week 18 & 19) word prompts.
Week 19: pray mantis
Time to unpack the lunar all-terrain mantid also known as the Praying Mantis.
Rough ink work to be transferred to watercolour paper.
My desk in May after working on weeks of inktober prompts and 2 other illustrations for a children’s book idea.
Week 20: bubbles
A cloud bank of bubbles rapidly forms in the valley. They obscured the river and any chance of seeing their way down the dangerous cliff walls.
Week 21: robot
They decided to launch the robotic drone into the red bubbles. "Is it safe to travel or should we find shelter?" Said Pen.
Week 22 - 25: stranded - shell - puppet - lunar
They were stranded. The red bubbles slowly engulfed the lunar mantis shell. Lt Cdr. Penn calmly operated the drone controls like a puppet master.
Week 26: 6 months
Lunar all-terrain mantid at half power. “How are we doing with the drone, Pen?”
