The Last Human "Adult Childrens Book"

**tjerkotten** · December 21st, 2008, 04:31 PM

Hi Everybody,

I am a 3D Artist, but i also produce other art including concept art.
Im currently working on a small project of mine that is called The Last Human.

The Main idea is to create a small book, about 15 to 20 pages, telling a story about a puppet that is called Human. Human is the main character of the story. It actually is a drawing puppet living on a robot planet, and he is the last repairman/robot engineer. With this ability he has to create and repair robots on that planet. Without human the planet and the metal beings on this planet would simply not survive.

While the whole aproach looks like its a childrens book, the illustrations should be more for grown people and the storyline should just be as easy to read for us than to children. Why do children love their books so much. Because there easy to read and there is alot of room to improvise and make your own story around it. When we read childrens book we can feel that same emotion, although the imagery is very thin and not bonding to the grown mind.

Thats why i want to create about 15 illustrations and create a small story around it. Because the illustration are more related to the adult mind, they can create an adult fantasy around that. So it should be a grown mans children book.

I will show the progression i make in creating the illustrations. They are made randomly, so there is no correct order in the beginning, storywhise. Hope you like it.

**tjerkotten** · December 21st, 2008, 04:36 PM

So this first image is giving us the main information on the concept. All the illustration will have a brown color scheme over it and will have the same drawing style.

This first picture shows us a flying machine robot that is looking for human. Human is walking around the dusty planet looking for tools and inspiration. This flying bot has to fly human home to his laboratory where he can work on new concepts.

This main land will be named " Adura Dessert " for now.

**kidult** · December 21st, 2008, 04:36 PM

Sounds interesting, just did a few kiddies books myself and found it tricky just to connect with them. Would love to see how you tackle a dual audience.

edit - just saw your last post - lovely colours and idea, not sure how kids would like this one, what age group are you aiming for?

**tjerkotten** · December 21st, 2008, 04:42 PM

This is the membrain. The Office of human. Its somewhere silent, where he can work in peace. All the supplies he needs to create robots are made in the factory, which is in the mainland city.

Human often gets outside to look at the stars through all the dust and sand he tries to get inspiration. He can feel alone sometimes too. There is no other intelligent being there to share his dreams. The robots are just programmed with the AI human gives them.

In the Office he is working on a large robot that should become his friend and his protorype robot for testing different materials. The large robot is called " '' Roy "

**tjerkotten** · December 21st, 2008, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by kidult

Sounds interesting, just did a few kiddies books myself and found it tricky just to connect with them...................

Well, its not really for children. It should be a childrens book for more adult people. Children read a childrens book before they go to bed to feel good. Childrens books show a storyline in a few pages and they can medidate when they go to sleep. Thats what i try to do here.

How about when you go to bed and you read an adult childrens book and dream or medidate on that. I call it an adult childrens book because its supposed to appeal to older people, while its as easy to read for us as real childrens books do for children. The illustrations should appeal to 17-36 years old people .

**a la bapsi** · December 21st, 2008, 04:51 PM

i'm in love with the first environment in this thread.
post again soon!
i wanna see how this story develops.

**tjerkotten** · December 21st, 2008, 04:58 PM

This is The Office from the inside. All the concepts are work in progress so i can change some things here and there. The Office is a place where you can feel like you are in a "earthly" home. Human should have some earth aspects in his heart, because he is made by a human being, lots and lots of years ago. When humans still were the center of the universe, not robots.

The Office has alot of aspects that we can refer to, candles, books, carpets, spare parts, etc. I also want to use some more red and yellow colors in here because this place has more happyness in it, than the outside world.

**tjerkotten** · December 21st, 2008, 05:03 PM

This is Roy. Here is human in the testing facility, to monitor how much heat the metal on roy can handle. He is using a magnifying glass to create warmth on roy. Again a primitive thing human learnt from the humans. Ill be working on the outside of the facility real soon. And ill work further on the other concepts.

**tjerkotten** · December 22nd, 2008, 02:34 AM

There is alot going on in this forum in can see. Alot of posts everyday. Its good to know that alot of people are working on art. Please tell me what you think of my pieces and perhaps share some new ideas.

Yesterday i got a new idea for a final concept and that is outside of the membrain. Human is working and he has a special piece of machinery that can catch the rainbow, and with the machine he can create colored paint, from that rainbow. And in that final piece he actually tries to make the brown ambient world into a colorfun peace. I have to sketch things out but i hope it works out....

**tjerkotten** · December 22nd, 2008, 03:30 AM

i updated my thumbnail picture.

**tjerkotten** · December 22nd, 2008, 07:40 AM

Here is an update for the office. I made some extra's and a home made chair. Hope you like it. Please comment.

**Professor Wagstaff** · December 23rd, 2008, 02:13 PM

Hey tjerkotten,
I'm liking your concepts, especially the one of Roy. Nice use of warm tones in the images. the office is looking good too, maybe a little work needed on the perspective of the desk on the right but thats a minor point. are we meant to see anything out the window?
keep posting buddy, looks like an interesting project!

**BubbaGump** · December 23rd, 2008, 02:38 PM

Very moody and atmospheric. I like it.

**Alex Hdez.** · December 23rd, 2008, 04:37 PM

Hey Tjerkotten....

I think the hole idea of the last human is great, the conceptart is really good, I like the way you use warm colors but maybe you can contrast warm colors with cold colors.

I watched your website and I think your work is awesome, I think you can make some 3d proxys with your concept art, combining 3d with your painting skills, I think that if you combine your 3d and 2d skills you can give a lot of more punch to the hole concept process.

My favorite pic is the one of the machine looking for humans.

Keep posting, I will really like to see the next ideas.

**tjerkotten** · December 24th, 2008, 01:34 AM

Originally Posted by Alex Hdez.

Hey Tjerkotten....

I think the hole idea of the last human is great, the conceptart is really good, I like the way you use warm colors but maybe you can contrast warm colors with cold colors.

I watched your website and I think your work is awesome, I think you can make some 3d proxys with your concept art, combining 3d with your painting skills, I think that if you combine your 3d and 2d skills you can give a lot of more punch to the hole concept process.........

Thats a good idea indeed. I am using 3D to test out scene's. See how light and shadows are supposed to fall and stuff. 3D is my skill, but im trying to get better in concept art to become better in 3D as well.Concept art is a more free artform and 3d can be very static.

I hope i can produce some of the illustrations from the last human in 3D as well. Thanks for comment

**tjerkotten** · December 24th, 2008, 02:07 AM

Here is an update of the office, i reworked some of the ceiling stuff. Still in progress, but i think its look better.

**Artist-Lounge** · December 24th, 2008, 11:49 AM

This is awesome .. I love your style a lot ..
The mood and the atmosphere is so nice in every and each one of your artworks.

**ReganArt** · December 24th, 2008, 12:21 PM

These are really good, I think your ideas are intriguing and the imagery has a strong feel-good vibe going on. I think you have managed to hit both the warm snuggly children's illustration ideals while making your images interesting enough for an adult to enjoy, well done!

I would agree with Alex Hdez about using some cooler colours in your palette to create some contrast and depth, also I notice in the office there are some perspective problems (also pointed out by Professor Wagstaff) in that I think the desk and the floor are aligned to different planes (maybe intentional?) and the desk end on the right is a little skewed.

Maybe making use of a perspective grid would help you to pin down those complex shapes, or probably even better, since you are a 3D artist, you could create placeholder shapes out of simple primitives in your 3D package of choice to approximate your scene, set up a camera and render a reference image from your chosen angle to get the perspective down. You could then use the render as an underlay to paint on.

Anyway, great work, keep 'em coming!

**Ayem** · December 25th, 2008, 06:51 AM

That seems like a really unique idea. I adore the colour schemes. Makes it seem more 'adulty' for lack of a better word. Also, the lighting is really good.

**tjerkotten** · February 18th, 2009, 05:00 AM

Its been a month or so, but here is another piece in the story. It is the basement underneath the office. There is a secret door underneath the carpets in the office which leads to all the files of Human. The files from concept design of robots, work orders etc. Its human his archive. Concept still in development.

comments always welcome and i hope you like it