Some really freaking awesome stuff shaping up I must say!
As for me I haven't had too much time to work the last two days but I did get the arm moved, made some changes to the sword that I'm not sure I like, added a toothy dragon to the flag that needs to some how be made cooler, and some other random junk added.
Finished working on my piece. A bit of a heartbreak after loosing my high res version.
Uploaded.
Wow, wicked-J. Did your piece just get larger in scale? I hope you have enough time to finish! I have a feeling there will be many people with sore 'Wacom' thumbs come Monday night.
So, this is where I quit. The thing just didn't work for me, fighting me on every step, shame the concept is nice, but well. Just to show where I left it.
gavku: he rocks. love the grisly textures and the weaving strands of muscle. use the liquify tool to get some volume back into him.
pestibug: sorry to see it didn't work out, it is a pretty neat piece. i have lots of trouble too making a piece work that just came together ad hoc. laying down a broad impression of the entire piece will save you a lot of pain next time
jeffMD: nice update kabayan! maybe change up his proportions a bit to give him a more commanding stature? he reads more like a regular trooper to me at the moment.
eventide: that's a pretty nifty armor design, and it works fairly well as a portrait. her pose and expression don't give away much about her intention or personality though, which i think are all important for this type of image. an embarassing trick i use is to try to think like the character and act out a pose in real life.
magicsugar: that's a neat idea. i do think it wouldn't hurt to crop in closer around foreground figures. you'll have enough info in the background to suggest the structure, army, and depth of the scene without having to draw them out entirely.
rens: it's a bit painful watching your painting develop in such tiny areas, while others are left almost completely neglected work broad dude...
wicked-j: i really like the design on this guy. i get almost a roman feeling from the pose and composition (and ok, the toga ) but i think it's too centered, there's not enough breathing room at the top, and the patterns keep shooting my eye out of the picture. every mark should direct your eye to another point of interest in the image, try looking at it fresh and feel where your eye is led.
ged: looking good man, only thing that really pops out is how low his fleshy arm is now. some dim cold secondary light coming from the left of the image would be cool. also, try to use the direction of the strokes in the background to contain the viewer's eye inside the image.
GCMP: try laying down the large and medium forms before diving into detail. good progress though, keep it going!
zatoichi: he looks like a cocky bastard, love it. the placement of the text is distracting though...
jackwhat: love it man. he has an interesting expression on him. could the eyes be more milky or something? can't wait to see the next update. not too hot, needs more cool...so which one is it?
coldkodiak: wow man, it's turning out great! not related, but i really admire how structured your workflow is. the perspective of her torso seems at odds with the torso though.
war destroyer: nice. update please
keen: good stuff so far! try to feel the volume of the shapes you're painting in 3D space while you lay them down. the direction of your strokes should reinforce the idea that the picture isn't just shapes sitting on a 2D plane.
gux: love her really a fun piece so far, nice design and palette too.
funshark: good stuff so far. he looks very regal. can't wait for the update.
nucleartes: really fun watching your piece develop! keep it coming.
yunsama: have to agree with jessemoody, not sure what the piece or design are trying to say.
xysdf: your silence is unbearable. i need to see how this guy turns out pls
doc_rob: very cool!
extreme surfer: what can i say, steampunk ftw. interesting looking character, and nice image so far.
mezz: she looks downright nasty, i'm completely convinced that she's a tyrant. good leap into going more painterly too, can't wait to see the update. i think she needs a bit more warm vs. cool in the shadows and highlights.
loch: cool piece, very moody and sinister. i think it goes to black way too much, that her elbow gets lost. the bg probably doesn't need to be as contrasty as the character herself. what's walrus's workflow?
peppi: i'm in suspense waiting for your update.
beluosus: interesting guy. coldkodiak's said everything you need to hear..can't wait to see the udpate.
um. i've got feedback fatigue.
here's my release candidate. just need to need to get the contrast and saturation issues sorted out before i hand it in:
Thanks for the advice Snowfly, I'm not sure I'll be able to change that problem much at this point with how much time I'll have to work, we'll see. Funny thing is I'll do the embarrassing stuff when I animate, don't know why I don't with my drawings... I'll definitely have to start
hahaha!! my day started pretty much like that, though switching to beer at midday and some malibu is also a very nice, iz very very nize. (yes no habit of mine)
yea i've been drawing all freakn day, going to boost till the sun rises again.
will hit you guys hard in the morning, dont worry
wow... great finish snowfly!
coldkodiac - sweeeet - very nice work! finish it
and all the others - thumbs up! may the final strokes hit the canvas before the deadline :poly124:
i'm near the end.. some stuff is left to detail and a final lookover for values or whatsoeever, but now i need a shower
Started this shit way to late, Sigh.. well, its a WIP, so I might be able to finish it up tomorrow, but don't carry high hopes !
I was planning some evil redhead but her face turned to male like so I'm having a horrible time ahead into turning her more female like. I also wanted to give her a mechanical arm (gives history to the character - she has been in battle often and the arm is her gift from a life or war)
hey evil, beautiful design as always. i hope you finish it eventually, dom war or not, as i'm enjoying it a lot even at this stage.
oh and magicsugar, forgot to comment on how at odds the general's stance is with what's going on with the robot. it's way too stable and planted for being inside something that's obviously in mid motion, and it's hard to picture how the surface he's standing on fits with it. maybe try a few loose studies to resolve that before locking it down with detail.
here's a quick stab at it:
the composition's really rocking though, good job with that.
eventide - just wanted to post this, some random problem solving for about 20 mins on your painting. it's all just spontaneous fixes so, ignore what you like.
nice design and composition evil - go for a finish!
so finally the moment came that i say its finished. it was a total challenge for me, first i havent done a finished personal piece since ages which is more then a sketch, then colors - its still a bit wonky i guess they are very new to me to use for illustration purposes, composition (still have no total clue about it..), design, and once again moving out of sketching phase... So i am happy now that i have gone through all that struggles! i learned a ton...
I would have liked to post some cool feedback on some of you guys like for example snowfly managed very well (awesome job, coldkodiak u too), by now it would have just confused you
Good luck everyone finishing his entries!! im done, now some sleep...
pure class xysdf... :O i love how understated it is, the general himself really comes through with a lot of punch. i'm in the same boat as you, long drought of doing paintings, but i haven't been as diligent with keeping up with sketching as you. the practice really shows man, awesome piece. probably my favorite piece from polycount. love the sparkling palette and the oily rendering...bravo dude.
I've been having some connection problem lately so I couldn't post in the past few days. Anyway, here are my progresses:
First of all I went back and redesigned my general's outfit since I received some comments that she doesn't really look like a general but more of an average soldier. I sketched up a few more designs and decided to go with the pirate look... I think it's the hat that made me picked it ^^
This is just an add-on version of the original outfit.
The pirate outfit... Too bad though that the final work would just show her top part.
This is the work in progress for the final piece, which I have decided to go with the half-body portrait instead of full-body since I want to show off her best part which is her face basically.
I also made some more changes to her outfit: giving her a stitched-skeletal shoulder plate and alter her coat a little, leaving the zipper out and replaced it with traditional buttons.
Here is the final piece which I'm going to submit in the competition. I went through some color testing, at first going for a lively and vibrant theme... but it didn't work at all. After that I went for a more dark and macabre theme which suits her expression well (in which I gave her a make-up to fit the dark theme even more).
I'm quite satisfied with the way this turned out, so I would really appreciate if you guys can give me comments and criticisms, letting me know what you think and what I can do to improve my work. Thanks guys!
I'm posting progress with changes, but I'm gonna make further changes. My roommate thought his nose was an eye, so I'll be bringing the nose down. That's what I get for trying to be too original heheh.
Nice. Now that it's working I'm going to withdraw from the competition lol.
EDIT: Change the "2" to a "3" in the image link to see the resulting drawing. I should have listened to my gut, which told me to leave the nose well enough alone. Bah!
Thanks for the comments guys, unfortunately there's not enough time to revise my work and I had to go ahead and finished it.
This is the final piece in which I made the uniform to be more general-like by adding in accessories like medallion and such. Also about the horn, I already merged it in the same layer and found it difficult to correct it in time so I kept it as planned originally. So this is it, thanks again everyone and good luck to all!
Got at least 3 more hours in my time zone so I think I can still throw another texture pass.
Snow, man. Tried your suggestion but I keep getting a gay vibed pose (don't have time to undo my paintjob commitment). I follow what you're saying though.
another pass on general finneadeus bloodington, getting pretty busy. probably did alot more experimenting that i needed to but i had a great time and will be wrapping it up soon.
so it's general finneadeus bloodington the bloodinator. high blood champion of bloodtuar.
tried to whip up some of the colors. and gotta sex up the border
Well I'm going to call it, I'm tired and wont get much more time to work. I tried to give the face a bit more emotion than it had, added a whole lot of shiny and some other things. I must say this has been quite fun and quite the learning experience. Hopefully I'll have time for the next challenges as well for attempts 2 and 3. Thanks for all the help that was given(Mezz and Snowfly especially) next time I'll shoot for a bit more dynamic... also awesome work everyone! Here is my final:
there are some sweeeeeet pieces coming out of this. the voting is gonna be hard. xysdf...that makes me really happy. docrob, dude, soooo awesome. cold, that is coming out kind of eerie
ok, here is my post. enough hugs
CRITS
jouste- your lines on that piece have a lot of form to them, but you lose that when you start painting. i usually start with a really dark color overall, and only paint where the light is hitting. this will automatically give you cast shadows (which is one of my biggest weaknesses...that and kryptonite).
namuro- you need to study form a bit more to pull off what you are trying to pull off there. and real reference, not other anime. everything is coming across as flat in that image. it looks like you are either using dodge and burn for your lights and darks, or you are using straight black and white. these are both ways to lose a lot of life in your piece. for highlights i like to sample the color of the object, lighten it a little and add a smidgen of yellow or something warm. this will give you a nice warm glow to your piece. if you have good reference you can sample colors straight off of that.
magic sugar- really cool piece, it doesnt seem very focused on the general though. looks more like a poster for the sequel to robot jox. your color choices are very sega genesis, its like old contra or smash tv.
So I haven't been on my computer all weekend and am just catching up now--amazing work on here!!! Seriously, wow.
I'm a little confused now though... everyone is acting like its over, or just ending, but the official site says 'March 2nd, 11:59pm EST' Sooooo... doesn't that mean we have until tomorrow night? (Well, technically until the end of today, it's kinda 2:30 am here :P)
My point being, I haven't worked on my piece since I got fed up with her on Thursday, and now I'm thinking maybe I'll put forth my last bit of effort to get something done tomorrow. BUT, I'm getting confused, is it already too late...? Am I misunderstanding something on the site?
Good luck to all who entered! I can't wait to do some voting--but how to choose??
Kick it mezz, you got quite some hours remaining, if not to finish, just to push yourself,
its great to see if you can find ways to improve, it did make me go crazy last night, but it worked, (the last couple hours were a waste though.)
Replies
As for me I haven't had too much time to work the last two days but I did get the arm moved, made some changes to the sword that I'm not sure I like, added a toothy dragon to the flag that needs to some how be made cooler, and some other random junk added.
Uploaded.
Wow, wicked-J. Did your piece just get larger in scale? I hope you have enough time to finish! I have a feeling there will be many people with sore 'Wacom' thumbs come Monday night.
cheers!
So, this is where I quit. The thing just didn't work for me, fighting me on every step, shame the concept is nice, but well. Just to show where I left it.
Everyone else, good luck!
pestibug: sorry to see it didn't work out, it is a pretty neat piece. i have lots of trouble too making a piece work that just came together ad hoc. laying down a broad impression of the entire piece will save you a lot of pain next time
jeffMD: nice update kabayan! maybe change up his proportions a bit to give him a more commanding stature? he reads more like a regular trooper to me at the moment.
eventide: that's a pretty nifty armor design, and it works fairly well as a portrait. her pose and expression don't give away much about her intention or personality though, which i think are all important for this type of image. an embarassing trick i use is to try to think like the character and act out a pose in real life.
magicsugar: that's a neat idea. i do think it wouldn't hurt to crop in closer around foreground figures. you'll have enough info in the background to suggest the structure, army, and depth of the scene without having to draw them out entirely.
rens: it's a bit painful watching your painting develop in such tiny areas, while others are left almost completely neglected
wicked-j: i really like the design on this guy. i get almost a roman feeling from the pose and composition (and ok, the toga
ged: looking good man, only thing that really pops out is how low his fleshy arm is now. some dim cold secondary light coming from the left of the image would be cool. also, try to use the direction of the strokes in the background to contain the viewer's eye inside the image.
GCMP: try laying down the large and medium forms before diving into detail. good progress though, keep it going!
zatoichi: he looks like a cocky bastard, love it. the placement of the text is distracting though...
jackwhat: love it man. he has an interesting expression on him. could the eyes be more milky or something? can't wait to see the next update. not too hot, needs more cool...so which one is it?
coldkodiak: wow man, it's turning out great! not related, but i really admire how structured your workflow is. the perspective of her torso seems at odds with the torso though.
war destroyer: nice. update please
keen: good stuff so far! try to feel the volume of the shapes you're painting in 3D space while you lay them down. the direction of your strokes should reinforce the idea that the picture isn't just shapes sitting on a 2D plane.
gux: love her
funshark: good stuff so far. he looks very regal. can't wait for the update.
nucleartes: really fun watching your piece develop! keep it coming.
yunsama: have to agree with jessemoody, not sure what the piece or design are trying to say.
xysdf: your silence is unbearable. i need to see how this guy turns out pls
doc_rob: very cool!
extreme surfer: what can i say, steampunk ftw. interesting looking character, and nice image so far.
mezz: she looks downright nasty, i'm completely convinced that she's a tyrant. good leap into going more painterly too, can't wait to see the update. i think she needs a bit more warm vs. cool in the shadows and highlights.
loch: cool piece, very moody and sinister. i think it goes to black way too much, that her elbow gets lost. the bg probably doesn't need to be as contrasty as the character herself. what's walrus's workflow?
peppi: i'm in suspense waiting for your update.
beluosus: interesting guy. coldkodiak's said everything you need to hear..can't wait to see the udpate.
um. i've got feedback fatigue.
here's my release candidate. just need to need to get the contrast and saturation issues sorted out before i hand it in:
love your creation, galing!
here is another update for me
cheers!
Here's an update. Painting is under way but I don't know if I'll be able to finish. Ugg!
Update for me. Lots of details to tighten, not sure about how the background should look yet.
Great work guys.
hahaha!! my day started pretty much like that, though switching to beer at midday and some malibu is also a very nice, iz very very nize. (yes no habit of mine)
yea i've been drawing all freakn day, going to boost till the sun rises again.
will hit you guys hard in the morning, dont worry
coldkodiac - sweeeet - very nice work! finish it
and all the others - thumbs up! may the final strokes hit the canvas before the deadline :poly124:
i'm near the end.. some stuff is left to detail and a final lookover for values or whatsoeever, but now i need a shower
Started this shit way to late, Sigh.. well, its a WIP, so I might be able to finish it up tomorrow, but don't carry high hopes
I was planning some evil redhead but her face turned to male like so I'm having a horrible time ahead into turning her more female like. I also wanted to give her a mechanical arm (gives history to the character - she has been in battle often and the arm is her gift from a life or war)
oh and magicsugar, forgot to comment on how at odds the general's stance is with what's going on with the robot. it's way too stable and planted for being inside something that's obviously in mid motion, and it's hard to picture how the surface he's standing on fits with it. maybe try a few loose studies to resolve that before locking it down with detail.
here's a quick stab at it:
the composition's really rocking though, good job with that.
eventide - just wanted to post this, some random problem solving for about 20 mins on your painting. it's all just spontaneous fixes so, ignore what you like.
so finally the moment came that i say its finished. it was a total challenge for me, first i havent done a finished personal piece since ages which is more then a sketch, then colors - its still a bit wonky i guess they are very new to me to use for illustration purposes, composition (still have no total clue about it..), design, and once again moving out of sketching phase... So i am happy now that i have gone through all that struggles! i learned a ton...
I would have liked to post some cool feedback on some of you guys like for example snowfly managed very well (awesome job, coldkodiak u too), by now it would have just confused you
Good luck everyone finishing his entries!! im done, now some sleep...
Home stretch.
@ Jeff MD : love it!
@ xysdf : love that reflection, looks pristine:thumbup:
Not sure if I can finish this, 6 hours so far...
*had a rethink
First of all I went back and redesigned my general's outfit since I received some comments that she doesn't really look like a general but more of an average soldier. I sketched up a few more designs and decided to go with the pirate look... I think it's the hat that made me picked it ^^
This is just an add-on version of the original outfit.
The pirate outfit... Too bad though that the final work would just show her top part.
I also made some more changes to her outfit: giving her a stitched-skeletal shoulder plate and alter her coat a little, leaving the zipper out and replaced it with traditional buttons.
I'm quite satisfied with the way this turned out, so I would really appreciate if you guys can give me comments and criticisms, letting me know what you think and what I can do to improve my work. Thanks guys!
The WIP color piece
The final piece!! At last!! \(^o^)/
I'm posting progress with changes, but I'm gonna make further changes. My roommate thought his nose was an eye, so I'll be bringing the nose down. That's what I get for trying to be too original heheh.
EDIT: Change the "2" to a "3" in the image link to see the resulting drawing. I should have listened to my gut, which told me to leave the nose well enough alone. Bah!
This is the final piece in which I made the uniform to be more general-like by adding in accessories like medallion and such. Also about the horn, I already merged it in the same layer and found it difficult to correct it in time so I kept it as planned originally. So this is it, thanks again everyone and good luck to all!
Snow, man. Tried your suggestion but I keep getting a gay vibed pose (don't have time to undo my paintjob commitment). I follow what you're saying though.
snowfly- loving it. really great looking
another pass on general finneadeus bloodington, getting pretty busy. probably did alot more experimenting that i needed to but i had a great time and will be wrapping it up soon.
so it's general finneadeus bloodington the bloodinator. high blood champion of bloodtuar.
tried to whip up some of the colors. and gotta sex up the border
my fave! brilliant!
See you guys in the next challenge!
ok, here is my post. enough hugs
CRITS
jouste- your lines on that piece have a lot of form to them, but you lose that when you start painting. i usually start with a really dark color overall, and only paint where the light is hitting. this will automatically give you cast shadows (which is one of my biggest weaknesses...that and kryptonite).
namuro- you need to study form a bit more to pull off what you are trying to pull off there. and real reference, not other anime. everything is coming across as flat in that image. it looks like you are either using dodge and burn for your lights and darks, or you are using straight black and white. these are both ways to lose a lot of life in your piece. for highlights i like to sample the color of the object, lighten it a little and add a smidgen of yellow or something warm. this will give you a nice warm glow to your piece. if you have good reference you can sample colors straight off of that.
magic sugar- really cool piece, it doesnt seem very focused on the general though. looks more like a poster for the sequel to robot jox. your color choices are very sega genesis, its like old contra or smash tv.
ok, thats enough for tonight GO TEAM!!!
I'm a little confused now though... everyone is acting like its over, or just ending, but the official site says 'March 2nd, 11:59pm EST' Sooooo... doesn't that mean we have until tomorrow night? (Well, technically until the end of today, it's kinda 2:30 am here :P)
My point being, I haven't worked on my piece since I got fed up with her on Thursday, and now I'm thinking maybe I'll put forth my last bit of effort to get something done tomorrow. BUT, I'm getting confused, is it already too late...? Am I misunderstanding something on the site?
Good luck to all who entered! I can't wait to do some voting--but how to choose??
its great to see if you can find ways to improve, it did make me go crazy last night, but it worked, (the last couple hours were a waste though.)
kill it! do it!
I submitted my final without a border or name plate ...oops. Oh well its done and I probably wont place anywhere anyway.
Im not going to use a border, it kills the img imo.
The next one will be the final one